Bang for the buck when customizing iMac 2020?

[creativityrules]

Forgive me but all I see is a screenshot of some numbers in a spreadsheet. It doesn't say where those numbers came from.

Numbers are from https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/compute/search.
Search for imac20,1 or imac20,2.

 

[wave84]

5500XT - 5.3 TF, default Tier 3 2020 - 41k OpenCL
580X - 5.5 TF, default Tier 3 2019 - 42k OpenCL
5700 - 6.2 TF, + 300$ (2020) - 45k OpenCL
Vega48 - 7.3 TF, +450$ (2019) - 49k OpenCL
5700XT - 7.6 TF, +500$ (2020) - 54k OpenCL

Looks about right:
It actually confirms that 5700XT is a good upgrade.
View attachment 946148

Cost-wise, the upgrade from 5500XT to 5700XT is better bang for the buck than 580X to Vega48.

Performance should not be compared to base T3 but between generations. Basically, all I see is that some years later, we get roughly the same performance for roughly the same money. It doesn’t look like progress, not GPU wise. All because they had to gimp the cards so much, because they didn’t use better cooling.

 

[creativityrules]

Performance should not be compared to base T3 but between generations. Basically, all I see is that some years later, we get roughly the same performance for roughly the same money. It doesn’t look like progress, not GPU wise. All because they had to gimp the cards so much, because they didn’t use better cooling.

Yeah, but this post is regarding best bang for the buck for iMac 2020. Can't compare cross-generationally.
I think what Apple did is brilliant with the given constraints they had (thermally). They're putting engineers on the AS iMac instead of trying to make a substantial improvement. Also, they're trying to protect iMac Pro sales by not overpowering the non-Pro model.

 

[creativityrules]

Thinking this through... I think I will go with the 5500XT instead of the 5700XT.

My rationale below:

• High probability of upgrading to AS iMac in 3-4 yrs vs keeping this 8+yrs (for example, I'm still using my 2011 iMac)
• Thermal throttling since CPU and GPU share common fan - basically the system cannot sustain peak performance if both CPU and GPU intensive tasks are ran together
  • Although much improved over the 2019 iMac
  • Originally I thought the 5700/5700XT config (iMac20,2) could possibly have improved thermals over 5300/5500XT config (iMac20,1) but it appears there is no difference.
• Was thinking of dual purposing this system to play graphics intense games, but I think it is better to spend that money on the new PS5 or Xbox series X instead

Updated system config:

• Standard glass - I like the sharp resolution screen and I don't have much glare issues where the iMac is located
• i7 8-core - I don't think it is worth the small performance gain (and adding more thermal load to the system)
• 8GB ram (DIY to 32GB or 64GB) - there are some diminished improvements from 32GB to 64GB, so TBD
• 5500XT
• 1TB SSD - I think 512GB is too small if planning to dual boot or running Parallels and I don't want to attach an external drive hanging in the back... any large files will go on my NAS
• Gigabit ethernet - I don't often do any large file transfers between iMac and my NAS to require the 10Gb port, also would rather use the iMac via wifi instead of running a line

 

[macbro08]

Thinking this through... I think I will go with the 5500XT instead of the 5700XT.

My rationale below:

• High probability of upgrading to AS iMac in 3-4 yrs vs keeping this 8+yrs (for example, I'm still using my 2011 iMac)
• Thermal throttling since CPU and GPU share common fan - basically the system cannot sustain peak performance if both CPU and GPU intensive tasks are ran together
  • Although much improved over the 2019 iMac
  • Originally I thought the 5700/5700XT config (iMac20,2) could possibly have improved thermals over 5300/5500XT config (iMac20,1) but it appears there is no difference.
• Was thinking of dual purposing this system to play graphics intense games, but I think it is better to spend that money on the new PS5 or Xbox series X instead

Updated system config:

• Standard glass - I like the sharp resolution screen and I don't have much glare issues where the iMac is located
• i7 8-core - I don't think it is worth the small performance gain (and adding more thermal load to the system)
• 8GB ram (DIY to 32GB or 64GB) - there are some diminished improvements from 32GB to 64GB, so TBD
• 5500XT
• 1TB SSD - I think 512GB is too small if planning to dual boot or running Parallels and I don't want to attach an external drive hanging in the back... any large files will go on my NAS
• Gigabit ethernet - I don't often do any large file transfers between iMac and my NAS to require the 10Gb port, also would rather use the iMac via wifi instead of running a line

Sounds like a solid reasoning - given the timing (and poor thermals), this iMac will probably not be the one use for the next +6 years.

 

[jobinhosyntax]

Thinking this through... I think I will go with the 5500XT instead of the 5700XT.

My rationale below:

• High probability of upgrading to AS iMac in 3-4 yrs vs keeping this 8+yrs (for example, I'm still using my 2011 iMac)
• Thermal throttling since CPU and GPU share common fan - basically the system cannot sustain peak performance if both CPU and GPU intensive tasks are ran together
  • Although much improved over the 2019 iMac
  • Originally I thought the 5700/5700XT config (iMac20,2) could possibly have improved thermals over 5300/5500XT config (iMac20,1) but it appears there is no difference.
• Was thinking of dual purposing this system to play graphics intense games, but I think it is better to spend that money on the new PS5 or Xbox series X instead

Updated system config:

• Standard glass - I like the sharp resolution screen and I don't have much glare issues where the iMac is located
• i7 8-core - I don't think it is worth the small performance gain (and adding more thermal load to the system)
• 8GB ram (DIY to 32GB or 64GB) - there are some diminished improvements from 32GB to 64GB, so TBD
• 5500XT
• 1TB SSD - I think 512GB is too small if planning to dual boot or running Parallels and I don't want to attach an external drive hanging in the back... any large files will go on my NAS
• Gigabit ethernet - I don't often do any large file transfers between iMac and my NAS to require the 10Gb port, also would rather use the iMac via wifi instead of running a line

I'm leaning the same way, is there conclusive data showing the thermal load is higher with the i9 10-core?

 

[PhotoVid]

Thanks everyone. I'm still undecided but you've all made me reconsider getting a maxed out model and instead getting a more slimmed down base model. The cost of upgrades such as SSD, and even the 16GB graphics really don't feel as cost effective as some of the other options.