iMac i9/SSD and 580X or Vega 48? Suggestions?

[qap]

Hello, I have a late 2015 iMac i7 with 32gb ram, 256gb SSD and the M395. Now I have to upgrade it and I’m undecided between the 580x and the vega48, I will use it primary for adobe Lightroom photo editing and now, because Lightroom is crap, my imac is a bit slow when I use a lot of brushes and adjustments on a raw file of 36/42mpx.

The budget is not a big trouble, I mean, if I have to spend 3000€ or 3500€ but the iMac will run better for another 5/6 years, I prefer to do it. But if it’s not useful I prefer to use the money to buy a Samsung X5 e-SSD or 128gb ram. Because I don’t play any game or use gpu intensive apps, now the 580x should be absolutely fine, but in 2/3 years? In example Lightroom is implementing a lot of AI tools which use the gpu to render/calculate/apply the tool (sharpening or other things). I think in the next years the gpu will be used a lot for the machine learning tools.

So my question is: is the Vega 48 a lot better than the 580x in these applications? It should run also cooler due to its new architecture?

Thanks

 

[MandiMac]

So my question is: is the Vega 48 a lot better than the 580x in these applications? It should run also cooler due to its new architecture?

Yes and yes. The new architecture is better, and the CPU upgrade will definitely help. The problem is that GPU support depends entirely on the application - some will use the power, others won't.

 

[nihil0]

if budget is not trouble go for Vega 48, problem solved

 

[qap]

Budget is not a big trouble but I don’t want to waste money on an iMac that will be also renewed at the end of 2020/early 2021. I’m just asking if the Vega is worth the extra money for adobe Lightroom and some AI tools. Because from the benchmarks, now the difference is not big but maybe in the future the new architecture will last longer. I have no idea because I don’t know much about the difference between the two architectures.

 

[nihil0]

Budget is not a big trouble but I don’t want to waste money on an iMac that will be also renewed at the end of 2020/early 2021. I’m just asking if the Vega is worth the extra money for adobe Lightroom and some AI tools. Because from the benchmarks, now the difference is not big but maybe in the future the new architecture will last longer. I have no idea because I don’t know much about the difference between the two architectures.

I am a photographer and I work in Lr/Ps and Luminar 4. After thorough research I have concluded that Vega 48 is not worth the money for me. And I strongly doubt that in coming years Adobe will rebuild Lr from scratch so it will use modern architectures. For video, however, Vega 48 is different story.

 

[libertyranger10]

I am a photographer and I work in Lr/Ps and Luminar 4. After thorough research I have concluded that Vega 48 is not worth the money for me. And I strongly doubt that in coming years Adobe will rebuild Lr from scratch so it will use modern architectures. For video, however, Vega 48 is different story.

I agree, I don't see LR really taking advantage of a faster graphics card. There are other forum posts that discuss LR's ability to use up the Video Ram. It looks like it holds on the memory and doesn't let it go.

LR will definitely benefit from the i9 processor. I'm using a 2014 iMac and am also looking at upgrading to a 2019 iMac for LR. Going with the 580X.

 

[nihil0]

I agree, I don't see LR really taking advantage of a faster graphics card. There are other forum posts that discuss LR's ability to use up the Video Ram. It looks like it holds on the memory and doesn't let it go.

LR will definitely benefit from the i9 processor. I'm using a 2014 iMac and am also looking at upgrading to a 2019 iMac for LR. Going with the 580X.

Same here... my new i9 with 580X is waiting for pickup from store.

For Lightroom you mostly need strong CPU (more cores the merrier although currently 8 is top and everything after that doesn't help at all), ultra fast SSD and lots and lots of RAM. GPU is on last place.

 

[1204949]

With your budget, why not go for an iMac Pro? A refurb model currently at 4660€ directly from Apple is not a bad choice considering that you get an 8-core, 1TB SSD, Vega 56, 32GB ECC ram + quiet operation and better I/O.

 

[qap]

With your budget, why not go for an iMac Pro? A refurb model currently at 4660€ directly from Apple is not a bad choice considering that you get an 8-core, 1TB SSD, Vega 56, 32GB ECC ram + quiet operation and better I/O.

Because it’s 1200/1300€ more expensive, because the cpu is older and not so fast compared to i9, because I can’t upgrade manually the ram to 128gb (the iMac i9 I’ll buy it with 64gb ram from amazon) and because I think the new iMac Pro will be released earlier than the normal imac. I mean, I think the new iMac Pro will be release this year with a new design, and the iMac not pro, later this year (Q4) or in 2021. So I don’t want to buy an iMac Pro with “already older” design. And I don’t think it’s quiet because it has two fans, the imac only one and it spins at 1200rpm, same as the 2015/2017 models. Yes during heavy load it’s louder but normally I don’t hear it, only for few seconds/minutes during batch exporting in Lightroom but I do it few times. It doesn’t bother me.

in the end I think I’ll go for the Vega, if it can handle better the AI apps.