Imac 2020 Core i9 and fans running very often

[LaurentR2D2]

To replace my Mac Pro 2006, I've bought on the refurb an iMac Corei9 / 8gb / Radeon 5700xt Pro 16gb. What interested me the most was the graphic card (and the 600 € less than the normal price ). Since I use it, I've noticed that fans are working very often. Full speed when I use Handbrake to encode a video, and always, even if I only have one application running, like Safari. Even with one tab opened, I have the wheel turning a while before I can open another tab. I've asked on a Mac website, and someone has answered me that I should have read tests before buying it, since Corei9 10th generation are very bad processors always requiring to be cooled, so that my machine will always be very noisy as soon as I use it. On my side I wonder if the 8 gb RAM are not a part of the problem, and if adding 8 gb more would help ? Sorry for the newbies question, but I'm really a newbie when it comes to buy a computer. I'm much better at using them

Thank you

 

[ADGrant]

To replace my Mac Pro 2006, I've bought on the refurb an iMac Corei9 / 8gb / Radeon 5700xt Pro 16gb. What interested me the most was the graphic card (and the 600 € less than the normal price ). Since I use it, I've noticed that fans are working very often. Full speed when I use Handbrake to encode a video, and always, even if I only have one application running, like Safari. Even with one tab opened, I have the wheel turning a while before I can open another tab. I've asked on a Mac website, and someone has answered me that I should have read tests before buying it, since Corei9 10th generation are very bad processors always requiring to be cooled, so that my machine will always be very noisy as soon as I use it. On my side I wonder if the 8 gb RAM are not a part of the problem, and if adding 8 gb more would help ? Sorry for the newbies question, but I'm really a newbie when it comes to buy a computer. I'm much better at using them

Thank you

I have the 2020 iMac with the Core i9 and Radeon 5700xt 16gb. I rarely hear the fans but if I was doing video encoding I would expect to. I haven't heard the fans just using Safari. Of course, browser performance is as much about the websites you are visiting as much as it is the browser. 8GB isn't much RAM (its half of your video RAM), my machine has 64GB but I doubt that is why your fans are running.

You could buy iStat https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus so you can see what temps your CPU is. You should take a look at Activity Monitor to see what software is using your CPU.

 

[jz0309]

To replace my Mac Pro 2006, I've bought on the refurb an iMac Corei9 / 8gb / Radeon 5700xt Pro 16gb. What interested me the most was the graphic card (and the 600 € less than the normal price ). Since I use it, I've noticed that fans are working very often. Full speed when I use Handbrake to encode a video, and always, even if I only have one application running, like Safari. Even with one tab opened, I have the wheel turning a while before I can open another tab. I've asked on a Mac website, and someone has answered me that I should have read tests before buying it, since Corei9 10th generation are very bad processors always requiring to be cooled, so that my machine will always be very noisy as soon as I use it. On my side I wonder if the 8 gb RAM are not a part of the problem, and if adding 8 gb more would help ? Sorry for the newbies question, but I'm really a newbie when it comes to buy a computer. I'm much better at using them

Thank you

something is using CPU, if you don't have istatmenus (as suggested above, and I am also a user of it) look at Activity Monitor ... Handbrake does not surprise me being CPU intensive though ...

 

[LaurentR2D2]

I've looked at istat menu, and when I open a new tab on Safari, it goes up to 138% cpu. I've asked to Apple support, and they have just told me to remove Devonthink and 1password extensions, but it doesn't change anything. I'm going to add 8 gb RAM, and see what happens. CPU temperature is often to 80-85° centigrades.

There is 2x4gb in my iMac. Can I buy 1x8b to go to 16gb or should I buy 2x8gb to get a pair ?

 

[ADGrant]

I've looked at istat menu, and when I open a new tab on Safari, it goes up to 138% cpu. I've asked to Apple support, and they have just told me to remove Devonthink and 1password extensions, but it doesn't change anything. I'm going to add 8 gb RAM, and see what happens. CPU temperature is often to 80-85° centigrades.

There is 2x4gb in my iMac. Can I buy 1x8b to go to 16gb or should I buy 2x8gb to get a pair ?

I have several tabs open in Safari and my CPU temp is around 46° centigrade. Do you have any other browser extensions>

Don't mix ram sizes in your Mac, it won't work well. You need a matched pair but why stop at 16GB, why not get at least 32GB.

 

[jz0309]

I've looked at istat menu, and when I open a new tab on Safari, it goes up to 138% cpu. I've asked to Apple support, and they have just told me to remove Devonthink and 1password extensions, but it doesn't change anything. I'm going to add 8 gb RAM, and see what happens. CPU temperature is often to 80-85° centigrades.

There is 2x4gb in my iMac. Can I buy 1x8b to go to 16gb or should I buy 2x8gb to get a pair ?

What is your memory pressure?
For performance reasons, only install in pairs, eg add 2x8 for a total of 24… or more of course… OWC is what I personally use, great experience

 

[LaurentR2D2]

What is your memory pressure?
For performance reasons, only install in pairs, eg add 2x8 for a total of 24… or more of course… OWC is what I personally use, great experience

With only Safari and 3 tabs opened, I have 32% memory pressure. I have a software which uses more than 3 gb RAM, and in that case, pressure goes to 50%. Regarding the memory, I was planning to add 16 gb (2x8gb). I'm not a professional, so I'm not sure to need more, like 40 gb with Apple RAM, if I add 32gb. OWC having no reseller in France, I would buy at Macway (http://www.macway.com) which has for example this : Mémoire RAM 16 Go (2 x 8 Go) DDR4 SODIMM 2666 Mhz PC4-21300.

