Reached the limits of my computer

[Vigilante36]

Well it seems I've reached the limitations of my iMac. I have a late 2015 model with 27" display, 3.2Ghz quad core i5 processor, 32GB of RAM, 1TB fusion drive, and AMD Radeon R9 M390 2GB video card. Works great for everyday stuff like surfing the web, email, office applications, videos, usual stuff. The thing is, I do 3D landscape creation, Photoshop, video editing, and music editing/creation as hobbies and my computer is struggling to keep up. I've already maxed out the memory and I have external hard drives for all my files and applications, but there isn't much else I can do to improve my current setup.


I think my video card and CPU are the main culprits as most of my software is CPU and GPU intensive, and one particular application is focused almost entirely on the graphics card as the main engine. And of course I cannot upgrade these components. I thought about hooking up an external GPU, but I need a computer with Thunderbolt 3 ports and I only have version 2. And while I understand it is possible to run an eGPU with Thunderbolt 2, I am told it's going to be limited due to the lower bandwidth.


Obviously my best option is to get a newer more capable Mac. But which one is best? I could spec out another iMac, but is it going to be limited with my current arsenal of software like I am now? Or do I try to get an iMac Pro? I'll even consider a Mac Pro if I have to, but that's the least feasible option financially.

I am currently leaning towards two options:

-A 2019 iMac with 3.6Ghz 8 core i9 CPU, max out the RAM myself cuz Apple RAM is expensive, 2TB SSD, and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 GPU.

-Just getting an eGPU with a decent Radeon card and using a thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt 2 adapter. However, I have no idea what card will be best for my workflow, so any thoughts would be appreciated.

Attached is a screenshot of one of my apps (World Creator 2) which shows the current GPU is pretty much maxed out- the little screen in the top left is activity monitor status for GPU history.

I have no intention of playing games right now, so I don't need a gaming comp setup.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Your error was getting an iMac with that 1TB Fusion drive with only a tiny 32GB SSD and a 2GB GPU. Go with the2019 and 2TB SSD and you will be thrilled.

 

[Fernandez21]

Well it seems I've reached the limitations of my iMac. I have a late 2015 model with 27" display, 3.2Ghz quad core i5 processor, 32GB of RAM, 1TB fusion drive, and AMD Radeon R9 M390 2GB video card. Works great for everyday stuff like surfing the web, email, office applications, videos, usual stuff. The thing is, I do 3D landscape creation, Photoshop, video editing, and music editing/creation as hobbies and my computer is struggling to keep up. I've already maxed out the memory and I have external hard drives for all my files and applications, but there isn't much else I can do to improve my current setup.


I think my video card and CPU are the main culprits as most of my software is CPU and GPU intensive, and one particular application is focused almost entirely on the graphics card as the main engine. And of course I cannot upgrade these components. I thought about hooking up an external GPU, but I need a computer with Thunderbolt 3 ports and I only have version 2. And while I understand it is possible to run an eGPU with Thunderbolt 2, I am told it's going to be limited due to the lower bandwidth.


Obviously my best option is to get a newer more capable Mac. But which one is best? I could spec out another iMac, but is it going to be limited with my current arsenal of software like I am now? Or do I try to get an iMac Pro? I'll even consider a Mac Pro if I have to, but that's the least feasible option financially.

I am currently leaning towards two options:

-A 2019 iMac with 3.6Ghz 8 core i9 CPU, max out the RAM myself cuz Apple RAM is expensive, 2TB SSD, and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 GPU.

-Just getting an eGPU with a decent Radeon card and using a thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt 2 adapter. However, I have no idea what card will be best for my workflow, so any thoughts would be appreciated.

Attached is a screenshot of one of my apps (World Creator 2) which shows the current GPU is pretty much maxed out- the little screen in the top left is activity monitor status for GPU history.

I have no intention of playing games right now, so I don't need a gaming comp setup.


View attachment 911245

You could try the eGPU and see if that works (cheapest route), if it doesn't you can always return it.

If you can, wait for the 2020 refresh, even if there is no redesign, you'll get better specs for the same price. If you need one now, I think a used iMac Pro for $3,500 would probably do a better job than a spec'ed out 2019 iMac.

 

[jerwin]

From here:

The minimum system requirements for a Mac are:

• OSX 10.13.4 High Sierra
• 4th Generation Intel Core i5 or equivalent AMD processor
• NVIDIA 760 GTX with 2 GB VRAM or equivalent AMD GPU
• 8 GB System RAM
• Metal capable graphics card
• 600 MB disk space

and here

The recommended system specs for a Mac are:
OSX 10.13.4 High Sierra

• 6th Generation Intel Core i7 or equivalent AMD processor
• NVIDIA 980 GTX with 4 GB VRAM or equivalent AMD GPU
• 16 GB System RAM
• Metal capable graphics card
• 600 MB disk space

here are some metal benchmarks
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760: 10060
r9 m390: 21236

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980: 23408 (I would have thought it was capable of more, but hey)
AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48: 49123
AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64: 66670
AMD Radeon Pro 580X: 42298

The geekbench tests may have all sorts of interesting distortions (and nvidia's mac drivers may not be very good), but why not buy with the GPU at the forefront of your mind? An application specific benchmark may be a good deal more accurate, but unless world creator comes with a free benchmark, you may not get a good sampling of how much faster a current mac might be.

Also, the the fact that an i7 is recommended implies (but does not guarantee) that the program can take advantage of more than four cores.

 

[DeltaMac]

You may be correct about needing more GPU, but there's other upgrades that you could consider.
You are not at the RAM limit for your late 2015, 27-inch iMac. Max RAM for that one is 64GB.
And, replacing the Fusion drive setup with an SSD can make a lot of difference.

eGPU works best on a native TB3 bus. Adapting TB2 to TB3 makes the connection, but doesn't give you the bandwidth that you might be wanting. In the end, it's still TB2.
I agree about maybe looking for an iMac Pro. Might be good deals for those now, it would be worth looking for, I think.

 

[chrisdazzo]

Per this documentation, eGPUs may only work with TB3-based Macs without "hacking" something else in. eGPU.io has a lot of info re: what you'll need to do to make an eGPU work on your older TB2-based Mac on any OS after 10.13.6. Tons of info here also. An adapter alone is no longer a viable solution, sadly. I've been on the fence about upgrading my late 2015 iMac as well and considered an eGPU instead of a new Mac, but the reality is grim, even if you enjoy tinkering.