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Votes for which iMac please!
- Thread starter Silicon30
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Not sure how to give advice on graphics and storage when you don't give any information on what you're going to use it for. If that doesn't matter much, I'd go with SSD storage. The 580 graphics card is probably great, but I'd not be using it much.
Also, get 16GB of RAM. Either through the store or by placing it afterwards yourself.
Also, get 16GB of RAM. Either through the store or by placing it afterwards yourself.
Ill upgrade RAM later with OTS stuff. 8GB fine for now given what I do. Main uses are for day to day use (email/web/office etc) but also into video editing for home movies (1080p currently) - but over next year or so will be using 4k footage and either edit in iMovie / FCPx. Also like to edit RAW photo with lightshop.
Hope that helps.
If you really andent that sure and you don’t need it right now, my advice is to wait and keep saving for a little while.
Think over what you would actually want it for, do some research and keep that money in the bank and add to it. You may even find yourself with new iMac mOdels or currency adjusted pricing when you are ready to buy... who knows
Think over what you would actually want it for, do some research and keep that money in the bank and add to it. You may even find yourself with new iMac mOdels or currency adjusted pricing when you are ready to buy... who knows
My education pricing runs out 8th June...so can't wait for what may or may not be down the line. my main issue is the storage - I am coming from a fast i7, 16gb ddr4 3000MHz ram, 1060gtx 6gb windows rig but want a mac to for the monitor, space saving is a huge concern where I live etc. So I would naturally gravitate to the pro 580 build but am only dropping down for the ability to buy the ssd drive.
Don’t get the fusion drive, trust me. Had a 2013 iMac with a fusion drive and one of the drives died. All data was pretty much lost because of the way the drives are merged together (of course right before I realized I hadn’t backed up in a while). Also, performance was significantly slower than you would get with ssd alone.
Get the 512gb ssd for you apps, and just get an external data storage device. Can always do a tb3 raid later for video editing. The internal 2tb won’t be big enough anyway. I really regretted not getting the full ssd route since they were pretty much the same price back then.
For graphics, I always go with the highest option since it’s not upgradable. Though I doubt there will be a huge difference, but I haven’t seen the benchmarks between the two in video editing.
I would go with the 512 and add external SSD storage. Something like this: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-thunderblade-v4 LaCie has a similar 2 Tb version.
SSD all the way. You could go for a non-SSD external for bulk non-performance-critical files.
I have also voted for the pure SSD system. I have a pure SSD iMac from 2015 myself. And the day to day performance is great.
As for graphics, I think both will be more than adequate for 4K video editing, unless you go for some serious pro cameras.
I edit 4K from a consumer 4K camera on my i5 iMac from 2015 (Radeon R9 M390), and it deals with it fine.
I have tried to find some actual benchmarks of these graphics cards, but there is not much out there. There is a performance difference, but how much it means in the real world I don't know. But what I founds is here: https://www.techwalls.com/amd-radeon-pro-570-575-580-comparison/
Rumors of new/updated iMacs seem pretty far away, given that we just saw it all updated this summer, I don't think it likely any updates come this year at all.
Some reviewers have noticed the 2017 iMac can have a problem with thermal throttling (Things get too hot to cool down at 100% performance, so everything slows down, to cool things down). So maybe going for a slower GPU could give the fans a little headroom to cool things down better, when the work load is high.
As for graphics, I think both will be more than adequate for 4K video editing, unless you go for some serious pro cameras.
I edit 4K from a consumer 4K camera on my i5 iMac from 2015 (Radeon R9 M390), and it deals with it fine.
I have tried to find some actual benchmarks of these graphics cards, but there is not much out there. There is a performance difference, but how much it means in the real world I don't know. But what I founds is here: https://www.techwalls.com/amd-radeon-pro-570-575-580-comparison/
Rumors of new/updated iMacs seem pretty far away, given that we just saw it all updated this summer, I don't think it likely any updates come this year at all.
Some reviewers have noticed the 2017 iMac can have a problem with thermal throttling (Things get too hot to cool down at 100% performance, so everything slows down, to cool things down). So maybe going for a slower GPU could give the fans a little headroom to cool things down better, when the work load is high.
One more vote for the SSD version.
If you find yourself needing "more room", buy a USB3 2.5" external drive.
Either platter-based HDD or an SSD, depending on what you like.
Get some velcro and mount it up on the back of the iMac's stand -- out of the way.
If you find yourself needing "more room", buy a USB3 2.5" external drive.
Either platter-based HDD or an SSD, depending on what you like.
Get some velcro and mount it up on the back of the iMac's stand -- out of the way.
Fusion was great five or six years ago and was developed to compete with Seagate Hybrid drives which werer a disaster.
Now the way for the internal drive is SSD. If the budget runs to it, a 1TB PCI-e Flash Drive is the go.
Now the way for the internal drive is SSD. If the budget runs to it, a 1TB PCI-e Flash Drive is the go.
I second this. My first 5K was the 2014 base model. That had the 1TB fusion with 128 GB SSD. I now have an iMac with 1TB SSD. You won't regret the speed of the SSD--sure, sometimes the fusion is fast due to it's SSD portion, however, you can't control what goes where.
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Also, the current PCI-e speeds are just insane.
