iMac 27'' 5K Late 2015 High End model - Performance & Issues

[Panosher]

Hello all,

I have just bought the high end 27'' 5k model:

• 4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz
• 32GB 1867MHz DDR3 SDRAM - four 8GB
• 1TB Flash Storage
• AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4GB video memory
​

Does anyone else has the same setup? I am interesting to know about how it performs, as I am getting the spinning wheel sometimes for example when I click to open the system settings. In general I think it does not perform very well so if anyone can suggest which benchmark to run and how (settings) and even better to compare it against it would be great!

More than that I was able to hear the fans (barely) in a silent room, and at the time I was only working on a word document, having opened some pdf files, skype, email & chrome broswer. Do you think that is normal?

P.S Shipped from Ireland.

Thank you!

 

[azure247]

It's the chrome browser. Do not use it.

 

[Buerkletucson]

Hello all,

I have just bought the high end 27'' 5k model:

• 4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz
• 32GB 1867MHz DDR3 SDRAM - four 8GB
• 1TB Flash Storage
• AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4GB video memory
​

Does anyone else has the same setup? I am interesting to know about how it performs, as I am getting the spinning wheel sometimes for example when I click to open the system settings. In general I think it does not perform very well so if anyone can suggest which benchmark to run and how (settings) and even better to compare it against it would be great!

More than that I was able to hear the fans (barely) in a silent room, and at the time I was only working on a word document, having opened some pdf files, skype, email & chrome broswer. Do you think that is normal?

P.S Shipped from Ireland.

Thank you!

I have the exact same configuration......no issues at all and it's lightning fast.
Only an occasional glitch with Outlook 2016 not opening correctly......that's a known application issue that they are working on.

I couldn't be happier with my machine......I think I saw the spinning ball only once, again on outlook 2016.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Hello all,

I have just bought the high end 27'' 5k model:

• 4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz
• 32GB 1867MHz DDR3 SDRAM - four 8GB
• 1TB Flash Storage
• AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4GB video memory
​

Does anyone else has the same setup? I am interesting to know about how it performs, as I am getting the spinning wheel sometimes for example when I click to open the system settings. In general I think it does not perform very well so if anyone can suggest which benchmark to run and how (settings) and even better to compare it against it would be great!

More than that I was able to hear the fans (barely) in a silent room, and at the time I was only working on a word document, having opened some pdf files, skype, email & chrome broswer. Do you think that is normal?

P.S Shipped from Ireland.

Thank you!

Well if it is brand new and you have just migrated all your files to it it will take a fair few hours to spotlioght index all the stuff transferred and also any plugged in externals, this will impact the performance, until it finishes you can track when and how this happens on activity monitor.

As others say chrome is a pig on OSX but it will spin your fans up if you have a fair few tabs open especially if there is flash video and ads running on the pages you have open.

Try using safari and I would also recommend adblock and click to flash to get the resource usage down in any browser.

But it's brand new so if you aren't happy send it back or call apple and see what they say.

 

[Panosher]

Hello all and thank you for your replies.

I had it since Saturday so I guess that spotlight indexing must have been completed. I am already using AdBlock both on Chrome & Firefox and I have not installed Adobe flash player.

The problem is that I can not tell if has to do with El Capitan or with any possible hardware fault. My Late 2008 MBP performance running Maverick is comparable to my iMac and maybe that is why I worry a bit (e.g The PhpStorm editor, a java app, loading time is not much different between two systems).

Another example I can give is that when I receive an e-mail (Mail client), I hear the alert sound, and then after a while a receive the notification. Is supposed to be such a noticeable delay? Systems preferences pane sometimes lags to open, it is bouncing 4-5 times before it opens etc.

If anyone can share a benchmark of the exact setup so to compare it against, it would help me a lot to make a decision if I should send it back and ask for a replacement or not. Otherwise I will try to stress the hardware until this weekend and if I am not happy of how it performs I will ask for a replacement.

Thank you!

 

[kazmac]

Panosher,

I did not have that exact set up, but

3.3 CPU, 395 video card 16gb RAM and 512 ssd. I saw Beach Balls with almost every peripheral, the internal dvd player and even during shut down. I also had video play back issues. After 2 and a half long days on the phone with Apple and erasing / restoring the drive, resetting PRAM & SMC, one AppleCare person presumed it could be a faulty video card.

