iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020) Order Thread

[mattmacpro]

Thanks for the info. It is coming with 16GB but I thought I would double that. Sounds like I may want to just order 32GB from OWC. I added RAM to my 2011 with no problem, so hope this will be the same.

Assuming Apple shipped 2x8GB for your 16GB from the factory and you want a total of 32GB, you can still be good.

From what other people’s experiments have shown, Dual channel needs the ram to be the same size in 1/3 and 2/4. To get full speed, you need Apple in 1/2 and 3rd party in 3/4 (or vice versa).

But if you order 2x8gb of 3rd party RAM, you can move the Apple to 1/2 and put yours in 3/4. Then you’ll have
1: Apple 8gb
2: Apple 8gb
3: Your 8gb
4: Your 8gb

With 8gb in each of 1/3 and 8gb in each of 2/4, dual channel should work fine, and they should all run at 2666 as expected. It would have been a bit cheaper and left you easy expansion if you’d just ordered 32gb as 2x16gb aftermarket, but you should be able to not waste the upgrade you paid for at least!

 

[Spk1]

I did get it. No bill of lading. You are good to go. Where is your package now?

Go Canucks!

Winnipeg!
Despite the delay in rerouting from my home to my office - I’ll be out of town when it arrives and I didn’t want it trapped in UPS missed delivery limbo.
Yay! ?
Thanks for heads up on the packaging ?

Go Canucks!
(Since the Jets are toast)

 

[wilberforce]

Assuming Apple shipped 2x8GB for your 16GB from the factory and you want a total of 32GB, you can still be good.

From what other people’s experiments have shown, Dual channel needs the ram to be the same size in 1/3 and 2/4. To get full speed, you need Apple in 1/2 and 3rd party in 3/4 (or vice versa).

But if you order 2x8gb of 3rd party RAM, you can move the Apple to 1/2 and put yours in 3/4. Then you’ll have
1: Apple 8gb
2: Apple 8gb
3: Your 8gb
4: Your 8gb

With 8gb in each of 1/3 and 8gb in each of 2/4, dual channel should work fine, and they should all run at 2666 as expected. It would have been a bit cheaper and left you easy expansion if you’d just ordered 32gb as 2x16gb aftermarket, but you should be able to not waste the upgrade you paid for at least!

I will try this with 16GB sticks and report back. It is an interesting idea

edit: I tried this and it works! See my post in the memory compatibility thread

 

[cubalibre]

Assuming Apple shipped 2x8GB for your 16GB from the factory and you want a total of 32GB, you can still be good.

From what other people’s experiments have shown, Dual channel needs the ram to be the same size in 1/3 and 2/4. To get full speed, you need Apple in 1/2 and 3rd party in 3/4 (or vice versa).

But if you order 2x8gb of 3rd party RAM, you can move the Apple to 1/2 and put yours in 3/4. Then you’ll have
1: Apple 8gb
2: Apple 8gb
3: Your 8gb
4: Your 8gb

With 8gb in each of 1/3 and 8gb in each of 2/4, dual channel should work fine, and they should all run at 2666 as expected. It would have been a bit cheaper and left you easy expansion if you’d just ordered 32gb as 2x16gb aftermarket, but you should be able to not waste the upgrade you paid for at least!

I think this is correct, I could not get mine to work well with any combination of the 2x4GB sticks it came with and the 2x32GB from Crucial I got elsewhere. It would not boot at all with the 4GBs in 1/2 and the 32GB ones in 3/4 or vice versa.

Ended up taking out the stock RAM, I’ll just order another 64GB from Crucial if I eventually need more than 64GB.

 

[victry1]

Well, I'm happy to say my iMac FINALLY moved! It made it to Narita, Japan this morning. Of course, now, UPS changed my delivery date. Initially they said Friday now it's Monday. I'm just glad it's moving.

 

[ZBoater]

Nooooooooooooooooo

 

[Imaginethe]

Mine was out for delivery over 15 hours ago, still no sign of it. Apparently it may take until 21:00. I am getting less patient as the day goes on.

 

[neuralengine]

Nooooooooooooooooo View attachment 947765

Same for me, with the exact same time stamp.

