I hate the Internet 
Oh well, if my screen is good I'll keep my i5, otherwise I might upgrade.
Oh well, if my screen is good I'll keep my i5, otherwise I might upgrade.
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.
The new iMac is a lot noisier!
- Thread starter Darajavahus
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Yeah it's strange that some of the few other 5K monitors (e.g. Dell's) have been discontinued. I guess sales were slow.
Methinks that it may be a few years yet before a reasonably-priced display (~$1000) can surpass the current 5K iMac's display – e.g. 5K HDR.
I'd rather have one 5K display than two 4K displays, simply for the vertical real estate (I write and code). For other uses, two 4K displays are probably better. Just remember that two 4K displays only have 12.5% more pixels than one 5K.
There were no native interfaces for it, they were way too early
You need Displayport 1.3 for it to work really well, or do like Apple did, build custom hardware (which is not something most OEMs can afford). With DP 1.3 and 1.4 gaining ground it will become more and more viable to re-launch 5K monitors and above.It is a matter of economics at scale. When given a choice to build a 5K or 4K monitor, the 5K is almost exclusively for professional desktop usage, whereas a 4K can double for multi-media if not mainly so, a vendor most likely will choose 4K to be closer to the larger market. And then in turn, the panel makers get more potential orders for 4K, and therefore reserve their tech and capacity for 4K. It is for similar reason we are seeing 16:10 being phased out in favor of 16:9 (1920x1200 to 1080p), or that DCI-4K losing out to UHD.
One of the biggest problems is that new interfaces for DP and HDMI, that can support high resolutions and refresh rates, have only recently been developed/accepted. Past interfaces were clunky, expensive, and unreliable. Even the Thunderbolt 3 solution from Apple for 5K at 60Hz is only somewhat reliable at best, judging from the less than warm reviews on the Apple website.
So, 2017 will be a slow year but 2018 and, especially, 2019 are likely to bring massive jumps in the quality of high-end monitors. HDMI 2.1 will be finalized later this year and DisplayPort 1.4 was finalized last year. Once new interfaces are finalized, devices equipped with them start shipping within 18-24 months, based on historical precedent. The first DP 1.4 monitor, releasing later this year, will bring 4K 120Hz to the market for the first time and will also enable other manufacturers to use the interface to release a 5K 60Hz model. HDMI 2.1 is going to be an even bigger jump, bringing 5K at 120Hz and 8K at 60Hz using just a single cable.
To reply to Chancha: While that is partly why 4K monitors are very popular, that isn't the main reason. Manufacturers will always build devices for high-end consumers (those who want 5K, for example) if the demand is there and if it can be done reliably. Just observe the ubiquity of extremely expensive, calibrated-for-professional designers monitors in the market.
Some sources:
HDMI: http://www.hdmi.org/manufacturer/hdmi_2_1/
DisplayPort: https://www.vesa.org/featured-articles/vesa-publishes-displayport-standard-version-1-4/
The monitor I was referring to: https://www.asus.com/Monitors/ROG-SWIFT-PG27UQ/
This video was excellent and just what I was looking for. jeoma2, please post your experience as well. I'm also happy to read the comments from StudioSanctum and killhippie that their i7/580's run pretty coolly and quietly as well.
I won't be pushing my i7 to the limits, but I do want it to last many years. My cousin has (had) a 2011 iMac (model #Z0M7) which had a faulty video card that "melted loose" and he just barely missed Apple's recall window. Though he loved and misses his iMac, he has sour things to say about Apple now because paying for repair was too expensive (something like $1000). I know his situation was rather unique and unfortunate, but I don't want to end up in that boat since this is a pretty big purchase for me.
My beautiful new machine should be here in 2 days and I'll be posting my thoughts soon in the review thread!
Last edited:
Still on the fence about this. Can't decide between the 7600k and the 7700k, especially not after reading this thread. I would mainly use the computer for Logic Pro, and because of that I feel that the i7 is a must. It would be cool if we'd have a video comparing the fan noise of 2017 i7 vs 2015 i7.
I have the i7 and it's pretty quiet for the most part. I got the fans revving up slightly last night when I ran Photos after I transferred about 900 RAW photos. The fan was between 1400 to 1600 RPMs and you can can hear it like EugW mentioned a few days ago. As I moved from one photo to the next, the fans would speed up and down. BUT, after about 20 minutes, it stopped. It was simply generating a preview image from RAW so I was OK with that. I would be upset if it did that non stop as I thumb through my collection.
