Not sure what to do

[DevPreach]

I know that things are uncertain as to when a new iMac will be coming out or whether it will be on custom Apple silicon or still an Intel CPU so I know that there are a lot of variables for this question, but I'm going to ask it anyways. I'm going to be inheriting some money soon(about $8k after paying taxes) and I'm looking to spend about half of that on a new desktop computer. I do use my desktop for some gaming(World of Tanks, World of Warships primarily) and I do already have a decent gaming rig(32GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, Gigabyte AMD Vega 56 8GB GPU) but I could always build a better one and $4k will build one heck of a gaming pc or it would build me one heck of a new Apple iMac as well that I could use for a dedicated graphics/photo-editing rig which I would use quite a bit. Do you all have any suggestions? I really don't want to start a flame war here but please keep in mind that any new gaming PC would be an AMD-based system as far as the CPU goes. I'm an AMD fan boy from back in the day of the original Athlon processors and nothing anyone can do or say can convince me to switch at the moment.

Possible specs for the new gaming PC are as follows:
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X CPU
High end ASUS or Gigabyte MOBO
32 GB Corsair DDR4 Memory
New PSU either Seasonic, Corsair, or EVGA Full-modular approximately 850-1200W(I like to have room to spare as far as PSU)
Phanteks P600S Eclipse case or something similar in the $200 price range
RTX 2070 Super or Similar graphics card
AIO Liquid Cooler pref 360mm(I don't have the space nor the tools to try a custom water cooling loop even though one day I really would want to try)
All the Corsair LL or ML Series fans that I could possibly squeeze into the case
2 M.2 SSDs in RAID 0
1 or 2 WD Black mechanical drives for data storage
2 new gaming monitors(right now I have 1080p ASUS 21.5 monitors(2) but I would like to step up to 4k monitors)

Possible specs for new iMac 27"

3.6Ghz 9th Gen Core i7 8-Core
32GB RAM
2 TB SSD
8 GB AMD 580X GPU
Applecare


Any recommendations?? Possible time table is 1-2 months

DevPreach

 

[pldelisle]

Do you need macOS ?

 

[Apple_Robert]

You haven‘t described any usage that would make real use of MacOS. Looks to me like you are still in a Windows environment with gaming. I see no need to get a new iMac given what you said.

 

[DevPreach]

I like the environment of MacOS better for my photo-editing and graphic design work that I do. I'm using a 2020 13" MBP for it right now and while it does a really good job of it having a bigger screen and dedicated GPU would make it a little more enjoyable.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I like the environment of MacOS better for my photo-editing and graphic design work that I do. I'm using a 2020 13" MBP for it right now and while it does a really good job of it having a bigger screen and dedicated GPU would make it a little more enjoyable.

In that case, a iMac would suit you well for your video and graphics etc. I would wait a few months and see if Apple releases anything, unless you need something now. The wait times on a new iMac are over a month right now.

 

[velocityg4]

If you are planning to game at 4K. Then just upgrade the GPU. A new CPU won't make a bit of difference. As even a 2080Ti would be the limiting factor at 4K. Most likely the unreleased 3080 Ti would be the limiting factor too. All those other expenses will just be spending a whole lot of money for an extremely marginal improvement at 4K. I'd wait for the 3080 series or whatever it's called comes out.

Sell the 13" and get the 16". Preferable after the move to ARM for longevity. Use a KVM switch to share the displays between your Mac and PC.

Maybe all in you'll have spent a net $2,000 to $2,500. You'll have a very nice laptop and a very nice 4K gaming PC.