570 vs 575 Real World Experience

[logonkenneth]

Currently considering iMac 27" with pure SSD and user Ram upgrades, but deciding with either the base or mid, with the obvious difference of the gpu 570 vs. 575.

My main use will be Lightroom (for stills, no video), and gaming (strategy games like Civ, Total War etc., all other games goes on my console).

Interested to hear all of your experiences with Lightroom and/or gaming on either the base or mid!

 

[OldMike]

Unless someone uses both, I think it might be difficult to get a real good answer on this. The best that I can do is offer a couple of resources to look at.

This is a benchmark between the 570 and 575:
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-Pro-575-vs-Radeon-Pro-570

This is the AMD page for the Radeon Pro (if you go down a bit it shows you the specs on each of the GPUs):
http://creators.radeon.com/radeon-pro/

I am also in the process of shopping for an iMac 27". Depending on the configuration you choose, you might find that the 580 is not much more expensive than the 575 depending on how you build it.

For instance a mid level iMac 27 with Radeon Pro 575, i7 and 512GB SSD is $2599. The top level iMac 27 with Radeon Pro 580 configured with the i7 and 512GB SSD would be $2699. $100 for the change between the Radeon Pro 575 w/4GB to the Radeon Pro 580 w/8GB is the only way to go.

For any kind of gaming, the 580 seems to be the only option considering you are attached to a 5K screen which will allow you to play games in 1440p and still look good (where trying to game in 1080p mode would not look good). The 580 would in my opinion be the bare minimum for a good 1440p gaming experience.

As I am looking at these machines, for me the choice is between a base 27" with the 570 or the top level with the 580. I don't see the mid level tier giving you the best bang for the buck depending on the config you decide on...

 

[Pockett]

I'd say that spending the extra money on a 575 or even a 580 would do you better in the long-term, especially the 580 in this case. If you plan to keep the computer for over 2 years, I recommend getting the 575 or 580. Given your typical work loads, you should indeed invest more into the GPU rather than the CPU, as CPUs these days are hardly ever a bottleneck when it comes to performance.

 

[OldMike]

Full disclosure, despite my poo-pooing the mid level 575 machine, I am now considering this option since Best Buy is currently offering a $200 discount on the mid level iMac with the 575. With the $125 student coupon, this would bring the price of the mid level iMac 27" to $1,674 which seems like a pretty good deal to me...

 

[Luxtrau]

If you really want to do gaming, you should consider at least the Pro 575.