You'll be very happy with this config! I got mine last August and it still feels new to me.
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iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020) Order Thread
- Thread starter RyanXM
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Thanks! I hope so struggled to decided if buying an Intel iMac was a good idea with all the Apple Silicon coming out, but ultimately I want to be able to play upcoming Windows games like Diablo 4 and Diablo 2 Resurrected and I still play Diablo 3. Blizzard has been slowly dropping MacOS support from all their new games - I blame Activision. MacOS support of games has been lacking, hopefully as Apple Silicon Macs come out with more powerful graphics developers will start to embrace MacOS, but I won't hold my breathe
. For now the majority of my usage is video ripping and encoding of Blu Rays and DVDs for my PLEX server, pictures, watching YouTube videos and spurts of PC games when I get the time (works, kids, life is time consuming lol).
Did you get the 5700 XT 16gb as well? How has it performed for you? No overheating or anything?
Excellent configuration. Just get 32 or 64GB third party RAM. Don't try and mix with the 8GB Apple RAM. Maybe you know this already.
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I wouldn't have second thoughts about intel vs apple silicon. The reasons for buying intel are present for a lot of people/institutions. While the virtualization has proven effective for large programs, smaller server based solutions and plug-ins are have not been so successful. It's been an interesting transition thus far, and I can't wait to get a 2nd or 3rd get apple silicon product, but for now my actual work flow still demands intel. Further, I can't prescribe to the notion that a product that is no longer offered is irrelevant. If it's still a productive product part of a workflow, then it's still a viable product.Thanks! I hope so struggled to decided if buying an Intel iMac was a good idea with all the Apple Silicon coming out, but ultimately I want to be able to play upcoming Windows games like Diablo 4 and Diablo 2 Resurrected and I still play Diablo 3. Blizzard has been slowly dropping MacOS support from all their new games - I blame Activision. MacOS support of games has been lacking, hopefully as Apple Silicon Macs come out with more powerful graphics developers will start to embrace MacOS, but I won't hold my breathe
For now the majority of my usage is video ripping and encoding of Blu Rays and DVDs for my PLEX server, pictures, watching YouTube videos and spurts of PC games when I get the time (works, kids, life is time consuming lol).
Did you get the 5700 XT 16gb as well? How has it performed for you? No overheating or anything?
I LOVE the 5700XT. It was honestly THE reason I decided to purchase the 2020 iMac. I do a lot of drafting in 3D, and it's been a dream to work on this machine. Before the pandemic the job demanded travel, so I was always on an underpowered laptop. The 5700XT has been a game changer for my workflow. Just the other day I was on a zoom call and sharing my screen while exploring a 3D design and my coworkers even commented how smooth the camera was. I went the i9, (config in signature), but the GPU is the real workhorse for me.
Well, pulled the trigged on a 27" 2020 8-core, 5700XT, 1TB, DIY 32gb ram.
Ordered late yesterday and says it will arrive March 30.
I've been a huge fan of the iMac Pro +eGPU route, but taking the moment here to get a more integrated package. I'm worried about fan noise under load, hope it is not an issue for my use cases, but if it is I'll come up with a solution.
Going to be interesting to see the performance in gaming, specifically between:
1. iMac Pro 8-core, 32gb ram, egpu Sapphire Nitro RX 5700 XT
2. new iMac with integrated 5700 XT
Ordered late yesterday and says it will arrive March 30.
I've been a huge fan of the iMac Pro +eGPU route, but taking the moment here to get a more integrated package. I'm worried about fan noise under load, hope it is not an issue for my use cases, but if it is I'll come up with a solution.
Going to be interesting to see the performance in gaming, specifically between:
1. iMac Pro 8-core, 32gb ram, egpu Sapphire Nitro RX 5700 XT
2. new iMac with integrated 5700 XT
That will be interesting. My understanding is the RX 5700XT has better performance than the Pro 5700XT, as it has higher clock speed and TFLOPS, but less memory. But there is probably more to it than that.
Yeah, agreed. Looking forward to nerding out the weekend I get it on benchmarks and personal use case reviews.
I can say that my iMac pro + eGPU runs Heaven (extreme) @ about a score of 75. The 10-core + 5700xt in MaxTech's video is 96.2 in MacOS. not sure if/how that score will move with the i7, but I'm expecting a reasonable increase in Heaven score.
The main game I play is WoW Classic, which is already running really well on the current setup but will be fun to see how that goes. WoW Classic is a very CPU bound game and the single-core performance may be 20% higher, so it could see better performance when it is CPU bound.
Has anyone in this thread gotten an 8-core + 5700XT and benched it?
I have an 8-core with 5500XT, but when I run Unigine Heaven Extreme preset it only uses about half of one core of the CPU, so I do not expect 8-core vs 10-core CPU will make any significant difference to the Heaven score
Yea, plan on ordering a 32GB (16gb x2 - could add 16 more later on, but don't have a need for that much ram right now .... current PC only has 8 lol) kit from OWC and dumping the 8GB it comes with as soon as I get it! Yea, not mixing and matching ram vendors and sizes is PC 101, but thanks for the heads up!