Update: Got here this morning, Sep. 1, 3 days ahead of Apple’s most recent estimate and 10 days ahead of their initial estimate.

(Tier 3 with the 8-core i7, I only bumped storage to 1TB and the Ethernet to the 10 Gigabit). Removed Apple’s RAM and installed 32 GB from Crucial.

Smooth sailing so far, this thing is really fast and really quiet!

The only issue I’ve had is the RAM door just did not want to go back in and I had to force it more than I would have liked.

 

[ADGrant]

Mine just arrived from China via Japan, Alaska etc.

 

[mlykke]

Well mine just jumped from saying delivery september 10th to arriving tomorrow. So that was quite unexpected, but I'm not complaining

 

[rambo47]

Well mine just jumped from saying delivery september 10th to arriving tomorrow. So that was quite unexpected, but I'm not complaining

That is the BEST feeling! Many of us geezers remember the old days when you'd order a new product from Apple and wait MONTHS, especially when it was a new release. Often the updates you got were to push back your expected delivery date even farther. It made some of us even consider going PC. But only briefly. Hey - just don't wait to clear that spot on your desk for the new arrival.

 

[sir grotius]

Received my new iMac this afternoon. It's a beauty. I was laughing to myself at how well Apple does packaging. Their design team is top notch.

It was somewhat jarring how exactly the same the body of the machine looks versus my current computer iMac 2014. I was hoping for the most minor of adjustments.

I'm one of those who were holding out for a new iMac Pro, loved the aesthetics, but anyway, the biggest difference from the '14 in terms of exterior is the screen. I can't get over the nano glass versus my 2014. If you're a bit of a glare hound, it's the best I've seen.

Speed-wise it appears blazing fast, as I'd expect.

I'm not a huge benchmark geek, but I did run the first thing that sprang to Google, which was Geekbench. Not sure what this really means, except all the detailed breakdowns looked cool!

2014:
Open CL Score: 28677

2020:
Open CL Score: 57475

2014:
Single Core Score: 1011 / Multi Core Score: 3411

2020:
Single Core Score: 1157 / Multi Core Score: 8931

 

[mattmacpro]

Mine is in Anchorage as of about lunch time today. It hasn’t left Anchorage yet. And despite me being in Seattle, I know it still has to go all the way to Louisville for pesky customs before it can turn around and come back to the west coast. Looking at other timelines, hoping for Friday is a lost cause. Monday is barely practical if it gets into and leaves Louisville tomorrow. Apple’s estimate of 9/1 looks more realistic all the time, and UPS is back to “Check back later for scheduled delivery time”.

 

[wilberforce]

Mine is in Anchorage as of about lunch time today. It hasn’t left Anchorage yet. And despite me being in Seattle, I know it still has to go all the way to Louisville for pesky customs before it can turn around and come back to the west coast. Looking at other timelines, hoping for Friday is a lost cause. Monday is barely practical if it gets into and leaves Louisville tomorrow. Apple’s estimate of 9/1 looks more realistic all the time, and UPS is back to “Check back later for scheduled delivery time”.

Don't lose hope. Mine made it from Shanghai to Korea to Anchorage to Louisville to Oakland, California in 28 hours total

 

[victry1]

...And just like that - the computer will be delivered today! Psyched! Not ready yet, but happy it's coming.

 

[Sheza]

Well mine just jumped from saying delivery september 10th to arriving tomorrow. So that was quite unexpected, but I'm not complaining

That’s crazy! How long ago did you order it?

 

[snowtrooper1966]

Ordered mine a couple days ago:

10 core i9
8GB RAM (+ 64GB RAM from OWC/MacSales)
1TB SSD
Radeon Pro 5700XT 16GB

I run a design/dev studio and photography. Work with 47MP RAW files from a Nikon D850, Photoshop, Web Development, and also Audio Engineering so I think this baby is going to do just fine.

Upgrading from 2017 iMac 4-core 4.2Ghz i7, 40GB RAM, Radeon Pro 580 8GB 512GB SSD.

that was my 2017 config as well, other than I BTO’d w/1TB SSD.
Sold it a few weeks ago on eBay for 2600 and was able to afford my new 2020.
Not critical use here, and the 2017 was overbuilt, so went mid tier 27” 3.2GHz, 5300 4GB w/1TB SSD.
Actually came out a few bux ahead and bought the OWC 32GB RAM kit...
Crazy to think I was able to do it all from sale of old iMac.

