Possible Imac 5k i7 4gb GPU Purchase. Does it overheat?

[Yourbigpalal83]

Hey guys. Brand new to the site and love it. First Post.

Ok, long story short, I'm using my old macbook pro 13inch 2009 model and its time to upgrade. This current mac I'm using now was my first mac computer, and its easley the best computer i ever used. That said, its over 6 years old and slow and time for an upgrade.

I'm eyeballing the iMac 5k fully stacked with the I7 processor and 4gb video card but checking out the forms I'm hearing horror stories of these bad boys overheating.

Now not all the posts make clear if its in windows (which i can understand because the drivers aren't optimized) or if its a legit issue with the hardware.

Now I'm not a big pc gamer, and when i did install windows on my current mac a few years ago with bootcamp, she ran noisy and hot and me being severly ocd (i have an anxiety disorder its bad), i was paranoid and never ran it again.

Id like to think this new iMac, for the price (which ill be broke for a few months after buying it) could handle windows games running in 1080p without frying the system. IMHO 4k is amazing, but for gaming that close to the screen, 1080p is fine if it doesnt fry the computer or make it sound like a dam jet engine taking off (one of the reasons why i sold my ps4 was because i just couldn't game comfortably with the noise) BUT IM TOTALLY COOL KEEPING THE THING RUNNING JUST OS X AND BUILDING A GAMING PC LATER ON (once the oculus riff comes out next year) IF I HAVE TO.

Sorry for the long post but i figure i rather ask now and get solid intel before i pull the trigger on over 3k worth of hardware that has to last me 3 plus years! (I'm without a doubt getting the apple care)

I really don't want to get a non retina mac because its obvious the handwriting is on the wall and all my other apple products (iPad mini 2, iPhone 6 plus 64gb and Apple Watch Sport) all run retina displays and i figure anything less is a downgrade.

Would waiting till october be worth it? Or is it most likely a software issue that can be fixed with windows, or bypass it all together and just run OS X on it

I plan to do video editing on it, grow my youtube channel, and just have a nice up to date Mac for a change.

Whats your advice.

Al

 

[KiXeR]

I would recommend you to watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgTMxB-ffjM and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJt3av99e8k . My recommendation is to wait for refresh later this year, Skylake and or new AMD/Nvidia GPUs. New Macbook 15" 2015 comes with new m370X GPU and we dunno yet how it preforms.

 

[Yourbigpalal83]

i watched the linus video and IF i game on it at all, (the only real reason i would is for the oculus rift stuff coming out next year) id turn down everything to 1080p in windows..

Basic Core question though...IF i buy one..run just os X, will it overheat? I'm paranoid about being stuck with a $3k paperweight!

 

[yjchua95]

i watched the linus video and IF i game on it at all, (the only real reason i would is for the oculus rift stuff coming out next year) id turn down everything to 1080p in windows..

Basic Core question though...IF i buy one..run just os X, will it overheat? I'm paranoid about being stuck with a $3k paperweight!

I've got the 4GHz i7/32/512/4GB M295X and I'd say that it barely overheats except when doing heavy professional tasks (cinematography work) or gaming.

 

[Yourbigpalal83]

yeah odds are ill never do any major film production level video work. As of right now i plan on using my iPhone to feed it footage, MAYBE upgrade to a 4k go pro later on down the road, use some adobe after effects...Light to moderate level stuff..nothing professional hollywood level stuff as of right now.

Question. Lets say i run this thing normally. year or 2 down the road, what ever reason, the dam thing fries on me. If i got the apple care, everything fully covered right? they fix it or replace it right there on the spot?

I get accidental damage isn't covered. Me dropping it on the floor or something, thats on me. But if I'm running this thing as designed...it conks out on me because "hey opps we designed this or that wrong"...they replace it with a new model or cover the cost to correct the issue?

I just want all my bases covered because 3K plus is A TON OF MONEY FOR ME! I have great experiences with apple, I've been using there IOS stuff for years and this macbook pro has worked near flawlessly for 6 years almost non stop..

Id like to think apple still lives up to those high standards. God knows i don't ever wana go back to PC unless its to game. Otherwise..i have no reason to.

 

[craig1410]

Hi,
I have this same machine and let's be clear, it does not "overheat". It heats up for sure but there are fans and other thermal control mechanisms in place to ensure the heat is removed efficiently and does not cause the machine to damage itself.

I don't run windows but I do run X-Plane (latest version) and I run that at 1440p resolution with lots of features turned on and it certainly spins up the fans. However, I have zero concerns about overheating because I trust that Apple have carefully considered that when designing the machine. I also trust that, if it turns out down the line that thermal damage has occurred, Applecare will take care of it. Even outside of the 3 year warranty period Apple have shown a willingness to correct any latent design flaws by extending warranties for specific issues. That was the Jobs era and if anything I expect the Cook era to be even more willing to "do the right thing".

