Is my retina configuration well chosen?

[Lilijay]

Hi there,
After quite a long period of research and consideration, I'm almost ready to order my retina, but I would like to see what general opinion is on my configuration.

I'll be doing mainly word processing, internet tasks, and using iTunes. I also use photoshop quite regularly, as well as Ableton suite for creating music. I might get into 3D images and video editing in the near future, but nothing Pixar level

Right now, what I'm thinking of is:
Retina 5k
CPU: i5 (chosen because I don't do much which would require hyper threading, also because I want to avoid heat and it is more expensive)
GPU: Radeon m925 (chosen because I know it will be taxed by Photoshop and other applications eventually, also just to handle the screen and to future proof the machine for later updates and possible reselling later down the track)
HD: 256GB SSD (chosen to avoid both heat and noise, also to have the fastness and physical reliability of an SSD. I should be able to fit all of my files, including my application and media on it. If I need extra space I'll attach an external drive by way of thunderbolt)
RAM: (8GB, but I'll add another 16 to make 24 after purchase)

What do you guys think ? Should be able to last me a good while and handle all the tasks I'm doing/would be likely to do ?

Lili

 

[azentropy]

Hi there,
After quite a long period of research and consideration, I'm almost ready to order my retina, but I would like to see what general opinion is on my configuration.

I'll be doing mainly word processing, internet tasks, and using iTunes. I also use photoshop quite regularly, as well as Ableton suite for creating music. I might get into 3D images and video editing in the near future, but nothing Pixar level

Right now, what I'm thinking of is:
Retina 5k
CPU: i5 (chosen because I don't do much which would require hyper threading, also because I want to avoid heat and it is more expensive)
GPU: Radeon m925 (chosen because I know it will be taxed by Photoshop and other applications eventually, also just to handle the screen and to future proof the machine for later updates and possible reselling later down the track)
HD: 256GB SSD (chosen to avoid both heat and noise, also to have the fastness and physical reliability of an SSD. I should be able to fit all of my files, including my application and media on it. If I need extra space I'll attach an external drive by way of thunderbolt)
RAM: (8GB, but I'll add another 16 to make 24 after purchase)

What do you guys think ? Should be able to last me a good while and handle all the tasks I'm doing/would be likely to do ?

Lili

Nothing wrong with that config, although you say one of the reasons you are choosing the i5 and the 256gb SSD is because to avoid heat but yet you choose the video card that has been reported to cause the most heat and noise complaints.

 

[Lilijay]

Nothing wrong with that config, although you say one of the reasons you are choosing the i5 and the 256gb SSD is because to avoid heat but yet you choose the video card that has been reported to cause the most heat and noise complaints.

Yep, I read that two which made me quite concerned. I went into apple yesterday and they none of the genius' had dealt with this issue, which comforted me. Also I've seen it hypothesised that the i7 with the 290 should be fine, as should the i5 with the 295. Can anyone confirm this ?

 

[yjchua95]

Yep, I read that two which made me quite concerned. I went into apple yesterday and they none of the genius' had dealt with this issue, which comforted me. Also I've seen it hypothesised that the i7 with the 290 should be fine, as should the i5 with the 295. Can anyone confirm this ?

I run the i7 with the M295X and I've to say that the heat issues are blown out of proportion.

Mine barely throttles, unless when doing heavy tasks, and even so, the throttling is not significant.

Besides, the fans are way quieter than that of my rMBP, and they don't spin up unless I'm doing heavy tasks.

 

[Cape Dave]

I have that config but with the 512GB SSD. It is fantastic! Never gets loud, is actually silent.

And temps seem to be fine. I sweated this for weeks and all is good.

I found out that for what I do, I did not even need to go with any more RAM.

Just seemed to me to be a good idea to get the 295x as, even on a slow day, that is one heck of a lotta pixels.

 

[Lilijay]

I have that config but with the 512GB SSD. It is fantastic! Never gets loud, is actually silent.

And temps seem to be fine. I sweated this for weeks and all is good.

I found out that for what I do, I did not even need to go with any more RAM.

Just seemed to me to be a good idea to get the 295x as, even on a slow day, that is one heck of a lotta pixels.

That's really good to hear. May I ask what it is you do with it ? Ie you play games or do photo work or coding etc ?

 

[andy9l]

Besides, the fans are way quieter than that of my rMBP, and they don't spin up unless I'm doing heavy tasks.

The cooling system in the 5K iMac is about twice as loud as the 2012/2013 iMacs, which is part of the reason so many people are noticing the higher temperatures and, as you say, it's been 'blown out of proportion'.

http://barefeats.com/imac5k9.html

That's really good to hear. May I ask what it is you do with it ? Ie you play games or do photo work or coding etc ?

FWIW, I had the i7/M295X/512 SSD/24GB RAM 5K iMac for a few weeks in December. I did return it due to heat, noise and throttling of the M295X and i7, but only because it was negatively impacting my particular use case.

For Photoshop, you will have NO problem. I'm confident of that. I only work with website designs in Photoshop - so fairly basic <500MB PSDs - but it was fine for those.

As mentioned above, it can be considerably more noisy than previous iMacs, but the screen is fantastic and the noise is entirely dependant on your workflow. You're going to have to try it for yourself to see if it's the right machine for you.

Spec-wise it appears that you've done your research and are making good, informed decisions.