I put together the specs for the whole AMD Pro 5000-series in MBP/iMac/Mac Pro for comparison. I also included specs for RX cards that pc users buy or you can use as eGPU with Mac. Many tests on Youtube for example show the result for RX cards which are faster than Pro cards in Macs. The specs are from AMD's website.
5300 in iMac is like 5500M in MBP in terms of TFLOPS. 5500XT is like 5600M in MBP. The more I think of it the more disappointed I feel about the GPU options in these new iMacs. I'm not even a serious gamer, but a casual gamer that plays games even with 20 fps with my iMac 2011 Radeon 6750 512MB, but as it is now the only option for us that want to buy a decent and somewhat future proof gaming Mac is to spend 3500-3800 dollars (in Sweden) on a iMac 27" with Radeon 5700/5700XT.
Radeon 5300 is the worst card in the 5000-series. You can't even buy it in the retail stores or from AMD. You can't even now pay a bit extra to get a better GPU like 575X vs 570X. You can't even choose storage size for the first 27" model. You're stuck with 256GB. You must go all the way up to the top model to get 5500XT, the cheapest and most underpowered GPU in the 5000-series on the market which manages about 40-50 fps in 1440p TODAY. That for ca $3100!
I think this update is one of the worst with least options for those without a pocket full of money. Instead of giving 5300 to iMac 21.5" they gave it to 27" and didn't do a thing with 21.5". The base 27” should start with 5500XT. There would still be several options for the other models. For example, what happened to 5600 and 5600XT? Tier 2 iMac 27” could have 5600 and the top 27” could start with 5600XT, with 5700 and 5700XT as option. Or it could be like 5500XT, 5600XT and 5700 with 5700XT as BTO, but 5300 in both cheaper models?
My only hope now is that Apple gets its act together and at least offers decent GPUs in AS iMacs. Btw, don’t put your money on the 10-core i9 for gaming. Better to buy the 8-core with higher base frequency.
