Advice on a trade

[zeratul75]

Hello
I have an iMac 27 late 2015 17,1:
- i7 6700k @ 4ghz (turbo 4,2)
- 32 gb ram ddr3 @ 1866mhz
- SSD blade samsung 970 evo 1 TB + SSD sata samsung 860 pro 500gb
- AMD R9 M390 with 2gb ram.

A friend of mine proposed me a 1:1 trade with his iMac mid 2017 18,3:
- i7 7700k @ 4,2ghz (turbo 4,5)
- 16 gb ram ddr4 @ 2400mhz
- SSD Apple original 512gb blade
- Radeon pro 580 with 8gb ram

Basically I would loose 2/3 ssd space and half of ram, but I would gain in graphic and overall speed (a bit cpu and ram speed) + something else (tundebolt 3/usb C).
What do you think about the trade 1:1?
Basically I don't need such a great space inside the iMac (since I have a 24/24 connected nas plenty of free space and I don't keep anything stored in the iMac storage) and I think I would not see the difference between 16 and 32 gb of ram. But I could have a more recent iMac and better graphic.

 

[ian87w]

I don't think it's worth the trade.
As for the GPU, Googling quickly a comparison between the two only shows 10%, at best, improvements. On many benchmarks, the difference is much less than that.

Update below

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

A friend of mine proposed me a 1:1 trade with his iMac mid 2017 18,3:
- i7 7700k @ 4,2ghz (turbo 4,5)
- 16 gb ram ddr4 @ 2400mhz
- SSD Apple original 512gb
- Radeon pro 580 with 8gb ram

The Radeon Pro 580 8GB ram is far more worthy to me than the R9 390 2GB.
Apart from the visible 4 time-VRAM size, 580 is a RX generation GPU, which supports hardware HEVC encode-decode, while R9 390 does not. This play a huge advantage in 4k video editing.

Memory and storage can be upgraded later. GPU can't be upgraded, only traded up in your case.

 

[zeratul75]

I have foud this website, for a comparison between them. Actually It seems to me far more than 10% faster......

Pro 580 vs R9 M390

Comparing R9 M390 with Pro 580: technical specs, games and benchmarks.

technical.city

 

[ian87w]

I have foud this website, for a comparison between them. Actually It seems to me far more than 10% faster......

Pro 580 vs R9 M390

Comparing R9 M390 with Pro 580: technical specs, games and benchmarks.

technical.city

My bad. I was just randomly click whatever Google showed without looking much into it.
This is a comparison with the M395X.

Tests of Pro 580 GPU in 2017 iMac 5K

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

So I guess it depends on what you're looking for. Since you configured yours with 32GB of RAM and lot of storage, I'd assume RAM and storage are more important for whatever you do on your iMac than a faster GPU.

I agree with the other poster. If you do a lot of GPU-related tasks (eg video), then the faster GPU might worth the trade.

 

[zeratul75]

I am going to explain a bit better. Basically my iMac came with fusion drive, and I decided later to open it and go for ssd, since I really hate mechanical drive, they are soo slow compared to ssd.
Since I made that step, once opened I pushed inside far more gb than what I really need (and needed)....just to be sure not to have it open again in the future . And when you buy a non-apple ssd the price difference between 1tb and 512gb is not really high. The sata ssd was spare at home, so why not putting it inside the iMac?
So let's say for me 512 gb would be really ok, considering that, after iMac upgrade, I set up a NAS for storage....
For ram it is basically the same: I bough it later, so I went on more that what I need. Not using much of it with 32gb, I think.
I dont' use intensive graphic as well, I am not a professional iMac user. Is is just the "family main computer" for general tasks.

I am thinking about newer mac is surely more supported in the future regarding MacOS O.S. and apps.....

 

[ian87w]

I am going to explain a bit better. Basically my iMac came with fusion drive, and I decided later to open it and go for ssd, since I really hate mechanical drive, they are soo slow compared to ssd.
Since I made that step, once opened I pushed inside far more gb than what I really need (and needed)....just to be sure not to have it open again in the future . And when you buy a non-apple ssd the price difference between 1tb and 512gb is not really high. The sata ssd was spare at home, so why not putting it inside the iMac?
So let's say for me 512 gb would be really ok, considering that, after iMac upgrade, I set up a NAS for storage....
For ram it is basically the same: I bough it later, so I went on more that what I need. Not using much of it with 32gb, I think.
I dont' use intensive graphic as well, I am not a professional iMac user. Is is just the "family main computer" for general tasks.