As you know, I have been testing 10-bit 4K 60 fps HEVC playback on my various systems, and had mentioned that even my iMac Core i7-7700K couldn't cleanly play back a Sony file in Sierra via software decode.
Well, that's true, but to provide some further detail: The i7-7700K could almost do it. It was largely smooth, but there were periodic small stutters. So, watchable, but with some annoying stutters.
In contrast, the i5-7600 isn't even close. Playback is poor, and it basically is unwatchable with software playback. The extra CPU ooomph the i7-7700K makes a huge difference here...
...or does it? Well, not really, because the key is hardware decode. In High Sierra in QuickTime with hardware decode active, the video plays back perfectly on the i5-7600 with just 7% CPU usage. Furthermore, with software playback on the i7-7700K in Sierra, the fans are at max 2700 rpm, so you wouldn't want to watch a video that way anyway.
Oh and on my 2017 1.2 GHz Core m3 MacBook, I can also play the same video back cleanly in High Sierra, although CPU usage is higher at around 25%.
Well, that's true, but to provide some further detail: The i7-7700K could almost do it. It was largely smooth, but there were periodic small stutters. So, watchable, but with some annoying stutters.
In contrast, the i5-7600 isn't even close. Playback is poor, and it basically is unwatchable with software playback. The extra CPU ooomph the i7-7700K makes a huge difference here...
...or does it? Well, not really, because the key is hardware decode. In High Sierra in QuickTime with hardware decode active, the video plays back perfectly on the i5-7600 with just 7% CPU usage. Furthermore, with software playback on the i7-7700K in Sierra, the fans are at max 2700 rpm, so you wouldn't want to watch a video that way anyway.
Oh and on my 2017 1.2 GHz Core m3 MacBook, I can also play the same video back cleanly in High Sierra, although CPU usage is higher at around 25%.
So far the best video was the previously-posted test by Max Yuryev. At 3:10 into this video he tested the 2015 iMac 27 i7 vs the 2017 iMac 27 i7 under a high stress multicore CPU load. The 2017 iMac was cooler and had fewer thermal issues than the 2015 model.
At 4:30 in the video he tested the 2015 vs 2017 iMac 27 i7 under high GPU stress and found the 2017 was cooler and with much lower fan speed.
I have the 2015 model and will receive the 2017 model next week and will post my test results. We will find out if the 2017 model is as hot and loud as everyone is saying. That was the original poster's point starting this thread, and the reason for the thread title. Namely that the 2017 iMac 27 i7 was much hotter and louder than the 2015 iMac 27 i7. I tend to be somewhat skeptical of this but will do my own tests and post the results.
I have a new i7.
my office (upstairs) is BLAZING hot today.
the only time my i7 fans spin up was when I have copying 20-50 gigs of data from my old Mac to my new one over AirDrop.
and a couple of other times but overall not a prob. I figure if the fans kick in for sort intense times I am fine with it so far.
when we get the Air Con install soon things should be even better.
my office (upstairs) is BLAZING hot today.
the only time my i7 fans spin up was when I have copying 20-50 gigs of data from my old Mac to my new one over AirDrop.
and a couple of other times but overall not a prob. I figure if the fans kick in for sort intense times I am fine with it so far.
when we get the Air Con install soon things should be even better.
I believe Apple says you can run the ultrafine 5k with it so you should be just fine with 4K.
Hey Folks,
I have finally decided to return my i7/580 for a cooler running i5/575. I had the machine for almost 2 weeks and it's fast. EugW was a big part in my decision to send mine back to Apple just as he did. I was smitten by the i7 and the 580 GPU with it's huge 8GB of VRAM at first. But then the fans would kick in and I thought it was OK at first because of the speed. I played some 5K and 8K videos on YT and the fans would run and often times peak at 2700RPMs. I used Apple Photos and Adobe LR to view my RAWs and the fan would speed up with each pic until it stopped generating previews 15 minutes later. As the honeymoon wore off, I realized deep down I'd prefer to chase a quiet machine vs outright speed.
I decided to reread this entire thread this evening after dinner from page 1 and it slowly changed my mind on keeping the i7/580. I use my machine mostly for LR, PS, YouTube, office productivity stuff and occasional video editing with FCP. Most of my apps are single threaded and the gains from the i7 are mostly limited with the exception of video encoding. I don't game and I realized that I ordered the top spec machine more so because I liked the idea of having the fastest machine, not looking at what my needs were.
