I Need External Ideas

[ondert]

Hello to all people of iMac community,

I'm a 6 year Mac user and Apple user since iPod nano 1st gen. I always enjoyed using Macs although I play games on Mac also. At first, I used and changed many MacBooks, Pros, and Airs. I always needed extra gpu power in the meantime that eGPU support was really joyful for me. Then I realized even that was not so beneficial and with the problems of butterfly keyboard, at last I passed to iMac. It was the best thing I've done on this purpose.

My usage generally consists of capturing my gameplay (Kerbal Space Program, kind of a rocket and space simulation) and editing videos in FHD resolution and uploading them on YouTube. The other thing I really really find useful is the integration of macOS and iOS. I'm doing many FaceTime calls during the day and can simply answer them on iMac without interrupting my work.

Now, I'm moving abroad and carrying my 27" iMac could be troublesome. The specs are 2017 5K 27" iMac with i5 3.8GHz, RP580 gpu, 16gb ram and 1tb ssd. If I sell this here, I'm totally not sure which model should I get? Maybe a PC?

Before, I was waiting for the new iMacs in Q4 2019, doubling the core counts for cpu was nice but other than that it didn't meet my expectations. There should be at least a Navi based gpu. It still feels already old with spinning harddrive, still lacking proper cooling solution etc. Also, I read quite a lot about suddenly dying of 2019 iMacs.

Sometimes I think about getting a base model iMac Pro, probably used one at around 3500€ (similar price to 2019 iMac 5K with i9 and Vega 48) and that one looks already old. Intel has announced the new cpus can fit in iMac Pro but I really doubt Apple will refresh it while the Mac Pro release is imminent. Wish I could get the new Mac Pro and fill it as I want..

All in all, Apple currently doesn't offer me a proper solution although I really enjoy it and I need your ideas/help. 2 years ago I built a windows pc however sold it after 4 months and went back to macOS. Maybe a hackintosh this time? Don't know..

 

[Ledgem]

There's a lot here. It raises more questions for me.

First, it sounds like your current Mac is working pretty well for you. You're able to capture gameplay and edit videos, you're using the integration of iOS and macOS, and you're taking FaceTime calls from your computer. Two of those three are things you'd lose with moving to Windows, not to mention that unless your video editing software exists on both operating systems you'd need to find and learn new software. It sounds like the reason you're looking to change your computer isn't any particular failing of your current computer, but an upcoming move in which transporting the iMac would be a pain. Is that all about right?

If that's the case, then the question becomes why you would want to change to something else. If transporting or shipping the system is cost-prohibitive but buying a new computer isn't, then why not sell the computer here and then buy a similar-specced computer refurbished through the Apple store? Save on money, keep doing what you want to do, and keep waiting for an upgrade that really wows you.

If there are performance concerns that you have, then that raises two other questions:
1) Where is the system not meeting your expectations? In what ways would you want it to be faster or to do more?
2) Why didn't the eGPU turn out to be beneficial for you?

 

[ondert]

Is that all about right?

Yes, mostly. In fact, I’m going to lose all the three things. On the other hand, I’m moving back to the place where I grew up. This will result much less FaceTime calls.

Performance wise, the 2017 model was barely enough for me. (Btw, I sold it yesterday.) I had to lower the details during gameplay.

I was waiting the 2019 release in Q4 2019 with much more radical changes like Navi based gpu, better cooling solution, all ssd based system and maybe a redesign. None of these things happened.

Back to your questions, so;

1) Current 8 Core iMac is good enough for cpu performance, the bottleneck is on gpu side. If I go with Vega 48, I’m not even sure how much it will improve over RP580. The i9, Vega 48 and all ssd model costs around 3500€ but you can find base model iMac Pro with that price also with much better cooling and better gpu etc.
The problem though, iMac Pro is already old now (stil uses old architecture gpu and cpu) and can’t estimate how it will hold its value when Intel is already announced new cpus can fit in iMac Pro at a half price.
The 2019 iMac is also using old architecture gpu. Basicly, I don’t want to invest all that much money into a system still based on polaris/Vega architecture while the Navi gpu options will be available quite soon probably.

2) As I wrote, I have already used an egpu setup before and it was not that beneficial. Also, to get a proper performance from egpu, I’ll need another monitor next to iMac which is out of question for me.

 

[gtg465x]

I don’t think Apple will be putting a Navi GPU in the iMac Pro any time soon, at least not the currently available / announced Navi GPUs. Navi GPUs are consumer oriented and more focused on gaming than compute / workstation applications, and AMD has already said they will be keeping Vega around for now for compute / workstation applications. For comparison, the Vega 64 in the iMac Pro has almost twice as many cores as the new Navi 5700 XT and twice as much memory (16 GB vs 8 GB). Both of these make it more suited to compute / workstation applications and the iMac Pro, even though the 5700 XT is faster for gaming.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple put the Navi 5500 in next year’s iMac 5K though, as it’s probably near the performance of the Vega 48, but cheaper, and the iMac 5K is a more consumer oriented machine. I doubt they would put a 5700 in the iMac 5K though because Apple typically doesn’t go that high end on the GPU side, at least for non-Pro models.