Look at it another way - what's the point in having the fast CPU and GPU and then having them idle all the time? That heat is a side-effect of the value you are extracting from this powerful machine.

Another thing to consider is that you have a 14 day return period within which to evaluate the machine yourself.

HTH,
Craig.

 

[ZipZap]

@Craig1410said... Even outside of the 3 year warranty period Apple have shown a willingness to correct any latent design flaws by extending warranties for specific issues. That was the Jobs era and if anything I expect the Cook era to be even more willing to "do the right thing".

You can't count on that, Apple is changing. I've read about lawsuits over years to address latent flaws.

If Apple/You are so confident why is the warranty only 3 years (1 of which came with your purchase)?

You should be concerned that expensive devices are expensive to fix. Worries me all the time with Apples non-user servicable designs.

 

[craig1410]

@Craig1410said... Even outside of the 3 year warranty period Apple have shown a willingness to correct any latent design flaws by extending warranties for specific issues. That was the Jobs era and if anything I expect the Cook era to be even more willing to "do the right thing".

You can't count on that, Apple is changing. I've read about lawsuits over years to address latent flaws.

If Apple/You are so confident why is the warranty only 3 years (1 of which came with your purchase)?

You should be concerned that expensive devices are expensive to fix. Worries me all the time with Apples non-user servicable designs.

I've been an Apple customer for many years and have direct experience (not just from reading about it) of them going beyond their warranty obligations to maintain good customer service. Like I said, I trust them to do the right thing and so far that trust has never been broken. YMMV. Warranty periods could be extended beyond 3 years but there will always be a cost to that which the consumer has to decide whether to accept or not. There are companies out there who will provide an extended warranty for your Apple devices beyond 3 years if you want that. Personally I'm more than happy to take my chances. I've got an 8 year old iMac running beside me here and it is still running perfectly. Of course I replaced the HDD for an SSD a couple of years ago as a precaution against inevitable HDD failure and also to significantly increase the performance. Not user serviceable technically but wasn't difficult to upgrade really. Newer machines are a bit more tricky but again, not impossible if you have the skills.

I'm an electronics engineer and computer consultant and feel I am in a good position to judge the reasoning behind what you call "non-user serviceable designs" and I can safely say that we gain far more from these designs than we lose. I've been taking apart, repairing and rebuilding PCs and Macs for 30+ years and have seen some shoddy designs over the years, mainly in the PC designs. The current Mac line-up is an evolution of the design and packaging expertise which Apple have honed over years of continual improvement. You've got to realise that computing has been commoditised and deep integration has taken over from the modularisation of the past. It's a common cycle in most industries and nothing to fear.

You're right about one thing - Apple is changing but in my opinion it is changing for the better.

 

[Roman2K~]

I got the one in my signature since launch in october 2014. Before that I had a rMBP 15" since launch in summer 2012. I can't guarantee you anything but I can tell you I do not regret draining my bank account (3400€...) like you're thinking of doing. The display is still makes me marvel at how eye-soothingly crisp it is to this day. The neat-factor is still far from wearing off and makes up for all these € gone and then some. I wonder if it will ever wear off actually, since it never did with the rMBP before that, for 2.5 years. Only now the effect is 27/15 times stronger .

I'm a developer, heavy YouTube and Chrome user, always have a bunch of daemons running, totalling 250-300 processes on a normal day, and have an external 1080p monitor plugged-in all the time. Day to day, the fan doesn't make itself heard. No complaints at all. It can spin up quite loudly for 4K YT videos in fullscreen (HTML5, not Flash) and definitely does when compiling programs when it takes more than ~10 secs and when Plex is indexing or transcoding. Warranted cases in my opinion.

However, the CPU and GPU do run hotter than I'd like. The CPU is always > 60°C, the GPU > 80 °C, and this is during normal use not doing anything special, just letting opened apps rest, CPU usage < 3% but RAM usage at ~50% (active + wired). More concerning, today while watching a 4K YT HTML5 video in fullscreen, I saw the GPU reach 100°C (and certainly throttling) at which point the fan finally started ramping up to ~1800 RPM (from 1200 min). Didn't drop frames or anything, I wouldn't have noticed anything if I wasn't paying attention to the temp in my status bar. Configuring Mac Fan Control to adjust the fan speed based on GPU temp may be a good idea.

I'm just telling you this because you're worried about temps and fan noise, but they're really no causes for concern IMO. I use the thing without ever worrying about temps or fans (and I'm quite noise-sensitive). Definitely nothing worth putting off the purchase and depriving yourself of such a beautiful and powerful machine .

