Cooling in the new 2020 27" iMac?

[miretogo]

btw, just watched the German video and around 7500 score on 3dmark time spy is low. Normal 5700xt gets over 9000 score. That 5700xt should be heavily down clocked and I doubt the cooling system has changed. Just as I expected from Tim Apple. Gross..

The score, and graphics performance in general, is heavily influenced by the graphics drivers. The reviewer probably used the drivers provided by Boot Camp, which may be still in an early stage.

On my 2017 iMac, I achieved 10-20% higher graphics performance on Windows 10 using the drivers from bootcampdrivers.com.

 

[RyanXM]

Isn't here any review yet to show iStatMenus or MacsFanControl? So, we can at least see if the iMac still has one fan or more?

btw, just watched the German video and around 7500 score on 3dmark time spy is low. Normal 5700xt gets over 9000 score. That 5700xt should be heavily down clocked and I doubt the cooling system has changed. Just as I expected from Tim Apple. Gross..

You do realize that the TDP of a regular, desktop version of the 5700 XT is 225w.

AMD Radeon™ RX 5700 XT Graphics

Get an ultimate gaming experience with the AMD Radeon™ RX 5700 XT Graphics Card with immersive, high-fidelity gaming at 1080p for today's most demanding games.

www.amd.com

The TDP of the Radeon Pro 5700 XT in the iMac is 130w.

Radeon™ Pro 5000 Series

www.amd.com

Also, the effective memory speed in the desktop 5700 XT is 14Gbps whereas the effective memory speed for the Radeon Pro 5700 XT is 12Gbps.

Those two things would explain the difference in the benchmark numbers.

 

[memo90061]

I wonder if I should sell my iMac Pro for the new iMac. I want at least 2tb ssd. I currently have 1tb ssd.

 

[fokmik]

I wonder if I should sell my iMac Pro for the new iMac. I want at least 2tb ssd. I currently have 1tb ssd.

why you would do that? imac pro better thermals, better sound, and if you dont have the base cpu/gpu...better performance too

 

[memo90061]

Mostly because of storage. I think I would choose 2tb ssd or 4tb ssd. AppleCare+ is about to expire on my iMac Pro. I want another 3 years. haha

 

[jetjaguar]

I wonder if I should sell my iMac Pro for the new iMac. I want at least 2tb ssd. I currently have 1tb ssd.

Keep your iMac Pro. Much better cooling. If you want more space use an external ssd.

 

[Patchwork]

Can appreciate AppleCare+ though I've yet to have a desktop that has needed it (iphone and ipads is a different matter). If you are tempted to keep the iMac Pro then go for a thunderbolt ssd as something like the Samsung X5 which, while not quite as fast as an internal SSD, should give read speeds of around 2,500 MB/s and write speeds around 1,900 MB/s, so still very fast.

 

[memo90061]

I should look into that SSD. Thank you!

 

[MisterAndrew]

I noticed the iMac Pro got a spec bump. They dropped the entry level configuration like they did with the Mac Pro in 2017 and the Mac mini this year. That is probably still a better option for an Intel iMac if you're concerned about cooling and thermal throttling. Shame it doesn't have the nano texture glass option like the new regular iMac though.

 

[john.b23]

To me it's the same level of noise as in my old imac 2017 (very quiet, pretty much silent)

 

[ADGrant]

The cooling issue is the only thing keeping me from deciding on this new 10 core iMac or splurging on a 10 core iMac Pro. I need this to run cool with no fan noise. I’m in Audio production.

I think you should just go ahead and buy the 10 core iMac Pro. Even if Apple has improved the cooling on the 2020, they didn't use the iMac Pro's cooling design and don't appear to have added any additional vents on the case.The 10 core iMac Pro isn't that much more expensive than the 10 core iMac (depending on RAM and GPU configurations).

 

[timerickson]

I noticed the iMac Pro got a spec bump. They dropped the entry level configuration like they did with the Mac Pro in 2017 and the Mac mini this year.

It's not a spec bump, it's just clever marketing around a price reduction of several SKUs. Nothing has changed internally with the iMac Pro at all. Nothing changed on the production line at all.

 

[timerickson]

The first teardown is here, and… well, it's damn disappointing.