The integrated 5700 XT will be far an away faster because Thunderbolt 3 is a giant bottleneck and you expect to lose at least 30% of your power due to limited bandwidth over thunderbolt 3. Event more pronounced if you you are not outputting directly from the eGPU to an external monitor because that data at round trip to the eGPU and then back further saturating the limited thunderbolt 3 bandwidth.
Plus, the integrated 5700 XT has 16GB of vram which certainly won't hurt gaming performance when it comes to vram heavy features like shadows, textures, etc.
Looks like we will end up with same config system in the end. The i7 vs i9 is very little difference maybe 8 to 12% and certainly won't be noticeable playing games. Definitely, not enough value in the i9 to warrant what Apple charges for it.
I feel ya on the travel, been working out of my basement on my companies Dell Laptop with external 24" display for about a year now. I think I finally need to break down and buy myself a better computer chair ... been sitting on a wooden half height art chair from Ikea lol - ouch. Have been doing some careful traveling for business, but not as much as before.
100% agree, the first thing I knew I wanted was the 5700 XT 16GB as it is the most power GPU outside the Mac Pro that Apple has ever put into a Mac. Less powerful than all the new GPU's that just came up AMD 6800/6900 XT and Nvidia 3080/3090, but man just before I committed to buying an iMac instead of building another custom PC I took a glance at video cards right now and they are ALL out of stock and priced 50 to 100% over MSRP right now. So yea, can't even buy video cards right now at all. Wouldn't be able to build a PC if I wanted it. Also, as a former IT administrator turn Technical Product Manager I am sick to death of Windows. Ready for a change.
I am super excited for all the stuff that comes with owning an iMac - integrated 1080p webcam for facetime (no longer have to prop my iPhone up next to my PC when I'm sitting at my PC), integrated iMessage, Apple Photos, Blazing fast internal SSD, striking 5K display (that is now True-Tone), built in speakers and Bluetooth for headphones and PlayStation controller so I can simplify my desk setup.
Now lets hope that Apple doesn't short change support for Intel iMacs. I fully expect OS support for at LEAST 5 years.
Im actually wondering if the i7 may be marginally better performance for games due to the slightly higher single clock score and thermals. MaxTech also mentions a potentially higher power limit for the i7. Dunno.
either way, it’ll be a rocket. Hope I made the right call for not getting the i9.
ETA: the note above on GPU prices is how I funded my iMac. iMac Pro selling at 3k and 5700XT sold for $1100. Keeping the Razer Core Chroma X as I customized the fans and PSU and don’t want to deal with explaining or selling that.
maybe I can find a willing buyer on eGPU forums or something.
Way beyond my expectation it will arrive Monday the 22nd. Original date was end of month. Crazy how fast it flew through customs.
I was able to run the release version of Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p at mostly high values for everything. Just FYI in case you were wondering about game performance. The only other games I’ve played are XCOM2 and Civ V / VI and haven’t had any issues with these games either.
Wow that's awesome. I'm installing Cyberpunk on an i7/5700xt iMac right now. Still using stock drivers and once I get my games installed I will test stock vs the latest BCD drivers as well - see if anything makes a difference.
I’m running on the September, 2000 AMD driver update. I’d be interested in your opinion of the latest boot camp drivers. I tried it last year, but I messed up somehow and had to revert.
I'll be running pre-post benchmarks for the bootcampdriver Discord and posting results.
Mine did as well, was supposed to be next week and got it last Monday (Mar 22nd). Totally loving it.
As an aside, while Fortnite on a default Windows & Bootcamp install makes the fans sound like the iMac is about to take off - the game is buttery smooth at 1440p.
My experience with Fortnite is the same. Driving a 144hz 1440p external. With full view distance and 100% 3d res, no shadows, medium AA, and low or off the the rest (ie. competitive settings) I am 120-144 fps in-game constantly.
Re: Fans, I was worried about this coming from an iMac Pro + eGPU setup which was near silent in Fortnite (I did some fan mods in the Razer Core to get that sound down).
I find that a 3 hour gaming session gets them between 2000-2700 rpms at the settings above which is kind loud, the way I setup my desk I am getting 32-34dbs of noise during game play at-the-keyboard. With my headphones on it is a non-issue.
Seriously loving this machine though overall... and coming from the iMac Pro + 5700xt eGPU I had a bar set high.
Wow this thing is incredible. If you are on the fence and an Intel iMac is for you, this is the peak of Intel iMacs.
So long as I can run windows apps, I am interested and will have a really nicely specced 2020 iMac with AC+ on local Facebook Marketplace.
Although I bought myself the 2020 27-inch iMac, I'm still using the original retina iMac (Late 2014) at my workplace. As soon as Apple released the new model, I'll let my manager knows. ?
Similar. I never had a doubt, as I love my maxed-out iMac 27" intel. I mentioned this on the reaction thread, but I do like the design and feel of the new iMac with the M1 but view it as an entry unit, very consumer friendly with an expected more-powerful version or iMac Pro later this year.