retina iMac configuration

[sasha.danielle]

My needs are not heavy (a bit of Logic X is the heaviest use I'll have). I'm a writer, so mostly I'm just after the screen here. Also movie watching, surfing etc. That said, however, a stuttering computer will annoy me to no end. I'm just sensitive that way.

How much of a difference would the i7 processor make in day to day operation? Will scrolling on the web be jerky without it? I just want a buttery operation.

I should mention I am also planning on 24gb RAM.

What do you guys think? Would the i7 be worth it for someone like me? Or is better graphics support a better place to put my money?

Also what configurations are known for causing the machine fan to kick in a lot? I like a quiet computer.

 

[tillsbury]

Upgrade to Fusion, then graphics, then all-SSD, then processor. In that order. RAM can be done at any time.

The fan on my riMac is silent unless I am doing video processing/conversion/output.

 

[sasha.danielle]

Upgrade to Fusion, then graphics, then all-SSD, then processor. In that order. RAM can be done at any time.

The fan on my riMac is silent unless I am doing video processing/conversion/output.

Is RAM last on the list just because it's least important or because I can upgrade it myself?

 

[tillsbury]

Is RAM last on the list just because it's least important or because I can upgrade it myself?

Bit of both, really. But mainly because you can do it yourself, so there's no need to think about it at ordering time.

 

[yjchua95]

Upgrade to Fusion, then graphics, then all-SSD, then processor. In that order. RAM can be done at any time.

The fan on my riMac is silent unless I am doing video processing/conversion/output.

The default is already Fusion.

 

[tillsbury]

The default is already Fusion.

My mistake. I was thinking of the smaller imacs, just been dealing with those recently.

 

[senseless]

Base model with your added ram will be good. You can get good discounts on the base model, as opposed to the custom configurations.

 

[roadkill401]

The processor will have just about zero effect on the scrolling or view ability of web sites, along with any writing app on what I assume is the 5k imac. The only thing that the i7 brings is hyperthreading that gives a slight advantage to multi threaded tasks that use common buffered data such as rendering.

As well, the upgrade to the video card will have little to no effect as well. There are those out there the seem to be fixated that the standard video card can't handle the 5K resolution and feel that you need to put some larger gaming video card for it to work fine.

I have been running not only my 5k screen but two additional 1080 monitors at the same time (3 screens in total) and get the buttery smooth scrolling on all of them, and I have the standard M290X card.

The biggest bottleneck you have is getting the data from your drive to your ram. For that you need either the fusion (standard) or you can upgrade to the SSD depending on how much data you have and other factors.

Yosemite is a bit of a PIG and having a bit more ram is better than not enough. It thoeretically should work with 4gb of ram, but again as the riMac comes standard with 8gb that should work fine too.

That just leave the screen. the Retina 5K screen simply looks great and doesn't have the eye strain that a lower res screen can give if you spend your days reading text.

 

[Lancetx]

The base configuration with an upgrade to 16GB of RAM should certainly be sufficient for what the OP is wanting to do. That upgrade can be done very inexpensively by simply adding two additional 4GB modules to the existing RAM that it ships with. An 8GB (2x4GB) kit costs less than $60 currently if you shop around.

 

[sasha.danielle]

Base model with your added ram will be good. You can get good discounts on the base model, as opposed to the custom configurations.

Oh really? That's fantastic! Where are these discounts usually found at?

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The processor will have just about zero effect on the scrolling or view ability of web sites, along with any writing app on what I assume is the 5k imac. The only thing that the i7 brings is hyperthreading that gives a slight advantage to multi threaded tasks that use common buffered data such as rendering.

As well, the upgrade to the video card will have little to no effect as well. There are those out there the seem to be fixated that the standard video card can't handle the 5K resolution and feel that you need to put some larger gaming video card for it to work fine.

I have been running not only my 5k screen but two additional 1080 monitors at the same time (3 screens in total) and get the buttery smooth scrolling on all of them, and I have the standard M290X card.

The biggest bottleneck you have is getting the data from your drive to your ram. For that you need either the fusion (standard) or you can upgrade to the SSD depending on how much data you have and other factors.

Yosemite is a bit of a PIG and having a bit more ram is better than not enough. It thoeretically should work with 4gb of ram, but again as the riMac comes standard with 8gb that should work fine too.

That just leave the screen. the Retina 5K screen simply looks great and doesn't have the eye strain that a lower res screen can give if you spend your days reading text.

Base model with your added ram will be good. You can get good discounts on the base model, as opposed to the custom configurations.

