Need some advice in purchasing new iMac

[Adrien24]

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if some of you could help me out in knowing what exactly I should get with the new iMacs. I know that I want a new iMac so no need to say, 'get a Dell' or something along the lines of a PC.

I will be using my iMac for:

• Gaming (Counter Strike: Source + Diablo III + Starcraft II when they come out)
• Photo editing (Photoshop)
• School related works
• Minor video editing
• Web designing/ coding

I would like to get the 24" iMac since it's not a bad deal to get 4 more inches on it and its a lot sexier.

Would it be wise to upgrade the mid-24" to:
3.06GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 512MB OR ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
For my needs?

Your help and ideas are greatly appreciated.. thanks!

 

[j5045096]

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if some of you could help me out in knowing what exactly I should get with the new iMacs. I know that I want a new iMac so no need to say, 'get a Dell' or something along the lines of a PC.

I will be using my iMac for:

• Gaming (Counter Strike: Source + Diablo III + Starcraft II when they come out)
• Photo editing (Photoshop)
• School related works
• Minor video editing
• Web designing/ coding

I would like to get the 24" iMac since it's not a bad deal to get 4 more inches on it and its a lot sexier.

Would it be wise to upgrade the mid-24" to:
3.06GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 512MB OR ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
For my needs?

Your help and ideas are greatly appreciated.. thanks!

I don't think the 3.06ghz is going to be that much faster than the 2.93ghz and they both have 4gb RAM standard which is going to be more than enough for what you are doing. The video card is the question - I have no clue the difference between the NVIDIA and ATI but generally I have done better with NVIDIA stuff but I guess to each his own.

 

[Adrien24]

So it would be a waste to go to 3.06GHz? I thought that the video card needed a faster processor to have a better productivity instead of having a lower processor, but I guess 9GHz wouldn't add too much difference.

Anyone know if the GeForce and Radeon would make a big difference in my case?

 

[Adrien24]

Anyone?

 

[dr. shdw]

2.93ghz with the 4850.

 

[eXan]

Get 2.93 and Radeon 4850. This combo will last you for quite some time in gaming.

4850 is a sweeeeet card and the CPU difference between 2.93 and 3.06 is basically none.

 

[j5045096]

Get 2.93 and Radeon 4850. This combo will last you for quite some time in gaming.

4850 is a sweeeeet card and the CPU difference between 2.93 and 3.06 is basically none.

What are the differences between the 4850 and the NVIDIA? I've been trying to Google some responses but not a whole lot of luck. Why do you prefer the ATI, personally?

 

[Coalman]

I would like to get the 24" iMac since it's not a bad deal to get 4 more inches on it and its a lot sexier.

Would it be wise to upgrade the mid-24" to:
3.06GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 512MB OR ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
For my needs?

The GT 130 isn't much better than the 8800 in the iMac I bought in January--I hope. I hope that the benchmarks bear me out, when somebody posts some.

The Radeon HD 4850 should outclass everything else, though. If you can afford it--and can stand the wait--I'd get it, in whatever configuration you can afford.

 

[eXan]

What are the differences between the 4850 and the NVIDIA? I've been trying to Google some responses but not a whole lot of luck. Why do you prefer the ATI, personally?

As we are still waiting for benchmarks we have to rely on experience from the PC side and Apple's own benchmarks.

4850 is the fastest card after 4870 (but its a mobile version, so its not as fast as the desktop one) and should provide a significant performance boost over GT130 (GF8800). And it costs only 50$ to upgrade from GT130 so why not get it if you want maximum graphics performance?

 

[chewietobbacca]

You said you do gaming, so the 4850 is the way to go. For $50 more, you'll be much more future proof. A few good reasons:

The 4850 desktop version vs. the equivalent of the GT 130 desktop version isn't even close. The 4850 stomps it.

Sure, it's a mobile version, but the GT130 would be a mobile version of its desktop equivalent as well.

The 4850 microarchitecture has proven to be more suitable for higher resolution gaming and graphics than the GT130, so your screen resolution plays a big part.

The 4850 has more support for recent games, and the GT130 equivalent falls even further behind in newer titles.

Honestly, I could go way deeper into this if you wanted to (it gets very technical) but put it this way: do you want the iMac now and wish you had 4850 a month later, or do you want to wait 4-5 weeks for the iMac but get a 4850 for a computer you'll use for years?