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iMac 2020 Reviews And Benchmarks - The Last Intel iMac

vel0city said:
I really wish reviewers would focus on this rather than omg the bezels. Fan noise under load is a massive deciding factor when using a computer inches from your face, but it's usually overlooked by reviewers who are more concerned about being first and harvesting likes. Frustrating.
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That's probably because most of us never get the iMac to break sweat so noise is never an issue.
 
My wife’s Late 2013 iMac’s display is getting flaky. This is the key benchmark I’m hoping to see before we order her a 2020 iMac — 3.8GHz 8 core i7, 8GB, 5500XT 8GB.

Bench0.png Bench4'.png

The attachments show my 2018 Mini — 3.2 GHz 6 core i7, 32GB RAM — running HandBrake at full tilt boogie, transcoding an RTSP MPEG TS file (captured by VLC) to an MPEG 4 file at roughly 90-100 fps — while displaying and recording two RSTP feeds via VLC.

My Mini can do this all day long with a core temp of roughly 95C and the fan running at roughly 4,700 rpm — quietly. Yes, I can hear the fan but it is not “too loud” to work with the Mini on the desk a few feet away. I’d be happy if the 2020 iMac — 3.8GHz 8 core i7, 40GB RAM, 5500XT 8GB — was a little faster and just as quiet when running HandBrake.etc. as User #2, while my wife does email, web browsing, etc. on "her" new iMac :)

GetRealBro
 
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Lankyman said:
That's probably because most of us never get the iMac to break sweat so noise is never an issue.
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I was doing a lot of planning and business work on Pages.

No fans.

ofc.

But running a 'game' from 2004 in PC Bootcamp mode?

Hairdryer.

I am in a 'warm' room....but c'mon...

At least my 'dead iMac' sufferage is almost over.

20th Aug'. 10 core. 5700XT.

iRhubarb time!

Azrael.
 
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iMac 3.6 10-core
"The iMac’s cooling system, while upgraded somewhat in order to account for the new processors, is still much weaker than the system in the iMac Pro. When running my speed tests for this review, the iMac’s fans spun up immediately and were clearly audible as long as the computer was under load. My iMac Pro, on the other hand, didn’t break a sweat as it silently blew hot air out of its superior cooling system."

2020 iMac review: The last picture show – Six Colors

Six Colors by Jason Snell, Dan Moren and friends
sixcolors.com sixcolors.com
 
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I have a 10 core due shortly, and I'll review. If you want to see how I do my reviews have a look see here . That's for the 2019. I think the one that will be landing is the 10 core/middle graphics/nano-screen, so if there's anything specific you want to know then let me know and I'll check it out for you. The vids aren't particularly professional but they were in response to people asking for stuff as I get access to most of the new stuff as there's some accreditation we have to do before they can be used at some of my main clients.

Also, if you have a look here there's a spreadsheet that I've put a ton of benchmarks in.

My main kit I use is a 2016 i9 MBP, an 8 core iMac Pro, and a coupe of i7 Minis for virtual server stuff.
 
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But.... wait. Did that tear down show that the cpu was in a socket? So you can upgrade from the base model your self?
 
MacRS4 said:
I have a 10 core due shortly, and I'll review. If you want to see how I do my reviews have a look see here . That's for the 2019. I think the one that will be landing is the 10 core/middle graphics/nano-screen, so if there's anything specific you want to know then let me know and I'll check it out for you. The vids aren't particularly professional but they were in response to people asking for stuff as I get access to most of the new stuff as there's some accreditation we have to do before they can be used at some of my main clients.

Also, if you have a look here there's a spreadsheet that I've put a ton of benchmarks in.

My main kit I use is a 2016 i9 MBP, an 8 core iMac Pro, and a coupe of i7 Minis for virtual server stuff.
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Oh, I’ve seen that specific video about two weeks ago. Really nice stuff you doing, keep it up!

I would be interested in seeing some benchmarks for the 5700 graphics card (since you mentioned that you will be getting the mid-tier GPU).

Also, would you be able to show us the Apple polish cloth for the nano-screen? There is no info whatsoever about it online and I’m super curious as to how it feels like when touched / when cleaning the screen. Some close pictures of the iCloth would be welcome, too!
 
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ta :)

Sure. We have a mixture coming - a couple with the higher grade graphics too. I think that's just been down to how quick we can get them. All with the nano-screen. I'll see which I get when it lands this week.
 
MacRS4 said:
I have a 10 core due shortly, and I'll review. If you want to see how I do my reviews have a look see here . That's for the 2019. I think the one that will be landing is the 10 core/middle graphics/nano-screen, so if there's anything specific you want to know then let me know and I'll check it out for you. The vids aren't particularly professional but they were in response to people asking for stuff as I get access to most of the new stuff as there's some accreditation we have to do before they can be used at some of my main clients.