 

[Yourbigpalal83]

so i looked around the web and idk about you guys but I'm hearing very few reports of the thing actually Overheating as in it doesnt work at all just using it normally. Is there a few bad batches out there, undoubtably. When you make and manufacture millions of them, its bound to happen here and there.

Also, its 6 months after it launched. Im sure apple has refined its construction of it. Also is the software better? Im hearing funny things about a few minor glitches like it will go into sleep mode with too many tabs open in safari and won't play videos off of websites in full screen?

Im really leaning towards getting it despite issues, as no computer or mass consumer product out there, weather it be made by apple or not, is not without some flaws. Nothing is perfect. IMHO apple products come closer then most but even still...

I just don't want to get this beautiful machine, unload the entire bank account for it, and its a noisy glitchy product.

But i guess the only sure fire way is to get one and test it out. Now if i have to return it i just bring it to an apple store right even if i oder it online?

 

[SmallDane]

If by "overheat" you mean that it gets so hot that it stops working, then the answer is definitely NO. It will not overheat in that sense. However, it will run hot and noisy if you game or run other activities that push either the CPU or the GPU. I returned mine for that very reason. But not because I was afraid it would break.

Having said that, I don't think waiting for an update is likely to change any of the above. Apple makes products for the average consumer and cares little about gamers and heavy users. I have seen no indication that they are changing their strategy on that.

My advice is that you buy in the online Apple Store so you can test it for 14 days. You can return it for a full refund if you're not satisfied.

 

[tillsbury]

I don't think there are any reports of it overheating, are there?

It runs warm if you push it. There are reports of it running hotter than some people think it should, but most importantly it stays the temperature than the chip manufacturers and Apple think it should. So what's the issue exactly? Running up to design temperature and then having the fans cool it or throttle is what it's built to do. That's not "overheating".

It can run up to 100C and above if you're playing games. We all know that. It's supposed to. Next question? If it fails for whatever reason you have Applecare or similar.

 

[w00tini]

I've got the 4GHz i7/32/512/4GB M295X and I'd say that it barely overheats except when doing heavy professional tasks (cinematography work) or gaming.

I agree. same experience I have with mine. fan only comes on when I fire up Diablo 3

 

[joe-h2o]

I don't think there are any reports of it overheating, are there?

It runs warm if you push it. There are reports of it running hotter than some people think it should, but most importantly it stays the temperature than the chip manufacturers and Apple think it should. So what's the issue exactly? Running up to design temperature and then having the fans cool it or throttle is what it's built to do. That's not "overheating".

It can run up to 100C and above if you're playing games. We all know that. It's supposed to. Next question? If it fails for whatever reason you have Applecare or similar.

It's not supposed to - it throttles when it gets that hot, reducing performance.

It's meant to have sufficient thermal overhead to be able to run at 100% CPU and GPU power indefinitely. It simply can't do that, because it will reach the thermal cutoff and have to throttle back.

It won't be damaged by this (that's what the throttling prevents) but it will be noisy and hot if pushed.

If the noise and the performance don't bother you then it's fine, but it's clear that the AMD GPU Apple selected is clearly not really ideal for the thermal design they installed. It just doesn't have the headroom for it.

 

[MrLeek]

I've had my iMac (5k i7 295M) for a few months now and I'm still enjoying it. The different points raised so far are both valid - it doesn't overheat, but it does run hot; the fan does get a bit loud; if you're really pushing this machine then it's inevitable that you'll see some throttling.

There's still a large part of me that thinks that drivers are part of the problem (not the sole reason for the issues). I've been playing around with Kerbal Space Program (demo) - fun game with a lot of depth. I've noticed that, even with the more cartoon/basic graphics whilst flying one of your rockets, the gpu heats up and the fan kicks in. Now, there's a lot of op under-the-hood physics calculations going on, but if the work is being done in an inefficient manner then that will mean more work....resulting in more heat. Related to this I've been able to get the gpu temp to spike by as much as 6-7C and then drop it again just as quickly. Changing the screen display changes the temp suggests driver/software to me.

I also have to run software in Parallels (Ubuntu VM) and the gpu gets into the high 80s/low 90s even then.

Meanwhile, with all the throttling/overheating questions going on.....I've yet to see any significant drop in FPS in any game. I don't expect it to run at 5k with every tin set to max, but it is performing at a good standard with good graphics.

If you want a machine that can handle everything to max with no questions then the iMac 5k is probably not it. But, since I've got at least 15 unplayed games from Humble Bundle and the like I'm not expecting any issues - the 3-4 that I've played so far are all running at 1080 with med/high settings just fine.

 

[Yourbigpalal83]

Ive spent the past 2 nights doing research on this thing and ultimately I've decided I'm just too unconfortable with draining everything i have in the account for a first gen product with widely known heating issues.