I took yet another day off from work today (that's 3 for this machine ) now waiting for Fed Ex to pick up the iMac for return.

There's been at least one other person on the forum who had also had mysterious issues and returned their 27" iMac (not including fan / screen stuff.

I wish you luck and hope you can get this sorted.

 

[Panosher]

Panosher,

I did not have that exact set up, but

3.3 CPU, 395 video card 16gb RAM and 512 ssd. I saw Beach Balls with almost every peripheral, the internal dvd player and even during shut down. I also had video play back issues. After 2 and a half long days on the phone with Apple and erasing / restoring the drive, resetting PRAM & SMC, one AppleCare person presumed it could be a faulty video card.

I took yet another day off from work today (that's 3 for this machine ) now waiting for Fed Ex to pick up the iMac for return.

There's been at least one other person on the forum who had also had mysterious issues and returned their 27" iMac (not including fan / screen stuff.

I wish you luck and hope you can get this sorted.

Hi kazmac,

your reply is really helpful, thank you! I will run some more tests tonight as I am currently at work and will update the thread. I also plan to test some games on the Weekend.

Any info or experience that other users might have please post here as it can be very helpfull. Thank you!

 

[Panosher]

Hello all,

I think I can sleep relaxed today

I have spotted in Activity Monitor that SoundTouch app was using 100% of CPU (!!!) the whole time. I have closed the app and remove it from launch items at login.

I have installed fan monitor app and fans are running between 1190 -1202rpm. I can still hear a low sound sitting in front of the iMac in a very quite room but this is probably the airstream and I think there is nothing to worry about.

I have run a geekbench 32bit test as I dont have a licence to run a 64bit test and the results are very close to the ones that I found to another thread.

• My results: http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/4069416
• Other User's results: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/early-vs-late-2015-imac-27-5k-side-by-side-benchmark.1931874/

I have checked the display based on info that I found at the thread:https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/how-are-your-screens-in-the-5k-imac.1807896/ and had no yellow shadows or any dead pixels .

Now I only need to test GPU, but as I said I will do this on Weekend.

Please let me know if you have any other advice or tips.

Thanks!

 

[ivoruest]

If I'm not wrong, this iMac of yours should run quite hot sometimes. So don't be surprised to see temps going up under heavier loads. Also, with some unefficient apps aswell.

As others say, with the usage you describe it definitely was Chrome causing the fans to spin up a bit. If you want to track your temps and fan speeds you can get a couple of widgets for Dashboard like iStat Pro and/or Fans. This should give you a better idea of whats going on.

 

[whodatrr]

I just returned my 2015 5K i7/3TB/395x to the Apple Store. When it ran well, it screamed! But mysterious drive/GPU/unexplained issues kept popping up. I worked with Applecare for a bit, and they eventually advised me to return it. I'll sit it out for a bit and see how all this shakes out. I think I just got a lemon, but I really don't have time to futz with this stuff.

In my case, it may have had something to do with my imported image? Things ran fine, until I recovered my user info from Time Machine. Then, things went haywire. I tried wiping and restoring a few times, with Apple's help, but eventually I just got sick of messing with it. After a certain point, one's time is too valuable and work has to get done. Plus, my 14 day return window was getting close. Apple also suggested the return because they had no explanation for the issues I was seeing, other than hardware.

 

[driftless]

I have the late '14 5K iMac and it was maxed out so it is an earlier version, but similar to the OP's. I primarily use Safari but I do use Chrome and do not have any issues with it. I thought that I heard the fan more when I first received the iMac but it was probably because I was listening for it. Now I just hear the fan when scrolling through hundreds of pictures or rendering video.

 

[Panosher]

If I'm not wrong, this iMac of yours should run quite hot sometimes. So don't be surprised to see temps going up under heavier loads. Also, with some unefficient apps aswell.

As others say, with the usage you describe it definitely was Chrome causing the fans to spin up a bit. If you want to track your temps and fan speeds you can get a couple of widgets for Dashboard like iStat Pro and/or Fans. This should give you a better idea of whats going on.

Hi ivoruest, thanks for your reply. I have installed iStat menus. I will keep an eye on fan speeds and CPU load/temp.

I just returned my 2015 5K i7/3TB/395x to the Apple Store. When it ran well, it screamed! But mysterious drive/GPU/unexplained issues kept popping up. I worked with Applecare for a bit, and they eventually advised me to return it. I'll sit it out for a bit and see how all this shakes out. I think I just got a lemon, but I really don't have time to futz with this stuff.

