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Quad i5 vs Dual i7

S

sparrowpost

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 14, 2015
2
0
Hello all

I'm looking at getting a mac for Pro Tools post production (not too plugin heavy) and some minor video editing purposes. I have narrowed my options down to what I think are 2 comparable systems:

iMac with 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz)
Intel Iris Pro Graphics

Or

Mac Mini with 3.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz)
Intel Iris Graphics

I would spec them both to 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD.

The question I can't seem to find an answer to is this: what is more important in a processor, cores or i5/i7? Do they balance out, or are more cores always better?

Thanks for any input.
 
sparrowpost said:
e question I can't seem to find an answer to is this: what is more important in a processor, cores or i5/i7? Do they balance out, or are more cores always better?
Click to expand...

What's more important is how much computational power a given processor has, regardless of its marketing name or number of cores.

The i5 you list has four cores. The i7 you list has two cores, but has hyperthreading so it can run four simultaneous threads, and a higher clock speed. But if you look at the raw benchmark numbers, that particular i5 is going to be about 10-20% faster than the i7 if you're maxing out all cores before any thermal issues slow them down. How it will pan out over a long period of time is difficult to predict without trying out your particular scenario (say a Pro Tools export with several transformations). Four threads on two cores isn't always faster or slower than four cores. And if you're using single-threaded operations, the i7 will be faster. So, as with most comparisons... it depends.
 
The i7 uses hyperthreading to add virtual cores. For the same speed and generation, consider a virtual core to have about 30% of the performance of a physical core, when using multithreaded applications. Ymmv.

In other words, for a 4 core i5 vs a 2 core i7 with hyperhreading (i.e., 2 physical plus 2 virtual), the i5 could be faster at the same clock speed, if the chips are the same generation (e.g., Broadwell, Haswell, etc.).

Make direct comparisons here.
http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks
 
As I suspected, not a clear cut answer to this. Thanks for the replies though, very informative.
 
mike693 said:
The i7 uses hyperthreading to add virtual cores. For the same speed and generation, consider a virtual core to have about 30% of the performance of a physical core, when using multithreaded applications. Ymmv.

In other words, for a 4 core i5 vs a 2 core i7 with hyperhreading (i.e., 2 physical plus 2 virtual), the i5 could be faster at the same clock speed, if the chips are the same generation (e.g., Broadwell, Haswell, etc.).

Make direct comparisons here.
http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks
Click to expand...

Pretty sure the i5's also use hyperthreading. I know my MacBook Air does.

The big issue is single-threaded vs multi-threaded tasks. The i7 will likely be faster for single-threaded tasks (though not tremendously so). The i5 will be able to distribute the tasks across more cores and should be faster for multi-threaded tasks.
 
If its the 2013 i5 2,7 imac then its about 10000 in multicore GB and the 2014 Mini i7 is about 7000 in MC GB..

So, that makes the imac about 42% faster for heavy duty stuff.. :)

But.. the i7 is about 7% faster in single core. So a new tab in safari will open in .01sec faster or something :)
 
That 2014 i7 Mini was a strange upgrade from the 2012 i7 Mini..
2x the price and about 50% of the performance..

Please don´t buy it and make :apple: think we are ok with this :p
 

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jdechko said:
Pretty sure the i5's also use hyperthreading. I know my MacBook Air does.

The big issue is single-threaded vs multi-threaded tasks. The i7 will likely be faster for single-threaded tasks (though not tremendously so). The i5 will be able to distribute the tasks across more cores and should be faster for multi-threaded tasks.
Click to expand...

Sigh... the i5 in your MacBook Air has hyperthreading. The i5 in the iMac we're talking about doesn't have hyperthreading.
 
dyt1983 said:
Sigh... the i5 in your MacBook Air has hyperthreading. The i5 in the iMac we're talking about doesn't have hyperthreading.
Click to expand...

My bad. I thought they still used the same mobile processors across the line. An honest mistake.
 
The iMac is running a desktop CPU. The Mac Mini has a mobile one. There is no contest for power.
 
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