Its heartbreaking, cause i really badly want this computer, but if its noisy and runs hot, it just makes me too dam paranoid it will eventually break on me and ill end up with a 3000 dollar paperweight.

I know apple has a great reputation and i love them for it. But i think for me, my safe bet is to continue to use my old 2009 macbook pro until the fall and see if they put out a better version or retina iMacs in the 21 inch line for roughly the same price they have now.

The current line of 21 inch iMacs hasn't been refreshed in almost 2 years, i just looked at the 27 non retina iMac line on apple and there is only one model left and you can tell the handwriting is on the wall that there going to phase out all the non retina products by years end and replace them with retina products for hopefully the same price. (based on apples history with the iPads, phones and macbook pros, seems highly likely)

Come fall, hopefully $1500 (half of what id pay for this model) will net me a nice 21 inch retina iMac thats powerful enough to get some work done, and then ill have money left over for the rumored iPad Pro which hopefully itself doesnt cost more then $1000.

So to me it makes more sense to save until then, get 2 things for less then the price of 1 and still be within the mac ecosystem

Thanks for all your advice. Honestly you guys saved my ass here, and this is the smarter play in the long run, while achieving untimatly the same results in the end

 

[Geaux]

Honestly, I don't think any computer is worth draining a savings account for.

With that said, I will probably be purchasing the maxed model and not worry about the fans or heat. Personally, k don't game but will do some non4-k video edits from time to time.

 

[Glockworkorange]

Id like to think this new iMac, for the price (which ill be broke for a few months after buying it) could handle windows games running in 1080p without frying the system. IMHO 4k is amazing, but for gaming that close to the screen, 1080p is fine if it doesnt fry the computer or make it sound like a dam jet engine taking off (one of the reasons why i sold my ps4 was because i just couldn't game comfortably with the noise) BUT IM TOTALLY COOL KEEPING THE THING RUNNING JUST OS X AND BUILDING A GAMING PC LATER ON (once the oculus riff comes out next year) IF I HAVE TO.

Dude, if the PS4 is too uncomfortable for you to game on then forget about using the 5K for gaming, in any resolution or OS. It's pretty, but it's probably not the machine you are looking for.


Al[/QUOTE]

----------

Honestly, I don't think any computer is worth draining a savings account for.

And this statement.

 

[Yourbigpalal83]

i think you misunderstood me bro. I love the ps4 and not uncomfortable for my eyes. Mine ran way to noisy and made me paranoid it was going to overheat! I hate noisy machines. Just makes me feel unconfortable

My eyes can easily handle 4k gaming

 

[thundersteele]

I have the 5k iMac with 4GB GPU. Wonderful machine.

It runs at a high temperature under load. If you can't handle that buy something else, I'm confident that the machine can handle it!

As far as the noise is concerned, the fans are certainly audible under load, but much less noisy than e.g. a MBP or most gaming machines. I think to beat it you need a Mac Pro or a water cooled gaming PC.

 

[nydennis]

Has anyone compared the noise to the Mac mini 2011 or 2012? I can hear the fan slightly on the Mac mini when idling. When doing heavy tasks on the mini such as taxing the cpu the fan spins up pretty loud and then ramps down when completed.

 

[tom123]

Need a I7 ?

I went to the Apple refurbished store. good deals on iMac 5k 's

I went for the one on the bottom, the most expensive one #

Yes you can hear the fan, but only when encoding
Normally around 1200 RPMs can hardly hear it

The screen is nice ! And the space, well you just can't have too much of it.

 

[MacNerd1239]

I keep getting nervous about getting the riMac, but then I realize I have a Sandy Bridge i7 based PC Gaming Tower that I'm not getting rid of. Who knows, I guess?

Best of luck on your purchase, please do let me know how it works out!

 

[andy9l]

Has anyone compared the noise to the Mac mini 2011 or 2012? I can hear the fan slightly on the Mac mini when idling. When doing heavy tasks on the mini such as taxing the cpu the fan spins up pretty loud and then ramps down when completed.

That is indeed how cooling systems work.

The 4790K/M295X retina iMac is about twice as loud as the equivalent 2013 iMac, with only a slight boost in performance.

It's one of the hottest iMacs ever built, and one of the loudest. It explicitly relies on hardware throttling to prevent overheating. For that reason, I'm out.

 

[nydennis]

That is indeed how cooling systems work.

The 4790K/M295X retina iMac is about twice as loud as the equivalent 2013 iMac, with only a slight boost in performance.

It's one of the hottest iMacs ever built, and one of the loudest. It explicitly relies on hardware throttling to prevent overheating. For that reason, I'm out.

I ordered the iMac 5k yesterday. I want to give it a shot. If it is that annoying I am going to be taking it back and going with the Mac Pro instead. Two weeks until it is shipped to the store.