2020 iMac: Suggested upgrade for a VFX artist?

[oedimoose]

I'm looking to upgrade to a new iMac but am a little out of touch with what the best upgrades would be... I am a motion graphic designer and VFX artist who regularly uses After Effects, C4D, Blender and other graphic programmes.

My budget is between £3500-£3900 ($4600-$5100) and am curious to see what would be the best way for me to spend this money?

I've seen I can just about afford the following specs but would these be sufficient for what I need?
27-inch iMac 3.6Ghz 10-core i9 10th Gen 64GB Ram 2TB SSD 5700XT 16gb

Currently my at-home setup is a MacBook Pro 2017 2.9GHc Intel Core i7, 16gb ram 2133 MHz LPDDR3, Radeon Pro 560 4 GB, Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 mb and I'm looking for a great improvement in speed and performance

Thanks!

 

[ekwipt]

I’d seriously consider building a PC with the latest AMD CPU and Graphics for that budget and go back to Macs when the upgraded M1 chip comes out for an upper Macmini Pro, iMac or Mac Pro.

there’s no reason with the apps you’ve mentioned to stay with Mac (I’m a bog Mac user but have both Windows and Mac machines)

mid you want to stay Mac get the iMac you’ve quoted but buy the RAM from somewhere else and make sure you get 128gb

 

[haddy]

I'm looking to upgrade to a new iMac but am a little out of touch with what the best upgrades would be... I am a motion graphic designer and VFX artist who regularly uses After Effects, C4D, Blender and other graphic programmes.

My budget is between £3500-£3900 ($4600-$5100) and am curious to see what would be the best way for me to spend this money?

I've seen I can just about afford the following specs but would these be sufficient for what I need?
27-inch iMac 3.6Ghz 10-core i9 10th Gen 64GB Ram 2TB SSD 5700XT 16gb

Currently my at-home setup is a MacBook Pro 2017 2.9GHc Intel Core i7, 16gb ram 2133 MHz LPDDR3, Radeon Pro 560 4 GB, Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 mb and I'm looking for a great improvement in speed and performance

Thanks!

Yep go for it .........great machine!!

 

[LeeE]

I'm looking to upgrade to a new iMac but am a little out of touch with what the best upgrades would be... I am a motion graphic designer and VFX artist who regularly uses After Effects, C4D, Blender and other graphic programmes.

My budget is between £3500-£3900 ($4600-$5100) and am curious to see what would be the best way for me to spend this money?

I've seen I can just about afford the following specs but would these be sufficient for what I need?
27-inch iMac 3.6Ghz 10-core i9 10th Gen 64GB Ram 2TB SSD 5700XT 16gb

Currently my at-home setup is a MacBook Pro 2017 2.9GHc Intel Core i7, 16gb ram 2133 MHz LPDDR3, Radeon Pro 560 4 GB, Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 mb and I'm looking for a great improvement in speed and performance

Thanks!

I'm in the same boat - after effects / C4D / Blender.. curious to know if you went for an iMac in the end? And if so how are you finding it?

 

[limes666]

I'm looking to upgrade to a new iMac but am a little out of touch with what the best upgrades would be... I am a motion graphic designer and VFX artist who regularly uses After Effects, C4D, Blender and other graphic programmes.

My budget is between £3500-£3900 ($4600-$5100) and am curious to see what would be the best way for me to spend this money?

I've seen I can just about afford the following specs but would these be sufficient for what I need?
27-inch iMac 3.6Ghz 10-core i9 10th Gen 64GB Ram 2TB SSD 5700XT 16gb

Currently my at-home setup is a MacBook Pro 2017 2.9GHc Intel Core i7, 16gb ram 2133 MHz LPDDR3, Radeon Pro 560 4 GB, Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 mb and I'm looking for a great improvement in speed and performance

Thanks!

Hi, I am also motion graphic artist using the smae software as you, AE, C4D, etc. and also needed to get a new machine for similar budget this year for work, as I was still working from a 2008 Mac Pro.
I bought an i7 with the 5700XT, 2TB storage and I upgraded ram to 128GB. (I also got the nano texture glass which has been great for my work).
I have been working on it for commercial GFX work and it has been really nice to work on, especially After Effects. Cinema 4D also great, but the fans go at full blast when rendering as CPU sits about 92C. Maybe 10 core for 3D rendering would give slight boost, but Im very happy with my machine for work.

 

[Freida]

I'm VFX artist too and I have the same laptop as you. I originally wanted to buy the 2020 iMac (in fact I did for 2 weeks) but then I decided to wait for the AS event. After seeing what the M1 chip can do I've decided that I will be waiting for AS iMac which will most likely be out around spring OR WWDC. Just few months away basically.
Some might argue that its not the best decision but M1 is insane and its low end chip. No way in hell will I be happy with Intel iMac when Apple shows us the mid/pro version of their M1 chip with Lifuka!