No major changes, or perhaps no changes at all, to the thermal design. There's literally just an empty spot where the HDD used to be. They didn't make use of the empty space to make any positive changes.

 

[CheesePuff]

The first teardown is here, and… well, it's damn disappointing.

No major changes, or perhaps no changes at all, to the thermal design. There's literally just an empty spot where the HDD used to be. They didn't make use of the empty space to make any positive changes.

Interesting since some of the reviews show better sustained performance plus the fans not coming on as much compared to the i9 2019.

 

[ADGrant]

The first teardown is here, and… well, it's damn disappointing.

No major changes, or perhaps no changes at all, to the thermal design. There's literally just an empty spot where the HDD used to be. They didn't make use of the empty space to make any positive changes.

It's what I expected to see. They kept the RAM door so I wasn't expecting to see an iMac Pro level cooling system. It's possible that the 10 core iMac Pro could be faster for some sustained work loads and it will certainly be quieter. It's not that much more expensive than the 10 core iMac unless you need a lot of RAM.

 

[sco]

It'll be interesting to see the power usage on the GPU at idle... hoping for a bit of a reduction over my 2017's 580 and will hopefully clear some headroom for the CPU/reduced fan speed. On my current iMac the GPU sits around 41W driving a 4K and 1920x1200 display plus the internal.

 

[mindquest]

The first teardown is here, and… well, it's damn disappointing.

No major changes, or perhaps no changes at all, to the thermal design. There's literally just an empty spot where the HDD used to be. They didn't make use of the empty space to make any positive changes.

SO when I look at the video is the CPU where the back vent is? Does the fan blow air towards the cpu then it exits out the back vent?

 

[Homy]

iMac 2020 Reviews And Benchmarks - The Last Intel iMac

iMac 3.8 8-core 5500XT

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Darajavahus]

It'll be interesting to see the power usage on the GPU at idle... hoping for a bit of a reduction over my 2017's 580 and will hopefully clear some headroom for the CPU/reduced fan speed. On my current iMac the GPU sits around 41W driving a 4K and 1920x1200 display plus the internal.

The new 2020 iMac is 8W less at idle, my guess that is because of the new GPU

https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/desktops/27-inch_iMac_with_Retina5KDisplay_PER_Aug2020.pdf

https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/desktops/27-inch_iMac_with_Retina5KDisplay_PER_Mar2019.pdf

In PC comparisons of RX 580 vs RX 5500 XT they use 10W less at idle and also use about 80W less at load, this is great video

I could save up to 387 EUR after four years! But then Apple Silicon will bring even greater savings... so wait or get this 🤔😩

 

[Lammers]

Really nobody should have expected Apple to go to the engineering effort of redesigning thermals for the iMac at this point in its lifecycle, and especially given all the rumours about a forthcoming redesign, likely as part of the move to ARM. It wouldn’t have made sense for Apple to do that.

 

[yellow_lupine]

Anybody there who works with an 2019 i9 iMac in audio production and could tell us how is the fan noise at high CPU usage? My only tested device in this regard is an i9 MacBook Pro 15" whose fans screams for sustained time during music editing... very annoying.

 

[Alexander T. Clark]

I desperate to know about cooling system on new iMac 27. with 10 core i9 and Radeon 5700XT thats is my only concern, no looking forward for Apple Silicon yet may in 2-3 years.

 

[LiE_]

At best Apple may have put a quieter fan, improved thermal paste and tweaked the wattage to give a quieter system. It will always be loud under sustained load, almost all PCs are unless purpose built for noise.

My issue with the with 2019 was that on idle the fans would still be spinning at 1200rpm which produced a noticeable noise. This is apparent because the fan is very close to your head compared to a usual pc tower.

If it were quiet doing office tasks then I may have considered one, I’ll be waiting for the iMac redesign it seems.

 

[sco]

My issue with the with 2019 was that on idle the fans would still be spinning at 1200rpm which produced a noticeable noise. This is apparent because the fan is very close to your head compared to a usual pc tower.

That's a bit odd. On my 2017, with fan at 1200 RPM I can't hear it... the hum of the HDD is louder. If you have a model with a fusion drive it might be that you're hearing???

 

[fokmik]