In my case, it may have had something to do with my imported image? Things ran fine, until I recovered my user info from Time Machine. Then, things went haywire. I tried wiping and restoring a few times, with Apple's help, but eventually I just got sick of messing with it. After a certain point, one's time is too valuable and work has to get done. Plus, my 14 day return window was getting close. Apple also suggested the return because they had no explanation for the issues I was seeing, other than hardware.

Hi whodatrr, thanks for your reply! I don't have time to deal with this either and that is why I got annoyed and a bit disappointed. So far it looks fairly OK but I haven't overload it yet. I will try to do some video editing/high end gaming asap to see how it responds and I will update the thread. If you don't mind can you describe the scenario "When it ran well" so to try to reproduce it?

Thanks!

 

[Panosher]

I have the late '14 5K iMac and it was maxed out so it is an earlier version, but similar to the OP's. I primarily use Safari but I do use Chrome and do not have any issues with it. I thought that I heard the fan more when I first received the iMac but it was probably because I was listening for it. Now I just hear the fan when scrolling through hundreds of pictures or rendering video.

Hi driftless, thanks for your post! I can confirm that I do not have any major issues with Chrome as well. Other people have said that they faced some but there is none for me yet. I do not use Safari a lot. I prefer Firefox/Chrome depending the situation.

 

[Panosher]

Yesterday the iMac restarted due to a problem (kernel panic).

*** Panic Report ***
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff8019cfe80e): "thread_invoke: preemption_level 1, possible cause: blocking while holding a spinlock, or within interrupt context"@/Library/Caches/com.
apple.xbs/Sources/xnu/xnu-3247.10.11/osfmk/kern/sched_prim.c:2053
​

At the time opened apps where firefox, word, skype, steam. CPU was not in used and memory usage was 8GB/32GB.

I talked with apple last night and they told my to boot in safe mode, clean nvram and re-install OS.

I did all 4 steps but again the performance is poor. Every time I boot after login I immediately click to open the system preferences pane and every first time it bounces 5 times before opening.

Below you can see a video of how it lags inside the pane.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9zoul1qrq9nzgav/VID_20151104_224644.mp4?dl=0

Today apple told me that it could be hardaware related and I will need to go to an apple store to run some diagnostics.

Right now I do not know if just should return it back as I only have it few days or bother more.

 

[AlifTheUnseen]

I'm sorry, I will not be able to help you, but from what I understand, I'd prepare to return this while you still can. Although this is a pain in the rectum, it's still better than to deal with it for the next few weeks until it might break completely. Good luck and keep us updated…

 

[driftless]

I am sorry to hear that it is a hardware problem. Applecare will fix it or replace it. Good luck.

 

[joema2]

...
I talked with apple last night and they told my to boot in safe mode, clean nvram and re-install OS.

I did all 4 steps but again the performance is poor. Every time I boot after login I immediately click to open the system preferences pane and every first time it bounces 5 times before opening....

I have the same config you do and my 32-bit GeekBench scores are almost identical to yours. Mine runs very fast and there's never any multi-bounce delay opening system preferences pane.

Does that delay exist if you open system preferences in Safe Mode? If it goes away then that could imply a software issue since Safe Mode disables all auto start apps.

The OS panic is troubling. Did Apple have you run hardware tests? Here are the instructions: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201257

It is by no means definitive but if it finds a problem that is significant.

Do you recollect was your iMac like this out of the box or did the behavior begin at some later point?

 

[xgman]

I have the same setup and updated from last years similar model. The only real issues I have had are OSX related. It's been horrible on EL Cap. (the last beta before the current one 10.11.2 really crippled it) I've managed over the last couple weeks to straighten most of the issues out. Most, but not all. As far as the hardware, it feels faster than the last model, especially noticeable is the speed increase over last years SSD. The fans do seem to come on whenever there is a background task such as TM or Spotlight indexing, etc, but so did the 2014 model. The fans seem to react more to the cpu than the vid card. Also when you first setup the new imac, it does take a few days for everything to settle down it seems such as spotlight indexing, TM and rebuilding user caches.

 

[Panosher]

I have the same config you do and my 32-bit GeekBench scores are almost identical to yours. Mine runs very fast and there's never any multi-bounce delay opening system preferences pane.

