Need suggestions with decision.

[andylaiphoto]

I use Photoshop CC, Lightroom, Final Cut Pro X, and sometimes iMovie.

Pricing is similar so would I be better served with
4.0 Core i7 and AMD R9 M390
or
3.3 Core i5 and AMD R9 M395

Will install and SSD and upgrade ram so considering those items to be equal in both machines what is my best bet or will I even notice a difference? I my time is split 50/50 between stills and video.

thanks in advance.

 

[Sirmausalot]

get a 2tb fusion, do not spend money on a ram upgrade and instead get the i7 and 395x. you can upgrade ram next year.

 

[maflynn]

I guess the question is how much slower is the M390 is over the M395?

I think overall, the i7 4.0GHz will give you the biggest bang for you buck.

 

[andylaiphoto]

You would think it was slower but the this happened.

"Just left the Apple Store and more confused now. I went in with a memory card with a 12 minute video clip from my drone. It was recorded in 1080p.

I downloaded the file to all three trims of the 27 inch iMac. I opened up three windows in Safari. Two streaming video in 1080P and one streaming in 4K.

I imported the video file to iMovie, added the same filter and same adjustments, and exported the file to the desktop.

The lowest spec iMac was the fastest. The mid spec iMac was behind by about 10 seconds. The top spec iMac was behind by 30sec.

Export settings were the same. 1080P, Pro setting, and compression set for best quality.

M380 took 7:30
M390 took 7:40
M395 took 8:00

Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

 

[Sirmausalot]

Export is primarily (if not solely) a function of the processor, not the GPU. The i7 will be fastest, especially with software designed to take advantage of hyper-threading. Running video in the background just adds more variables you can't really control. Although Final Cut X and Adobe programs take advantage of the i7, I'm not sure iMovie does.