 

[osplo]

Received my new iMac this afternoon. It's a beauty. I was laughing to myself at how well Apple does packaging. Their design team is top notch.

It was somewhat jarring how exactly the same the body of the machine looks versus my current computer iMac 2014. I was hoping for the most minor of adjustments.

I'm one of those who were holding out for a new iMac Pro, loved the aesthetics, but anyway, the biggest difference from the '14 in terms of exterior is the screen. I can't get over the nano glass versus my 2014. If you're a bit of a glare hound, it's the best I've seen.

Speed-wise it appears blazing fast, as I'd expect.

I'm not a huge benchmark geek, but I did run the first thing that sprang to Google, which was Geekbench. Not sure what this really means, except all the detailed breakdowns looked cool!

2014:
Open CL Score: 28677
View attachment 947869

2020:
Open CL Score: 57475

2014:
Single Core Score: 1011 / Multi Core Score: 3411

View attachment 947872


2020:
Single Core Score: 1157 / Multi Core Score: 8931

I am a bit confused (and disappointed) about the lack of improvement for the Single Core Score for your brand new 10-core i9.

As you kindly shared: iMac 2014: 1011, iMac 2020: 1157. Less than 15%, six years later.

No wonder Apple is running away from Intel!

Is it possible that the i7 iMac is much faster at single core than the i9, though?

 

[oneafour]

UPS updated ETA to Apple's 9/1 target date =(

edit: err UPS updated again and its now 9/2

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Just updated to a 9/1 delivery date now that it’s cleared customs in Osaka. It’s still in Osaka but I’m guessing it’ll be on the next flight out. Ordered custom on the 15th so the order is moving right along.

 

[GreenDice]

UPS updated ETA to Apple's 8/1 target date =(

You meant 9/1?

 

[mlykke]

Apparently it's not my lucky day. Got the i7 5700 XT Pro delivered from Ireland today - But it was DOA. Black screen no matter what I tried. So an hour later and multiple tries with a technician, still dead. Followed by usual Apple world class service - A replacement has been ordered and somebody si coming to pickup this unit within 2 days.
Very annoying when you have been looking forward to a new machine. But I guess it was my turn to get a lemon after having owned 25+ Apple devices without a single problem.

 

[victry1]

Apparently it's not my lucky day. Got the i7 5700 XT Pro delivered from Ireland today - But it was DOA. Black screen no matter what I tried. So an hour later and multiple tries with a technician, still dead. Followed by usual Apple world class service - A replacement has been ordered and somebody si coming to pickup this unit within 2 days.
Very annoying when you have been looking forward to a new machine. But I guess it was my turn to get a lemon after having owned 25+ Apple devices without a single problem.

Oh man! That stinks! Hope Apple puts a rush on your replacement.

 

[wilberforce]

I am a bit confused (and disappointed) about the lack of improvement for the Single Core Score for your brand new 10-core i9.

As you kindly shared: iMac 2014: 1011, iMac 2020: 1157. Less than 15%, six years later.

No wonder Apple is running away from Intel!

Is it possible that the i7 iMac is much faster at single core than the i9, though?

Both i7 and i9 2020 iMacs give Geekbench single core results of about 1300, with i9 perhaps slightly higher than i7.
See:

iMac20 - Geekbench 5 CPU Search - Geekbench

browser.geekbench.com

(careful, some of the results shown are for Hackingtoshes)

When the single core scores are lower than about 1300, it is usually because there is some background process running at the same time. Need to close all other processes as much as possible, and do repeated tests and take the maximum.

But you are right, single core results have not improved much in 5 years

 

[sir grotius]

Good point, I probably had messenger/outlook open, but yes, I did give that number a second look. Good insight on another motivation for Apple to move to their newer, more novel architecture.

On a positive note, gaming is not even close in feel.

Am I the only nano screen purchaser on this thread? I am blown away. I have both computers in front of me (iMac 2014 and iMac 2020 w/ nano screen), and the difference is striking. True Tone might help a bit, too.