I am thinking about newer mac is surely more supported in the future regarding MacOS O.S. and apps.....

Since you're comfortable opening up the iMac, then just like the other poster said, it might be worth it to trade since you can always upgrade the RAM and storage yourself later.

 

[ondert]

I would have already changed it by now

 

[wilberforce]

The 2015 screen is notorious for getting pink edges and image persistence (not sure if you want to give your friend this problem).
The 2017 screen has P3 gamut.

 

[zeratul75]

Are the screens different? We really didn't notice this....
Mine Is a bit Pink, but his One seems the same. What Is P3 gamut?

 

[wilberforce]

Are the screens different? We really didn't notice this....
Mine Is a bit Pink, but his One seems the same. What Is P3 gamut?

P3 gamut shows a wider range (gamut) of colors than standard sRGB, for example certain intense reds and greens. If you don't do photo or graphics editing you won't care.
If you cannot distinguish the Instagram logo in this red square, you have regular sRGB:

Pink edges:

2015 27" iMac has pink edges ..anyone else?

hi I noticed my 2015 iMac has got pink edges all way round the screen. i didn't expect this after just over 3 years of use. anyone else had an issue with pink screen ? any idea what may have caused it ? would it be a faulty panel over time ? i did a search for pink screens but could find any...

forums.macrumors.com

Regarding image persistence: do you see a ghost of your menu bar at the top of the screen when you bring up Launchpad? If so, it has image persistence (which is temporary, unlike burn-in).

Both of these are arguably cosmetic issues, of more importance to photo or graphics editors wanting accurate color rendition (which is my case).

 

[zeratul75]

Thanks. I confirm everything.....actually didn't noticed much until you wrote it......I am a standard user, not using it for professional work.....
I though displays were the same since retina feature. So basically the 2017 model does not have image persistence and pink edges issues? Just in case I need to check this from other imac....

edit: read the thread you pointed me. The pink edges I see are far far far less than this. Just in case you think I am blind, because I told you I didn't noticed much before you told me....

2015 27" iMac has pink edges ..anyone else?

Yup count me in 2015 4k display. It's my dad's computer that has been passed to my mom after he just passed. Yet this crap is annoying AF!! I reset PRAM and not a thing....anyone have any resolution??

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Fishrrman]

I'd go for the trade.

With the 2017, you also get 2 USBc ports (if I recall correctly).
That means faster attached storage (such as using an nvme blade SSD in a USB3.1 gen2 enclosure).

I would expect the factory installed Apple SSD to be faster, as well.

Give your friend a call and say, "yes!"...

 

[zeratul75]

Thanx. But I dont have Apple SSD now. It Is After market Samsung 970 evo. No way the original Apple One Is faster.....

 

[Fishrrman]

"It Is After market Samsung 970 evo. No way the original Apple One Is faster....."

Run a drive speed test utility (like blackmagic speed test) and see for yourself.
You may be quite surprised!

 

[ADGrant]

Since you're comfortable opening up the iMac, then just like the other poster said, it might be worth it to trade since you can always upgrade the RAM and storage yourself later.

The RAM is upgradeable without opening the iMac up.

 

[zeratul75]

the samsung 970 evo ssd runs around 2800 read and 2300 write.
the apple ssd is around 2500 read and 2000 write.
Having it, I confirm the speed of samsung.
Regarding apple stock ssd, you can check yourself many reports on this thread.

A list of successful iMac 27" (2012-2019) SSD upgrades

Here you can find and discuss all the collected knowledge regarding upgrading the HDD, blade SSD and CPU of a 27" iMac 2012-2019, as well as a list of performed upgrades. Here is a list of all 27" iMac models subjected in this thread: Late 2012 - 13.2 - MD095LL/A (2.9Ghz i5-3470S, HDD only /...

forums.macrumors.com

not much difference in daily use, I agree, but you can't say the apple stock ssd is faster

 

[pshufd]

I'd go for it. You can add more RAM easily if you need it and you could always hang an external SSD if you need more space.