Also, if you have a look here there's a spreadsheet that I've put a ton of benchmarks in.

My main kit I use is a 2016 i9 MBP, an 8 core iMac Pro, and a coupe of i7 Minis for virtual server stuff.
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Great! Let us know. I don't know if you play games but it's always welcome if people can benchmark and stress test the GPU in games with different settings and also report on heat and fan noise during gaming. :)
 
A true games stress test will be interesting but I'm not a gamer..

I'm far more interested in the Pro Apps, Logic and Final Cut. A maxed out 10 Core vs an iMac Pro 10 Core with a Vega 64x. That will tell me a lot about other pro apps as well. Being the sandbox I play in, that's the one I want to see.

I don't believe for a second that it would make me want to give up my 14 Core iMP V 64 w/ 128GB but I am asked for recommendations quite a bit and mine have been iMP, MP 7.1 and Mini depending on the task. Since a tricked out Mini w/ a 5K monitor costs about the same as an iMP, I rearely recommend one. Anyway, knowing real world performance on the 2020 27" will let me know if I can recommend it or not.

As for my school teacher spouse, she's getting this:

  • Nano-texture glass
  • 3.3GHz 6-core 10th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.8GHz
  • 8GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
  • Radeon Pro 5300 with 4GB of GDDR6 memory
  • 1TB SSD storage
  • Gigabit Ethernet
  • Magic Mouse 2
  • Magic Keyboard - US English
  • Accessory Kit
Through the EDu store w/ AppleCare and CA + county and city sales taxes, it comes to $2,908.76 and includes the free set of Air Pods offered as a promo and free shipping.

Funny, if I picked it up at either of the Apple stores located in Cupertino, it would cost about $7 more due to the difference in city sales taxes. Funny how living only 2 miles away can make a difference.

I'm ok with that.
 
My home iMP is an 8 core, my office one a 10 core. Most of my real usage tends to be virtualisation of Windows Server products. Weirdly, I find running Windows m/cs on MacOS highly productive. It's probably the single primary reason I use MacOS and the single primary reason I'll be leaving it with ARM. Sad Face.

For my personal stuff I do a ton of video editing on FCPX, photos on Lightroom & Photoshop. I'm not particularly capable in either but the kit I get access to (A7R Mk 4 for example) means I get to play with outputs that are quite demaning (120MB RAW files. WTF).

I don't really game on stuff but happy to test stuff if I can.

For what it's worth I do get some influence on what we order - perhaps next time I'll ask first?

As a weird side note I'm really really irritated that none of the units we've ordered have 10Gbe. I have a drawer full of TB3 10Gbe adapters but these units only come with 2 TB3 ports. Very annoying.

I've an 18 core and 10 core processor in my amazon basket at the moment - totally going to attempt upgrading my iMac pro, then I'm going to throw it away when it explodes and not give back one of the 10 core iMacs. Probably aha. Not sure I'll get away with that.

As a personal side note, I love this tech stuff. I think sometimes I forget what I get access to to play with. That's why I started doing the videos. The MacOS stuff tends to come my way, the Windows stuff not so much as there's several people who can certify those.

I'll perhaps ask what people are interested in before advising on actual specs next time.
 
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grandM said:
In another thread someone complains about crashes with OWC RAM
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So what? Who really believes that OWC won't make that right?

Could be a bad stick but unlikely.

Could also be operator error—didn't press it in or didn't follow the installation instructions properly.

I had a recent problem with an older iMac where the Apple support docs were flat out wrong on which RAM slots were which—someone had uploaded a newer graphic. I swapped two sticks and everything came back to life.
 
Talking about the iMac vs iMac Pro thing for a moment, there is something that a lot of people miss about testing the two platforms - and that's how people use the things.

One of the things that constantly surprises me about the iMP is how scalable it is with doing multiple things, whereas I think sometimes it gets measured about *how quick it does this one thing*.

I run several VMs on my iMP, leave them doing things, while they're running do my video editing.....then start the export and get back to the VMs while that's exporting etc.

The iMP appears to cope with a LOT more at once before performance starts to degrade, compared to the 2019 units I get to use in the office. They're not slow, I just find myself not quite using them in the same way. If I'm exporting 4k stuff from my A7/3 at work, I can carry on with other stuff but I know it's happening in the background.

I should probably look into that some more.
 
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MacRS4 said:
I've an 18 core and 10 core processor in my amazon basket at the moment - totally going to attempt upgrading my iMac pro,
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Have you seen the videos on that? As long as you are careful and don't short out the screen, it's a straight swap. Since retail units generally clock faster than the ones they sell Apple, you ought to do ok.

