- 3.1GHz 6-core 10th-generation Intel Core i5 processor
- 32GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
- Radeon Pro 5300 with 4GB of GDDR6 memory
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Recent 27" iMacs are NOT silent
- Thread starter motrek
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Wow! That's the base config and yet your had the Kernel Panics. I'm shocked if it is related to heat as the higher spec configs would surely suffer even more KPs.
I did some calculations to estimate energy used by the GPU on the iMac 2020 based on Geekbench OpenCL values and published TDP (watts), and I think 5500XT is the coolest running chip for iMac 2020 (and cooler overall compared with 2019). May explain why they could reduce the sound level on their spec.
Uhmmm.. the cards in the Mac have little in common with their desktop counterparts. All of them have a TDP of 130W. Also, since heat and power consumption grow rather exponentially with clock speed, I would expect the 5700 to be running the coolest.
https://www.amd.com/en/graphics/radeon-apple-5000-series
I don't believe this spec sheet... maybe it is nominal power consumption and not peak power consumption.
The OpenCL/TDP does not scale to match the desktop version of the 5700XT with only 130W.
I think 5500XT and 5700 are similar in terms of thermal load, but bang-for-the-buck wise it's best to skip the 5700 and go to the 5700XT... but then you're running hot thermally, haha!
I really doubt it’s because of temperature.
Run Intel power gadget for a long time. It will stress it.
Post the report here of the log you get after rebooting from kernel panic.
Oddly enough, the last kernel panic this morning happened after opening Intel Power Gadget. The system crashed before the window appeared.
Your unit might be somewhat defective. Many, many reviewers already used Intel Power Gadget to stress test it. Benchmarks also make the machine hot and you seem to be the only one reporting kernel panics. Might be something weird with your single own machine.
That's entirely possible. I've been using Intel Power Gadget over the past few days and it's been fine. It's just today that the kernel panics started.
I didn't check. The last one was several hours ago. I'll upload the logs here after the next one.
Since I noticed you like math, we could very roughly run a calculation like this:
thermal output = C (compute units) x Freq. x Freq. (squared clock speed)
It comes out like this, relative to one another:
5300 -> 54M
5500 -> 74M
5700 -> 65M
5700XT -> 89M
To be taken with a big grain of salt, but it would indicate that they run from coolest to hottest: 5300 -> 5700 -> 5500XT -> 5700XT
Should be linear growth. At least up to a certain point. Exponential growth is voltage. Don't forget, CUs also have to be powered.
Intel Power Gadget hasn't been updated since 2019. Wouldn't surprise me if it caused system crashes because it needs to read some sensors.
Really appreciate this response! I was not considering refrubs but you have me thinking about it. Do you have a sense if they will update the iMP this year? My iMac will be good at least until the end of the year, and now that I know I can downgrade to Catalina or Mojave from Big Sur, time is not so pressing.If you're doing pro audio, why didn't you check out the iMac Pro? It's a truck. If you need a truck, you should get one.
Without having any idea what you really mean by Pro Audio, no one will be able to make anything other than a guess.
Pro Audio, AV, Heavy graphics are not gaming. Geekbench and other, non-app specific scores are fairly useless for pro users. Logic, VEP, FCPx, Maya Rendering, Photoshop etc. Those are the comparisons we want to see.
You can buy $150,000 Maya Box workstations running Win 10 as used by film and animation studios. If you need one of those, the iMP is a waste of money — but a $43,000 Mac Pro 7.1 is not (that's the target for the high end 7.1, by the way).
I determined that my needs would be met by a 10 Core with 64GB RAM and 2TB storage onboard — then I found a 14 Core/128GB 2TB for the same price. Now with all these Zoom videos I am making, I realize that I needed 4TB onboard for the work I do. 14Core/128GB RAM is probably overkill for what I do but the Vega 64 is not. Didn't realize that I'd be doing so much video when I purchased.
I've run a test project with a thousand instances of VIs in Logic, each with a convo-reverb and another plugin. The fans rose slightly above idle when I did.
Last week, there were base model iMPs in the Refurb Store for $3,800 (a $449 price drop). Right now, $4,419 gets you:
27-inch (diagonal) Retina 5K display; 5120-by-2880 resolution with support for one billion colors
32GB of 2666MHz DDR4 ECC memory
1TB SSD storage
1080p FaceTime HD camera
Radeon Pro Vega 64X graphics processor with 16GB of HBM2 memory
OTOH, $8,747 gets you
27-inch (diagonal) Retina 5K display; 5120-by-2880 resolution with support for one billion colors
128GB of 2666MHz DDR4 ECC memory
4TB SSD storage
1080p FaceTime HD camera
Radeon Pro Vega 64X graphics processor with 16GB of HBM2 memory
When you see something there you like, you need to pounce. Once in your cart, you have 15 minutes to complete the sale or someone can snatch it away.
Certified Refurbished Products
Every Apple Certified Refurbished product includes savings up to 15%, and comes with a one-year warranty and full functional testing. Shop & save now.www.apple.com
Remember, Apple offers a 14 day return policy.
I had exactly the same issue with the only kernel panic I had (so far). It crashed just ofter opening Intel Power Gadget.
I have also done a few loops with Rember to test the memory (Crucial 2x 16GB) and the software reported no issues.
I see the latest build of Intel Power Gadget® is 3.7.0 released last January. You may have to wait for an update.
I just received my iMac with 8 core and 5700 8gb, I have been benchmarking it in windows (just put a video up on YouTube) and the 5700 is pulling between 90-100w on full load. IT is definitely clocked much slower than its desktop counterpart.
Yeah, temps in video:
what app are you using for the temps etc... istats is all I know and its not been updated yet
I had to use msi afterburner in boot camp to get temps and watts of the gpu. Get the beta version as it has more information on the gpu
I could get my iMac Pro fans blasting after about 5 minutes of 100% CPU rendering.
However yes, the standard imac [2017 27” maxed] I had before it was shocking and was simply the loudest computer I have ever owned. the iMacs are not suited to heavy sustained workloads, no matter what you specific, but are great for average loads.
I will compare it to my new hardcore PC [16 core AMD with 2080 super] which has audible fans all the time, but when stressed [and I mean 100% CPU and 100% GPU as I tested the other day] there was no audible difference in the fans. I was actually quite shocked by this, coming from iMacs and macbookpro’s.
As someone else said before, you buy the machine for your needs, and I have certainly learnt this.
If your fans are blasting a lot, you have the wrong machine.......
Form factor is very far from each others !!
My 13-fan dual GPU workstation does make slightly more noise in full load than idle because the 6 GPU fans kick on. Other than that all the fans are steady.
Nice CPU btw. Largely overkill if just for playing games ...