 

[jz0309]

Re addl RAM, make sure it lists your iMac model as being compatible, the other thing I’d be looking for is lifetime warranty. That’s why I like OWC as I had some RAM failing in my old Mac pro after like 7 years and they replaced it no questions asked.

I’d keep an eye on CPU and RAM usage as there is some app(s) using a lot of it

 

[usagora]

I've asked on a Mac website, and someone has answered me that I should have read tests before buying it, since Corei9 10th generation are very bad processors always requiring to be cooled, so that my machine will always be very noisy as soon as I use it.

You'll hear plenty of misinformation like this online, especially on sites like this where people hear about a couple of user complaints (which may or may not be valid) and then go around trashing the product based on that.

For over a year now I have owned a 2020 27" iMac with:

• 3.6GHZ 8-CORE INTEL CORE I9
• RADEON PRO VEGA 48 W/ 8GB HBM2
• 64 GB PC4-21300 DDR4 2666MHz

And couldn't be happier with it. The fans will spin up when encoding video (this is normal), but that's normally the only time I hear them noticeably. The other day I was exporting an 8K render of an image from a mapping website which spun up the fans as well, but, again - that's to be expected when the computer is rendering that much information.

 

[LaurentR2D2]

Re addl RAM, make sure it lists your iMac model as being compatible, the other thing I’d be looking for is lifetime warranty. That’s why I like OWC as I had some RAM failing in my old Mac pro after like 7 years and they replaced it no questions asked.

I’d keep an eye on CPU and RAM usage as there is some app(s) using a lot of it

OWC is very interesting, since Macway RAM has only 1 year warranty, and if I want more (up to 3 years), I have to pay some special fees. The problem is that it's difficult to find a reseller in Europe, even looking at the list on OWC website which isn't very accurate. For example, Macway is listed, but they don't have OWC RAM. So, if you know a place to buy, I'd be interested to know.

Also, I've read that about the iMac 2020 on a reseller website :

On the iMac 27" 5K model year 2020, there is an issue with combining different modules, e.g. 2x4GB (factory) and 2x16GB (upgraded). It even occurs with two different pairs of the same size but not identical build (different manufacturers or different build from the same manufacturer). In this case, the memory clock frequency decreases from 2666MHz (or more exactly 1333MHz) to 2133MHz (or 1066MHz) despite correct placement. The exact cause is unfortunately not clear at the moment, it could be a latency issue. The modules run cleanly at 2666MHz in 2019 iMacs, so the modules are fine.

Does it means that if I buy OWC or other brand RAM I should remove the RAM included in my iMac ?

 

[LaurentR2D2]

You'll hear plenty of misinformation like this online, especially on sites like this where people hear about a couple of user complaints (which may or may not be valid) and then go around trashing the product based on that.

For over a year now I have owned a 2020 27" iMac with:

• 3.6GHZ 8-CORE INTEL CORE I9
• RADEON PRO VEGA 48 W/ 8GB HBM2
• 64 GB PC4-21300 DDR4 2666MHz

And couldn't be happier with it. The fans will spin up when encoding video (this is normal), but that's normally the only time I hear them noticeably. The other day I was exporting an 8K render of an image from a mapping website which spun up the fans as well, but, again - that's to be expected when the computer is rendering that much information.

Thank you for your experience sharing

 

[jz0309]

OWC is very interesting, since Macway RAM has only 1 year warranty, and if I want more (up to 3 years), I have to pay some special fees. The problem is that it's difficult to find a reseller in Europe, even looking at the list on OWC website which isn't very accurate. For example, Macway is listed, but they don't have OWC RAM. So, if you know a place to buy, I'd be interested to know.

Also, I've read that about the iMac 2020 on a reseller website :

On the iMac 27" 5K model year 2020, there is an issue with combining different modules, e.g. 2x4GB (factory) and 2x16GB (upgraded). It even occurs with two different pairs of the same size but not identical build (different manufacturers or different build from the same manufacturer). In this case, the memory clock frequency decreases from 2666MHz (or more exactly 1333MHz) to 2133MHz (or 1066MHz) despite correct placement. The exact cause is unfortunately not clear at the moment, it could be a latency issue. The modules run cleanly at 2666MHz in 2019 iMacs, so the modules are fine.

Does it means that if I buy OWC or other brand RAM I should remove the RAM included in my iMac ?

Sorry, I’m in California so don’t know any European stores. But I do know that OWC RAM is available on Amazon, and, there should be other manufacturers like eg Crucial who might offer lifetime warranty…

i have a 2017 iMac and had initially the 2x4 from Apple and 2x8 from OWC for almost 4 years with no issues. 6 weeks or so ago I got 2x16 OWC and swapped out the 2x4, no issues.
i do not know if there are issues with the 2020 re RAM “mix”, if there are any threads here on MR, see what others have said, if it’s one reseller, what brand is that RAM? Me personally, other than OWC would probably only consider Crucial but I am also sure you find many different opinions…

 

[LaurentR2D2]

I've finally bought a 32 gb Crucial kit ( https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07TKZKPJV/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_K1GQD4P835N71PK3PZEP?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1). I guess my iMac will be happy with it.

Thank you to all for your advices