I assume that you know this but many won't. Intel grades the CPUs as they come out of the oven to determine the max clock speed of each one.

Those that clock highest go to retail and certain high end, boutique OEMs and VARs. The Apple spec is lower—which also lowers Apple's cost. Other OEMs have even lower standards and get the ones that fall below Apple's standards..
 
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Well the W2155 is 3.3Ghz I think compared to 3Ghz in the iMP shipped one isn't it? I imagine it just takes patience and the right tools from looking at the videos.

The real problem is my iMP at home is *my* iMP ahah. Normally I'd have the screen off in seconds thinking aha, what's the worst that could happen!

The 10 core seems to be the best bang per buck upgrade. If I spot a 14 or 18 core for not too punishable a price I may jump for that, it just increases the potential pain of a mess up doesn't it. Shudder.
 
mikehalloran said:
So what? Who really believes that OWC won't make that right?

Could be a bad stick but unlikely.

Could also be operator error—didn't press it in or didn't follow the installation instructions properly.

I had a recent problem with an older iMac where the Apple support docs were flat out wrong on which RAM slots were which—someone had uploaded a newer graphic. I swapped two sticks and everything came back to life.
Click to expand...


Cool bro. Yea I don’t know how to push in a ram stick. Gee that solved it. But No. unfortunately that’s not the problem. Also guess what? There is nothing for OWC to make right as the ram works as it is described when used alone. The problem seems to be the cpu, chipset or mother boards or something. I was getting MCA errors when starting with the OWC and Apple ram. I’m just going to give up and order more OWC ram. Fingers crossed it works if only I can remember how to push in the ram stick.
 
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MacRS4 said:
I have a 10 core due shortly, and I'll review. If you want to see how I do my reviews have a look see here . That's for the 2019. I think the one that will be landing is the 10 core/middle graphics/nano-screen, so if there's anything specific you want to know then let me know and I'll check it out for you. The vids aren't particularly professional but they were in response to people asking for stuff as I get access to most of the new stuff as there's some accreditation we have to do before they can be used at some of my main clients.

Also, if you have a look here there's a spreadsheet that I've put a ton of benchmarks in.

My main kit I use is a 2016 i9 MBP, an 8 core iMac Pro, and a coupe of i7 Minis for virtual server stuff.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your good willing.
Please is it possible to check heat and noise with your apps and a win10 vm running? this would be great.
Thank you in advance. :)
 
Homy said:
iMac 3.6 10-core

2020 iMac review: The last picture show – Six Colors

Six Colors by Jason Snell, Dan Moren and friends
sixcolors.com sixcolors.com
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They should cut the entry iMac Pro to £3.5k.

He does note 'fan noise' during this review for the new 2020. Particularly gauling when you're paying £3.5k or there abouts for a a 10 core/5700XT etc. Touting the 'superior' cooling of the iMac Pro. Which is 3 year's old.

Rather that than the bladdy Nano glass...

Azrael.
 
Mizouse said:
me crying with Intel HD Graphics 4000

View attachment 942213
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Yep. I hear you. I wish Apple did. A 5300 Pro or 5500 Pro in the Mini? And I'd have probably bought one of those rather than waiting for this iMac. To me, it's a real deficiency in Mini. It should be an option. If they can fit one in a 1 inch MB Pro...then it should be easy to put into a biscuit box like the Mini.

The good news for Mini fans (and I count myself amongst them despite never having bought one...) is that the AS promises good gpu performance for all consumer Macs. (Not that it will be hard to put the iMac21, Air, MB13 in the shade...)

Azrael.
 
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IMG_1266.jpeg


Left: 2020 model
  • 3.8 GHz 8-Core i7
  • 40 GB RAM (self-install)
  • Radeon Pro 5500 XT
  • 512 GB SSD.

Right: 2019 model
  • 3.6 GHz 8-core i9
  • 40 GB RAM (self-install)
  • Radeon Pro Vega 48
  • 512 GB SSD.

The 2020's i7 performance is impressive, equalising the single core performance of the i9, and beating it by 10% on multi core on Geekbench

The 5500 XT's performance is less impressive, performing 20% worse in synthetic benchmarks than the Vega 48. I was hoping it would be a closer match considering it is built on a new process. Of course, the 5700 XT will comfortably outperform the Vega 48, but at a steep price.

Real world performance is another matter though. You won't see a difference in performance on GTA V, for instance, regardless of settings. Not that these are machines for gaming anyway - and the Windows drivers are still poor.

In stock configs the 2020 iMac offers good value for money, performing as good as a specced out 2019 model for 2/3rds the price.

Now, roll on ARM and a new design please Apple.
 
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