So, for that reason, I would just hold off on your purchase as the jump in performance will be insane and so worth it.

Thats what I am doing and thats what I would recommend anyone to do. Intel is dead - they've stopped innovating long time ago and now they lost the market to AMD and Apple.

So, unless you want to buy heater for your house that will be outdated very quickly then I would wait.

Choice is yours, but I prefer the smart choice

I'm looking to upgrade to a new iMac but am a little out of touch with what the best upgrades would be... I am a motion graphic designer and VFX artist who regularly uses After Effects, C4D, Blender and other graphic programmes.

My budget is between £3500-£3900 ($4600-$5100) and am curious to see what would be the best way for me to spend this money?

I've seen I can just about afford the following specs but would these be sufficient for what I need?
27-inch iMac 3.6Ghz 10-core i9 10th Gen 64GB Ram 2TB SSD 5700XT 16gb

Currently my at-home setup is a MacBook Pro 2017 2.9GHc Intel Core i7, 16gb ram 2133 MHz LPDDR3, Radeon Pro 560 4 GB, Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 mb and I'm looking for a great improvement in speed and performance

Thanks!

 

[LeeE]

I'm VFX artist too and I have the same laptop as you. I originally wanted to buy the 2020 iMac (in fact I did for 2 weeks) but then I decided to wait for the AS event. After seeing what the M1 chip can do I've decided that I will be waiting for AS iMac which will most likely be out around spring OR WWDC. Just few months away basically.
Some might argue that its not the best decision but M1 is insane and its low end chip. No way in hell will I be happy with Intel iMac when Apple shows us the mid/pro version of their M1 chip with Lifuka!

So, for that reason, I would just hold off on your purchase as the jump in performance will be insane and so worth it.

Thats what I am doing and thats what I would recommend anyone to do. Intel is dead - they've stopped innovating long time ago and now they lost the market to AMD and Apple.

So, unless you want to buy heater for your house that will be outdated very quickly then I would wait.

Choice is yours, but I prefer the smart choice

Wise words.. I mean of course what I want to hear is, "Hey go for it, it's an awesome machine, just whatever you do don't watch any Apple events for a couple years." haha, but alas you're probably right. I do wonder though if After Effects and Blender 3D will be ok on such new systems.. I'm guessing new iMacs could be nearer end of next year, then possible teething problems with software in new architecture (although Apple and Adobe do play nice it has to be said.. but Blender).. not sure I can wait that long! (arghgh)

 

[Freida]

Everything we have seen so far showed us that this might actually be the smoothest transition ever. The emulation I've seen is just amazing so by june next year I wouldn't expect software to be an issue as most developers will transition or will be almost there.
In terms of future proof the AS iMac just makes way more sense especially after seeing the numbers from the low end.

Intel is just no longer making sense. In fact, I think its foolish to buy Intel now. That single core performance is just nuts

Wise words.. I mean of course what I want to hear is, "Hey go for it, it's an awesome machine, just whatever you do don't watch any Apple events for a couple years." haha, but alas you're probably right. I do wonder though if After Effects and Blender 3D will be ok on such new systems.. I'm guessing new iMacs could be nearer end of next year, then possible teething problems with software in new architecture (although Apple and Adobe do play nice it has to be said.. but Blender).. not sure I can wait that long! (arghgh)

 

[Mr Screech]

AS seems a fantastic development.
However I doubt the M1 versions of the iMac will support user upgrade-able 128GB RAM, if at all.
This can affect your workflow depending on what software you use.

Also, intel imacs have support for windows.

The moment they introduce the M1 imacs, you might not be able to purchase an intel imac anymore, keep that in mind.

 

[richinaus]

I’d seriously consider building a PC with the latest AMD CPU and Graphics for that budget and go back to Macs when the upgraded M1 chip comes out for an upper Macmini Pro, iMac or Mac Pro.

there’s no reason with the apps you’ve mentioned to stay with Mac (I’m a bog Mac user but have both Windows and Mac machines)

mid you want to stay Mac get the iMac you’ve quoted but buy the RAM from somewhere else and make sure you get 128gb

This is exactly what I decided to do and I love the speed. My AMD 16 core Ryzen and 2080 super are very impressive.
And in a desktop the heat and fans arent the same big deal.

I have had the imac and imacpro and this desktop is a far far better solution than an AIO.

It just depends how much you want a mac tbh [which I love too, but sometimes practicality and profit trump everything else].

 

[ekwipt]

This is exactly what I decided to do and I love the speed. My AMD 16 core Ryzen and 2080 super are very impressive.
And in a desktop the heat and fans arent the same big deal.

I have had the imac and imacpro and this desktop is a far far better solution than an AIO.

It just depends how much you want a mac tbh [which I love too, but sometimes practicality and profit trump everything else].

Great setup, plus people could get the latest 3080 or 3090 for PCIe4 series graphics cards