27" iMac for Lightroom - M395 vs M395x?

[Bourei]

Hi Everyone,

I'm sitting here trying to look up any information (I haven't found much) comparing the M395 vs the M395x for the new 27" iMac. I'm using the iMac for large lightroom catalogs, rendering 6000+ images at a time and exporting roughly 1500-2000 (and, of course, editing these as well).

I'm currently on a late 2012 27" iMac fully upgraded (other than a 1TB fusion drive, no ssd, it has 3.4ghz i7, GeForce 680MX 2Gb). The one I'm looking to have is fully upgraded - i7 4.0ghz processor & 512Gb SSD - I'm just ending up debating between the M395, 2gb ram, or M395x, 4gb ram.

What are your thoughts? Is there any information available for a comparison yet? (it's ok if not, just thought I'd ask)

I'd *love* to have an example of 'the m395x is xx% faster than the m390 when doing xyz". While discussing this, would anyone know a way to tell what kind of improvement (2x? 5x? 10x?) I'd see vs the late 2012 iMac to the new one?

Thanks ahead of time!! Just trying to figure out this last particular item in the build. I'm sure the m395x would be faster ... I'm just not sure the difference can justify $250, especially if what I am seeing is less than 10% (my best guess is that the difference will indeed be lower than a 10% difference in rendering/exporting)

 

[Fullframe]

I have just purchased the late 2015 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display Mainly for photo editing in Lightroom & Photoshop. Waiting for the shipment to arrive. I up the RAM to 32GB once I receive it. I will let you know my thoughts

• 4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz
• 8GB 1867MHz DDR3 SDRAM - two 4GB
• 512GB Flash Storage
• AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4GB video memory

 

[Jeff Flowerday]

I have just purchased the late 2015 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display Mainly for photo editing in Lightroom & Photoshop. Waiting for the shipment to arrive. I up the RAM to 32GB once I receive it. I will let you know my thoughts

• 4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz
• 8GB 1867MHz DDR3 SDRAM - two 4GB
• 512GB Flash Storage
• AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4GB video memory

+1

 

[mjoshi123]

Following ...

 

[iemcj]

As a pro photographer, there won't be any difference when doing things like exports and batch renders. The gpu factors in a bit more when you're doing things like previewing an image and adjusting the color temp, will be a bit snappier with the 395x. But when you get your 500+ images and want to export them from cr2 to jpg, that's alllllllll gpu baby so get the 4.0 i7. Lighroom can use hyperthreading so it can fully take advantage of those cores and high clock speed.

Don't have any specific numbers to show ya, just my years of experience with adobe products and what they do. The gpu will play a big roll when you are working on a single image, but not for things like exports. Part of me says you don't need the better gpu but another part of me says that this will be your rig for years to come, may as well pay the extra 250 bucks and futureproof yourself as much as possible. The graphics card plays a LOT bigger roll in photoshop, especially if you're using the warp too. Hope that helps!

 

[OSB]

Part of me says you don't need the better gpu but another part of me says that this will be your rig for years to come, may as well pay the extra 250 bucks and futureproof yourself as much as possible.

Adobe is definitely moving toward heavier use of the GPU. If one has set a budget that allows for the choice between the i7 and the 395X but not both, I'd go with the CPU upgrade for PS and Lightroom workloads. But if this is mortgage-paying machine or you can swing the difference without hardship, I'd go for both.

 

[iemcj]

OSB knows what's up. CPUs have sorta peaked the last few years, they're not getting a whole lot faster. Meanwhile gpus are getting better and better so it would make sense for adobe to continue to optimize to take advantage of this. Right now the gpu is king for all things lightroom but if this is for your job? Dude get both. Photography is one of the cheapest fields to be in, compared to the $80,000 CNC machine my brother has setup in his shop, paying an extra 250 bucks for a better graphics card is practically a rounding error lol