Does that delay exist if you open system preferences in Safe Mode? If it goes away then that could imply a software issue since Safe Mode disables all auto start apps.

The OS panic is troubling. Did Apple have you run hardware tests? Here are the instructions: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201257

It is by no means definitive but if it finds a problem that is significant.

Do you recollect was your iMac like this out of the box or did the behavior begin at some later point?

Hi, thanks for the link! I have run some diagnostics but I will try again. The delay exist in normal boot mode not at the safe mode. Apple told me to visit the apple store near my place but they do not have availability until next Wednesday

I have the same setup and updated from last years similar model. The only real issues I have had are OSX related. It's been horrible on EL Cap. (the last beta before the current one 10.11.2 really crippled it) I've managed over the last couple weeks to straighten most of the issues out. Most, but not all. As far as the hardware, it feels faster than the last model, especially noticeable is the speed increase over last years SSD. The fans do seem to come on whenever there is a background task such as TM or Spotlight indexing, etc, but so did the 2014 model. The fans seem to react more to the cpu than the vid card. Also when you first setup the new imac, it does take a few days for everything to settle down it seems such as spotlight indexing, TM and rebuilding user caches.

Well one sure thing is that El Capitan does not perform well and has issues. I will wipe the drive and do a clean install to see if that will help.
What I am looking after is to find out if it the OS only or if there hardware issues as well. Thanks!

 

[xgman]

Well one sure thing is that El Capitan does not perform well and has issues. I will wipe the drive and do a clean install to see if that will help.
What I am looking after is to find out if it the OS only or if there hardware issues as well. Thanks!

So far the best version on the 15 imac is the release of 10.11.1. I don't think a clean install is the biggest issue though, but I have disabled System Integrity Protection for some of my own needs. I would wait on any further public or dev betas until tested.

 

[Panosher]

So far the best version on the 15 imac is the release of 10.11.1. I don't think a clean install is the biggest issue though, but I have disabled System Integrity Protection for some of my own needs. I would wait on any further public or dev betas until tested.

It is the 10.11.1 version the one that I have. I ve managed to go to the Apple store and I can confirm that it does the same to other machines as well. I have also booked an appoitment for Saturday just in case.

So far everything points to El Capitan ...

 

[kazmac]

I'm going to jump in and agree with others about the return while you still can on Saturday (The 27" I returned will be back at Apple's warehouse tomorrow.)

These things happen.

I hope you can get your machine returned / exchanged Panosher.

 

[ashe777]

Hello all,

I have just bought the high end 27'' 5k model:

• 4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz
• 32GB 1867MHz DDR3 SDRAM - four 8GB
• 1TB Flash Storage
• AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4GB video memory
​

Does anyone else has the same setup? I am interesting to know about how it performs, as I am getting the spinning wheel sometimes for example when I click to open the system settings. In general I think it does not perform very well so if anyone can suggest which benchmark to run and how (settings) and even better to compare it against it would be great!

More than that I was able to hear the fans (barely) in a silent room, and at the time I was only working on a word document, having opened some pdf files, skype, email & chrome broswer. Do you think that is normal?

P.S Shipped from Ireland.

Thank you!

my guess is overheating and throttling.

 

[gsingham]

Same setup. Had top spec last year, fans are at least 20% louder at idle this year

Having trackpad issues, have to lift fingers of trackpad and re-swipe to get movement.

Buzz from screen when screen is off

Weird soft static crackle from iMac.

Perfect colour balance, no light leakage

 

[Panosher]

I have tested Witcher 2 with steam last night. I have tried:

• 1920x1080 Ultra settings, windowed mode.
  • Loaded really fast but unplayable. A lot of lagging in player movement
• 1920x1080 High settings, windowed mode.
  • Loaded really fast but unplayable. A lot of lagging in player movement
• 1920x1080 High settings, Fullscreen mode.
  • Loaded really fast. Smooth player movement up to 62fps
• 1920x1080 Ultra settings, Fullscreen mode.
  • Loaded really fast. Smooth player movement up to 42fps

I didn't play long all the above testing was about 15-20mins. At this time CPU usage came up to 50/%, fans quite at 1200rpm.

Tonight I will run a graphics card performance test (http://www.maxon.net/products/cinebench/overview.html)

I have also found that discussion if anyones interested: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7250648?start=150&tstart=0