So I just placed an order for the Mid Tier i5 7600/575/8 GB/1 TB SSD/Numeric Keyboard with Applecare+ and saved almost $300. It was not about the money ever. I realized that CPUs have progressed to the point now that even the base processors are darn fast and most users won't ever notice much difference in day to day usage if they are not stressing the CPU to its fullest extent. I didn't chose the base 7500 because I still wanted a more capable GPU.
I like to thank everyone here who's posted about their opinions and experiences. Again, EugW's detailed posts with the iStat captures really drove the point home. The Mid Tier i5 is no slouch and is within a hair of the hotter 7600K, which I understand is on the edge of revving its fans under high load. I'm sure my soon to be returned i7/580 will find a happy new home in a few months in the Refurb Store.
I have finally decided to return my i7/580 for a cooler running i5/575. I had the machine for almost 2 weeks and it's fast. EugW was a big part in my decision to send mine back to Apple just as he did. I was smitten by the i7 and the 580 GPU with it's huge 8GB of VRAM at first. But then the fans would kick in and I thought it was OK at first because of the speed. I played some 5K and 8K videos on YT and the fans would run and often times peak at 2700RPMs. I used Apple Photos and Adobe LR to view my RAWs and the fan would speed up with each pic until it stopped generating previews 15 minutes later. As the honeymoon wore off, I realized deep down I'd prefer to chase a quiet machine vs outright speed.
I decided to reread this entire thread this evening after dinner from page 1 and it slowly changed my mind on keeping the i7/580. I use my machine mostly for LR, PS, YouTube, office productivity stuff and occasional video editing with FCP. Most of my apps are single threaded and the gains from the i7 are mostly limited with the exception of video encoding. I don't game and I realized that I ordered the top spec machine more so because I liked the idea of having the fastest machine, not looking at what my needs were.
So I just placed an order for the Mid Tier i5 7600/575/8 GB/1 TB SSD/Numeric Keyboard with Applecare+ and saved almost $300. It was not about the money ever. I realized that CPUs have progressed to the point now that even the base processors are darn fast and most users won't ever notice much difference in day to day usage if they are not stressing the CPU to its fullest extent. I didn't chose the base 7500 because I still wanted a more capable GPU.
I like to thank everyone here who's posted about their opinions and experiences. Again, EugW's detailed posts with the iStat captures really drove the point home. The Mid Tier i5 is no slouch and is within a hair of the hotter 7600K, which I understand is on the edge of revving its fans under high load. I'm sure my soon to be returned i7/580 will find a happy new home in a few months in the Refurb Store.
Last edited:
This is exactly my concern. I'm tired of my rMBP spinning it's fans at 6000 rpm while browsing through photos in Lightroom. May I ask what your ambient temperatures were when you were experiencing this?
Which rMBP is that?
I know that this is not the place to ask question about the Macbooks, but if I can't buy the i7 iMac I will probably choose an i7 TB MBP instead with an external monitor. Are the recent models using sufficient cooling or they need to ramp up the fans to full speed during load like the i7 iMacs?
Please do that. I'm curious about your findings.
I have both 2015 and 2016 15" top-spec MacBook Pros. The 2015 is vastly noisier than my 2015 iMac 27 -- the fans spin up at the slightest touch. The 2016 is a little quieter but still noisier than the iMac 27.
[doublepost=1499595863][/doublepost]
What browser were you useing? Can you give links to some sample 5K and 8K YT videos which show this behavior?
Glad to be of service.
The progress of your thought processes here mirrored mine almost exactly. (Bolded emphasis above is mine.) You even got the exact same config as me. Yes the i7 is great and fast, but eventually I decided for my usage the i7's benefits are ultimately less desirable for me than having an always silent machine.The only thing I wonder about is how the 7600K compares to the the 7600 and 7700K for noise. I wonder with RAW file preview generation, if the fan would become audible on that machine. Maybe I missed it, but I don't recall seeing posts about that with the 7600K. I didn't test that since my RAW files are all in Aperture. I had not been shooting RAW lately so all of my Photos files are JPEG. The question about the 7600K isn't so much related to the 7600 vs the 7600K's CPU performance. They are indeed very close to each other so either is fine (as long as it's quiet). The main concern here is the 575 vs. the 580. The 580 is considerably faster, so that may be important to some people here like gamers and video editors, etc.
