Thunderbolt 3 Bandwidth

[Cuelist]

I’m deciding between purchasing a 2019 i9 iMac or an iMac Pro, and was wondering about Thunderbolt 3 bandwidth. The iMac has one Thunderbolt 3 bus, while the iMac Pro has two. I’ll mainly be using the computer in an audio studio, with an audio interface and a 4 bay enclosure for HD’s as well as a few other drives. I also plan to connect a second (2K) monitor, as well as a 4K TV. With this setup, would it be better to have two separate Thunderbolt 3 buses, or is this not a consideration?

 

[mikehalloran]

A 2K and 4K monitor? One bus is fine though, if connecting too many peripherals, you'll need a USB-C or TB3 hub. They are not the same and it does depend what you are hooking up. If connecting old monitors, you may need two busses—it all depends on the monitors and how they are connected. A pair of newer 4K monitors is no problem.

You need 2 TB3 busses if connecting two 5K monitors.

I’ll mainly be using the computer in an audio studio, with an audio interface and a 4 bay enclosure for HD’s as well as a few other drives

It all depends on what you are hooking up and how.

Seriously reconsider connecting a half dozen or so HDDs. Why spend all that money for something nice and fast and then cripple the speed with obsolete storage?

Otherwise, the iMac Pro is, by far, the more robust machine for audio. It all depends on what you're doing if you need it, however.

 

[Cuelist]

A 2K and 4K monitor? One bus is fine though, if connecting too many peripherals, you'll need a USB-C or TB3 hub. They are not the same and it does depend what you are hooking up. If connecting old monitors, you may need two busses—it all depends on the monitors and how they are connected. A pair of newer 4K monitors is no problem.

You need 2 TB3 busses if connecting two 5K monitors.


It all depends on what you are hooking up and how.

Seriously reconsider connecting a half dozen or so HDDs. Why spend all that money for something nice and fast and then cripple the speed with obsolete storage?

Otherwise, the iMac Pro is, by far, the more robust machine for audio. It all depends on what you're doing if you need it, however.

[doublepost=1562550626][/doublepost]I was a bit vague on my storage; I'm all SSD. Akitio Thunder3 Mini with 4 SSD's and a couple of single SSD's.

 

[Glockworkorange]

You get more TB3 ports on the Pro is well—4 as opposed to 2. The Pro is apparently a good deal quieter as well, which I would think is important for an audio environment.

 

[mikehalloran]

Akitio Thunder3 Mini

And?

If planning to load with 4 2TB SSDs set to RAID 0, you’ll spend a lot more money to get half the speed of a Samusing X5.

If the plan is to set the drives as JBOD, it takes less space but will be no faster than those same drives in USB 3 enclosures attached to a USB 3 hub. Still more expensive.