iMac 2019 problems

[Sam Marks]

I bought in summer a 2019 iMac with Vega 48 and 512GB SSD. The machine died after a few days of use. I returned it for the money, to decide what to do. In different threads some people commented similar experiences of random restarts, instability issues and other iMac problems (the same problems that I have experienced before the iMac died). The night before the computer died I had been playing at a demanding game (Fornite with auto settings) and the fans were at maximum during these time, so I suppose that there was an overheating problem that affected the GPU and the logic board or the CPU. But I do not know what happened. The initial symptoms were an increasingly number of random restarts without any info after the reboot when doing simple things with the computer.

I am about to buy a similar specced 2019 iMac again but I am thinking that this machine could have a serious overheating problem due to its thermal constrains and its power. I live in an area with increasingly higher summer temperatures due to the climate change (42ºC to 46ºC outside several days, 35ºC to 41ºC room). We also enjoy cold winters, with -5ºC to -10ºC.

One alternative is to choose the Radeon Pro 580X instead of the Vega 48. In principle, the seller told me that the machine had a manufacturing problem and was returned to Apple, so maybe it is a question of bad luck only. But if we can share our experiences maybe we will discover the short and long term reliability of this iMac.

Please, could you comment in this thread if you have experienced some problem with the 2019 iMac and the symptoms in order to decide if I would buy a new 2019 iMac again?

 

[ruslan120]

I’ve been using one for a few months and have had no such issues.

i9, Vega 48 + eGPU RX 580

 

[Sam Marks]

I’ve been using one for a few months and have had no such issues.

i9, Vega 48 + eGPU RX 580

Thank you for the update. Very interesting observation. I was afraid because of my recent iMac i9 + Vega 48 manufacturing problem experience. At what room temperatures do you usually work with the iMac?

Maybe, for me, the way to go is a similar system configuration, but with an Nvidia eGPU for CUDA modeling.

 

[ondert]

I’m not a 2019 user but people generally say that Vega gpu runs cooler than Polaris gpu.
btw, did you play games on Windows or macOS? The i9 cpu is so much power hungry that can reach up to 165w power draw even on stock configuration, so Apple tied it to 95w (or 85w) to prevent overheating, burning the psu etc. Maybe it doesn’t limit on bootcamp?

 

[Sam Marks]

I’m not a 2019 user but people generally say that Vega gpu runs cooler than Polaris gpu.
btw, did you play games on Windows or macOS? The i9 cpu is so much power hungry that can reach up to 165w power draw even on stock configuration, so Apple tied it to 95w (or 85w) to prevent overheating, burning the psu etc. Maybe it doesn’t limit on bootcamp?

I mainly played Fornite on MacOS with the iMac before it died. I did not installed Windows bootcamp. I let the game decide automatically the best configuration. I do not know if the high room temperature had something to do with the computer hardware failure. I do not have A/C system. Climate change is hitting hard my region. Scorching summers and chilling winters, and extreme weather episodes and draughts.

 

[ruslan120]

Thank you for the update. Very interesting observation. I was afraid because of my recent iMac i9 + Vega 48 manufacturing problem experience. At what room temperatures do you usually work with the iMac?

Not that warm - about 70F. Under stress (video edits) the system will reach about 90C.

 

[Fishrrman]

Buy a 2018 Mini and an EXTERNAL GPU.
Any "overheating" will then occur OUTSIDE the Mac "box"...

 

[Sam Marks]

Not that warm - about 70F. Under stress (video edits) the system will reach about 90C.

You are very lucky. Here in my area the summer is like living in hell, imagine having an outside temperature similar to the temperatures in the Mojave desert (46ºC under the shadow and 32ºC during the night). And in winter -15ºC. And the autum and spring are increasingly shorter every year. Mojave OSX in the iMac and Mojave desert temperatures, it is funny
[automerge]1570457046[/automerge]

Buy a 2018 Mini and an EXTERNAL GPU.
Any "overheating" will then occur OUTSIDE the Mac "box"...

You have a good point. My alternative would be to select the Radeon Pro 580X instead the Vega in the i9 iMac and then buy an nVidia or Radeon VII eGPU, to externalize the overheating.

 

[Edgard98]

It's been almost 3 years from your post so i don't even know if you will read my reply... but i'll write it the same
I just bought a 2019 imac, heres the specifics:
iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019)
PROCESSOR: 3,6 GHz Intel Core i3 quad-core
MEMORY: 8 GB 2400 MHz DDR4
GRAPHIC CARD: Radeon Pro 555X 2 GB

Mine still not dead yet, and i sincerely hope it will not do it but actually i have same problems you had... it automatically reboots following to repeatedly kernel panics and one thing is common is that it happens as i'm doing simple things like watching a youtube video or such things. I think it's a fabrication defect and right now i would like to kill some apple folks cause it's unbelievable. I ran a etrecheck and it says "probable hardware problems", and im just astonished. I tried everything i could by now and i'm taking it to the apple assistance in a few days and the funny thing is that i'll probably have to pay them at least a quarter of the machine actual price. this is mildly infuriating.
by the way, where i live the temperature is about 30-35°C (in summer) with peaks of 40° and i had overheating problems with others computers and i think that is most likely some other issue that causes this defect. i Hoped i red this forum before buying it.... maybe it would have changed my mind.

 

[Edgard98]

I'm convinced that this rebootings are in some way damaging the machine and now i'm trying to use it and then shut it down whenever i don't use it avoiding sleep mode so i don't give im the opportunity to reboot, do you think is a good idea?

 

[Jose Ayala]

On Feb 2020, One client bought 2 new Apple iMac Model MRQY2E/A 27" Retina 5K Intel Core i5 6 core 3.0 GHz 8th Gen 8 GB / Fusion Drive 1TB Radeon Pro 570X 4 GB Pantalla 27"5K

After 6 months, one completely died, didn´t turn on, no lights no sound nothing .... on warranty Apple changed Mboard and Power Supply.

Now the second one is failing the same way, didn´t turn on, no lights no sound nothing, this one is out of warranty, I had been quoted around 1,000 USD for Board exchange.

At the same time, The warranty repaired one, occasionally shows lines on the screen, 2 or 3 times in the last month.

I think the 2019 Model have a serious GPU issues ... that Apple need to take actions