The base configuration with an upgrade to 16GB of RAM should certainly be sufficient for what the OP is wanting to do. That upgrade can be done very inexpensively by simply adding two additional 4GB modules to the existing RAM that it ships with. An 8GB (2x4GB) kit costs less than $60 currently if you shop around.

Thanks for the feedback everyone! This is fantastic news and will save me a whack of cash.

Right now, then, I'm kind of leaning towards a refurbished base model with 256gb SSD and an additional 16gb RAM.

 

[yjchua95]

The only thing that the i7 brings is hyperthreading that gives a slight advantage to multi threaded tasks that use common buffered data such as rendering.

I disagree. In heavily multithreaded tasks (4K video editing with FCP X), I notice that tasks are almost always around 30-40% faster than my colleagues's 3.5GHz i5.

That said, since the OP isn't doing anything particularly heavy, the base retina iMac should be fine.

 

[vegastime]

Oh really? That's fantastic! Where are these discounts usually found at?

I was able to pick up the base 5K a week or two ago from Bestbuy for $2025, plus a free year of Office 365 (that I don't really need). That is about $100 less than a refurbished unit from Apple.

They had it on sale for $250 off and I was able to use the movers coupon for an additional 10% off. Not sure how often they do the $250 off, as usually it seems to be $100 off.

 

[sasha.danielle]

Oh really? That's fantastic! Where are these discounts usually found at?

I was able to pick up the base 5K a week or two ago from Bestbuy for $2025, plus a free year of Office 365 (that I don't really need). That is about $100 less than a refurbished unit from Apple.

They had it on sale for $250 off and I was able to use the movers coupon for an additional 10% off. Not sure how often they do the $250 off, as usually it seems to be $100 off.

Cool. I'll keep an eye out. Forgive my ignorance, but what is a movers coupon?

 

[vegastime]

Cool. I'll keep an eye out. Forgive my ignorance, but what is a movers coupon?

It is a coupon you can pick up at he post office that comes in their movers packet. You can also buy them off eBay for around $4-$5.

 

[roadkill401]

I disagree. In heavily multithreaded tasks (4K video editing with FCP X), I notice that tasks are almost always around 30-40% faster than my colleagues's 3.5GHz i5.

That said, since the OP isn't doing anything particularly heavy, the base retina iMac should be fine.

So what you are saying is that your 4ghz i7 is about 30-40% faster than a slower 3.5ghz i5. So the actual gain from the Hyperthread is about 15% or so.. I'd still put that under the slight category.

 

[yjchua95]

So what you are saying is that your 4ghz i7 is about 30-40% faster than a slower 3.5ghz i5. So the actual gain from the Hyperthread is about 15% or so.. I'd still put that under the slight category.

Between a 3.4GHz i5 (non-retina 27") and a 3.1GHz i7 (21.5"), I still see at least a 27-35% performance difference.

You can't measure performance gains by linearly comparing the core count and clock speed alone.

 

[AlexJoda]

I disagree. In heavily multithreaded tasks (4K video editing with FCP X), I notice that tasks are almost always around 30-40% faster than my colleagues's 3.5GHz i5.

That said, since the OP isn't doing anything particularly heavy, the base retina iMac should be fine.

If you compare the I7 with the I5 in FCP X you might also compare the M295X with the M290X in FCP X. Is there also a noticeable performance improvement and how much will that be ? My read is that the CPU ist still much more important than the GPU for normal editing in FCP although the GPU is used sometimes...

 

[yjchua95]

If you compare the I7 with the I5 in FCP X you might also compare the M295X with the M290X in FCP X. Is there also a noticeable performance improvement and how much will that be ? My read is that the CPU ist still much more important than the GPU for normal editing in FCP although the GPU is used sometimes...

I'd say that in really serious workflows, the GPU will be more important than the CPU, since the GPU has way more computational power available.

That's why the nMPs all have dual GPU setups - for FCP X to leverage.

 

[AlexJoda]

I'd say that in really serious workflows, the GPU will be more important than the CPU, since the GPU has way more computational power available.

That's why the nMPs all have dual GPU setups - for FCP X to leverage.

I can follow that argument for the nMP which has dual desktop GPUs but not for the M295X in Retina iMac. Because of the throttling it only give me about 8% performance gain in real world testing over the 290. I was asking if you are able to notice that in FCP X ?

 

[yjchua95]

I can follow that argument for the nMP which has dual desktop GPUs but not for the M295X in Retina iMac. Because of the throttling it only give me about 8% performance gain in real world testing over the 290. I was asking if you are able to notice that in FCP X ?

At this moment, not really, because I don't have an i7/M295X and an i7/M290X to compare with.