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jobinhosyntax

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 16, 2020
120
50
I'm about to upgrade my 2013 i7 to the last intel iMac. I've decided not to wait for Apple silicon for a number of reasons, namely tax! My decision comes down to the 8 core i7 or the 10 core i9 and whether the marginally slower clock speed but extra 2 cores of the i9 wins?

I'm looking to get 64GB of RAM and one of the better GPU cards for my visual work. Am thinking the 5500 XT will do as I use Adobe Illustrator and InDesign but don't game or do video.

I run many tracks and instances of quite intensive instruments and plugins so want as much performance as possible. I've read that for Ableton, clock speed is as important––if not more important––than the thread/core count, so am leaning on the i7. If anyone has any experience or knowledge of which processor would suit my needs it'd be much appreciated, or the GPU for that matter, I am conscious of thermal constraints.

Also, if you own a new iMac and use Ableton Live it would great to benchmark how these are performing!

There are instructions here: https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=239381
 
Last edited:
You'll probably get more replies at either the ableton forum or at gearslutz.com ...
 
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