BTW, a little off topic but... This message was typed on a 2017 MacBook. The thing isn't even warm with basic surfing and email with it on my lap. It's such a pleasure being able to use a fanless and cool running machine, yet still have full-sized keyboard with decent keyboard feel. (The keyboard is way better than the 2015/2016 MacBook's, and also miles better than most of the iPad keyboards out there.) It's even largely replaced my iPad Air 2 for media and internet consumption too, because this thing is so sleek and light. Yes it's heavier than an iPad but having the keyboard and effectively a built-in stand more than makes up for it. For my usage, it's a perfect complement for the powerful i5-7600 iMac with giant screen, or actually two giant screens if my Mini-DisplayPort adapters ever arrive, to turn my 2010 iMac into a second monitor.
Last edited:
Oh wow, that is sad to hear. I don't really need portability, I just need a computer that can run Logic with good performance and low noise. Sadly the 2.8 i7 tbMBP still handles more tracks than the 3.8 i5 iMac. If it were otherwise, I would buy the iMac with the 7600k in an instant.
I was feeding four yes to /dev/null for three minutes (all four cores pegged at 99-100%), fans didn't move at all (from the base of 1200), not a long duration but that's the kind of short term intensive load I would like to avoid hearing fan spinup from. The 580 is as you say significantly faster and for me that was a given, I'm very happy with the "noise" of the 7600K.
Doing the same thing (running 8 of them on my 2016 MBP 15" i7) the fans start revving up after 20 seconds.
Last edited:
Yes. I was editing my RAWs in LR last night and even after about 30 minutes int he Develop Module, the fans would kick in as I moved around quickly from photo to photo. The RPMs would go from 1800 to 2400 depending on how quickly I was going from pic to pic. That really surprised me as Photos would not do that once it generated previews from the same RAWs. That definitely confirmed the the i7 heats up quickly and is not the kind of experience I'm after.
[doublepost=1499614704][/doublepost]
Glad to be of service.
The only thing I wonder about is how the 7600K compares to the the 7600 and 7700K for noise. I wonder with RAW file preview generation, if the fan would become audible on that machine. Maybe I missed it, but I don't recall seeing posts about that with the 7600K. I didn't test that since my RAW files are all in Aperture. I had not been shooting RAW lately so all of my Photos files are JPEG. The question about the 7600K isn't so much related to the 7600 vs the 7600K's CPU performance. They are indeed very close to each other so either is fine (as long as it's quiet). The main concern here is the 575 vs. the 580. The 580 is considerably faster, so that may be important to some people here like gamers and video editors, etc.
BTW, a little off topic but... This message was typed on a 2017 MacBook. The thing isn't even warm with basic surfing and email with it on my lap. It's such a pleasure being able to use a fanless and cool running machine, yet still have full-sized keyboard with decent keyboard feel. (The keyboard is way better than the 2015/2016 MacBook's, and also miles better than most of the iPad keyboards out there.) It's even largely replaced my iPad Air 2 for media and internet consumption too, because this thing is so sleek and light. Yes it's heavier than an iPad but having the keyboard and effectively a built-in stand more than makes up for it. For my usage, it's a perfect complement for the powerful i5-7600 iMac with giant screen, or actually two giant screens if my Mini-DisplayPort adapters ever arrive, to turn my 2010 iMac into a second monitor.
Haha. I'm happy that you did your extensive analysis and posted your findings here on the forum. I come from using both a 2010 Mac Pro with the 2.8 i7 QC that had a constant fan noise floor and the mid 2012 rMBP with the 2.7 i7 that is about as silent as a mouse when I edit my RAWs in LR. So the fan ramp up was a big of a shocker when I was in LR last night and scrolled quickly in the Develop module even 30 minutes after I had imported the files. It was simply annoying and not the kind of experience I was after. So I'm very happy I made the decision to return my i7/580.
But I will admit that I am a tiny little bit curious if the 7600K/580 might have been a good choice. It's only a tiny bit more money form the 7600/575 but has a better GPU with double the VRAM. But the benchmarks show barely any difference in CPU performance and a high risk of setting the fans off with intense use such as video encoding due to its 91 watt TDP. Do you or anyones else here have any experience with the fans ramping up with the Top Tier i5 with video work? The i7 is just too darn trigger happy with the fans.
And yes, your MacBook is fantastic for media consumption. It's slick, light and compact but powerful. I'd get myself one if I hadn't spent so much on the 2017 iMac already
[doublepost=1499614990][/doublepost]
Yes. This video, bandwidth permitting on your end, got my fans to 2700 RPMs. I had it at the 8K setting in Chrome. 4K caused no such issue.
Last edited: