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28" 4K Space Grey iMac mock-up!

D

Dazant

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 8, 2009
43
0
Hi guys made this little mock-up for fun of what a 28" iMac would look like if it was space grey, I basically made my dream iMac .

The reason I went with 28 is because dell announce a more affordable 4k panel in that size so it would be more likely to be the one used by apple .


86xb.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img849/7964/86xb.jpg (Click the Link for full size)

Spec wise for the high end 28" model I see something like this :

Now Available in "Space Grey" anodized aluminum

28 inches "4K" (3840x2160) IPS display

CPU : Intel "Broadwell" 4 cores 3.5 Ghz i7-5770

GPU : GTX 880m with 4GB of GDDR5
**Optional GTX 880m SLI with 8GB of GDDR5 (Now that devs will start to support dual GPU's for the mac pro I don't see why the iMac can't get in on the fun. )

RAM: 16GB 1866Mhz DDR3 with up to 64GB

1 TB Fusion Drive Standard


Feel Free to Comment :)
 
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The iMac doesn't have the cooling for a desktop GPU. And 2 desktop GPUs would be even worse.

The iMac is a consumer machine - there needs to be ways to differentiate it from the Mac Pro.
 
Bear said:
The iMac doesn't have the cooling for a desktop GPU. And 2 desktop GPUs would be even worse.

The iMac is a consumer machine - there needs to be ways to differentiate it from the Mac Pro.
Click to expand...

Thats why I said 880m :)
 
Aren't newer generations of GPUs suppose to be more efficient and run cooler while performing better? Same goes for the CPU? I'm sure Apple could find a way to cool down everything with some new innovative design pulling air from the bottom up through the top like the nMP. I would love to see Apple going all out on the next iMac refresh even though I just ordered the late 2013 model. I would also like to see Thunderbolt 2 and dual internal PCIe SSDs in RAID 0 as well as quad channel RAM.
 
Nice but...

1. i think this would cost at least the same as base Mac Pro (if you went w/ dual GPUs) and while it's still a better deal because the display is included, I can't imagine doing it at competitive price point
2. i think the chassis would have to be bigger/thicker than now which I doubt would go cause Apple usually sticks with one design for few years. and this has to do with point 3...
3. you would need pretty efficient cooling for two GPUs and thus increasing the size
4. 64GB would mean 4 slots with 16GB so-dimms... those are not produced (yet). but it's definitely in the future.

I'm still keeping a cool face on that "dual GPU" support on Mac Pro's, seeing how slowly are these things are implemented (openCL for example, Crossfire and SLI are not even that perfect in PC world, GPGPU computations are very limited etc). It will come to that, eventually but I'm thinking 2-3 years down the line for 3rd party apps.
 
Love it!

Bear said:
And I doubt the cooling would be there for 2 880Ms.
Click to expand...

Well, tons of 15-17" laptops have dual mobile GPUs so I wouldn't say that's true here. Plenty of room and accommodating a slightly larger screen just gives a tiny bit extra.

If they can cool dual-D700s in the nMP in that small form-factor I'm sure they can figure out how to cool dual-mobile GPUs in an iMac.

----------
comatory said:
1. i think this would cost at least the same as base Mac Pro (if you went w/ dual GPUs) and while it's still a better deal because the display is included, I can't imagine doing it at competitive price point
2. i think the chassis would have to be bigger/thicker than now which I doubt would go cause Apple usually sticks with one design for few years. and this has to do with point 3...
3. you would need pretty efficient cooling for two GPUs and thus increasing the size
4. 64GB would mean 4 slots with 16GB so-dimms... those are not produced (yet). but it's definitely in the future.
Click to expand...

As I highlighted from another comment, implementing and cooling dual-mobile GPUs shouldn't be a problem seeing as many 15-17" "gaming notebooks" have done this for several years now, and many of those chassis are smaller than the iMac.

Price shouldn't really be an issue either, the mobile variants seem to be much more cost effective than their desktop counterparts. They're never remotely the same anyways. For example, the 750m in the 2013 rMBP being a slightly higher clocked 650m.
 
ckeck said:
Love it!



Well, tons of 15-17" laptops have dual mobile GPUs so I wouldn't say that's true here. Plenty of room and accommodating a slightly larger screen just gives a tiny bit extra.

If they can cool dual-D700s in the nMP in that small form-factor I'm sure they can figure out how to cool dual-mobile GPUs in an iMac.

----------



As I highlighted from another comment, implementing and cooling dual-mobile GPUs shouldn't be a problem seeing as many 15-17" "gaming notebooks" have done this for several years now, and many of those chassis are smaller than the iMac.

Price shouldn't really be an issue either, the mobile variants seem to be much more cost effective than their desktop counterparts. They're never remotely the same anyways. For example, the 750m in the 2013 rMBP being a slightly higher clocked 650m.
Click to expand...

From what I understand, the majority of dual gpu set ups currently used in laptops are only meant for power efficiency. Only one gpu is used at any given time, and is selected by the OS based on performance needs. And a lot of these "dual gpu" setups consist of only one dGPU with the other one being the built in SOC GPU.

No doubt it is possible to run 2 GPUs in a smallish space but the necessary cooling would require a considerable amount of redesign from the current iMac case. It is highly unlikely Apple would be willing to disrupt their design aesthetic, especially for a BTO option only, seeing as it would be extremely unlikely they'd ever offer dual GPUs in the base setup. And you can't compare the new Mac Pro's cooling efficiency to that of the imac. One machine was designed entirely around the cooling system, while the other was designed around an LCD; two entirely different structures with very different limitations.
 
adamneer said:
From what I understand, the majority of dual gpu set ups currently used in laptops are only meant for power efficiency. Only one gpu is used at any given time, and is selected by the OS based on performance needs. And a lot of these "dual gpu" setups consist of only one dGPU with the other one being the built in SOC GPU.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that's the case. Many of the Nvidia dual-mobile GPU configs are built specifically for SLI and their benchmarks demonstrate that their both running, at least when gaming.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-750M-SLI.91280.0.html

No doubt it is possible to run 2 GPUs in a smallish space but the necessary cooling would require a considerable amount of redesign from the current iMac case. It is highly unlikely Apple would be willing to disrupt their design aesthetic, especially for a BTO option only, seeing as it would be extremely unlikely they'd ever offer dual GPUs in the base setup. And you can't compare the new Mac Pro's cooling efficiency to that of the imac. One machine was designed entirely around the cooling system, while the other was designed around an LCD; two entirely different structures with very different limitations.
Click to expand...

I wasn't comparing directly but I think it's fair to say that Apple might have come across some new cooling techniques that could be applied to the iMac.

Beyond that, next-gen Intel CPUs should run even cooler allowing for more thermal "legroom" for the GPUs. Those may run cooler as well with the newer Nvidia chipsets. As long as Apple doesn't try to push for something stupid like a razor thin edge around the iMac and stick with the current design, I don't think it's unfeasible.

Implementations from companies with far less engineering skill has shown this to be possible in very small casing and it's not like this would be the biggest engineering feat they've pulled off. I honestly don't think they'd need to change much. A different thermal design? Maybe...but something much more powerful than a single mobile GPU is going to be necessary to drive a 4K iMac. Last thing I want to see is screen/UI lag like the rMBPs or not be able to even drive a 5 year old game due to the high resolution. :eek:
 
Also as far as price go , apple could do like they did with the rMBPs when they were released in 2012 , keep the regular iMacs and add the 28" 4k model as a separate more expensive model at least for the first year.
 
Cute, but... Grammatical errors.

A sentence starting with a number should always be spelled out.
The second sentence needs a comma or period after "pixels".

Now in 4K. Four times the pixels. A billion more possibilities.

A product's success can be affected by grammatical accountability. :p
 
Tymbo said:
Cute, but... Grammatical errors.

A sentence starting with a number should always be spelled out.
The second sentence needs a comma or period after "pixels".

Now in 4K. Four times the pixels. A billion more possibilities.

A product's success can be affected by grammatical accountability. :p
Click to expand...

Hey I'm not native english and I made this at 2 am lol
 
SLI currently makes no sense because there is no OS X wide rendering support for dual GPUs (like SLI and CrossFire in Windows). Sure individual devs can implement an engine that can take advantage of both GPUs but that's putting way too much pressure on them. Mac Pro is different because the GPUs are meant for computing and e.g. Final Cut already supports dual GPU rendering and more pro apps will likely follow.
 
Hellhammer said:
SLI currently makes no sense because there is no OS X wide rendering support for dual GPUs (like SLI and CrossFire in Windows). Sure individual devs can implement an engine that can take advantage of both GPUs but that's putting way too much pressure on them. Mac Pro is different because the GPUs are meant for computing and e.g. Final Cut already supports dual GPU rendering and more pro apps will likely follow.
Click to expand...

SLI/CF support could (and likely will) be implemented at some point, but just like the Mac Pro this would give users more flexibility for devs who choose to implement, or for use under BootCamp.

Kinda hate having to have a loaded iMac and still needing a big "gaming PC" taking up tons of space. GPU performance doesn't have to be stellar, but next-gen GPU (even mobile) in SLI might get it there.

However, at 4K it might actually be more of a set back, even with two GPUs.
 
ckeck said:
SLI/CF support could (and likely will) be implemented at some point, but just like the Mac Pro this would give users more flexibility for devs who choose to implement, or for use under BootCamp.
Click to expand...

I don't personally see Apple implementing SLI/CF. Apple has never been very keen on PC gaming and for computing it's easy to enough for devs to implement since the number of apps is much smaller.

Kinda hate having to have a loaded iMac and still needing a big "gaming PC" taking up tons of space. GPU performance doesn't have to be stellar, but next-gen GPU (even mobile) in SLI might get it there.

However, at 4K it might actually be more of a set back, even with two GPUs.
Click to expand...

It sure is but remember how small the iMac's innards really are. Furthermore, the current 780M has TDP of 100W and it's likely that the 880M will too. Adding 100W to the thermal design is not easy because the iMac's total TDP is only slightly over 200W.
 
I've been wondering since the release of the new Mac Pro if the new iMac will use the same GPU cards from this range.

Reduce the number parts they need to build across the range.

If I understand it the intel chips most likely in the next iMac will have embedded GPU's able to drive a 4K panel. They could build a socket single motherboard from low end to high end, then up sell with a dedicated GPU and better CPU's.


BTW Do like the space grey.
 
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I'm not sure about the spec wish-list, but the mockup of the machine looks great. A space gray iMac with thin bezels would be one sexy Mac.
 
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