Hello my friend,
can I please ask you to share what you've found out so far? ie. Fan noise, performance in Maya/games. etc.?
As you have config close that what I'm thinking
You got the 10 core, right?
Anything will help so thank you in advance. And if I missed it and its been said then I'm sorry. I was in Vancouver so I wasn't reading much
Hello Freida :)
I'm prepared to put this iMac against the wall to face the 'Firing Squad.' And I've run Blender, Cinebench, Black Magic and Unigine stress tests so far.
Here's 'how it is.'
Blender 3D.
Fan Noise. It exists running x successive Blender 3D (a Maya style stress test...) render. But it's the machine is blazing FAST and the render is QUALITY.
Cinebench.
As a comparative? It's just behind the last gen 16 core Threadripper. That IS impressive. 10 cores utilised. The noise was 'less' so on Cinebench. ie. Much quieter (relative to the Sun...)
Unigine.
For when Frieda relaxes after doing her 3D work..? It completely owns HD and 2440p. Burying the iMac's 60hz frame rate. And yes, this is on ULTRA settings. Performance that would make a lot of mainstream PC towers blink. And its in a 'thin' (as my PC gamer friend called it...) enclosure. He was 'chuffed' that I got this machine as he knew I'd been waiting long time. (He knows my moans about Apple and gpus...). FPS? 68 on ultra 2440p. HD? 100fps. Easy. Ultra ez! I'm stunned. This bench (since time began...) crushed consumer gpu Macs.
But Freida, as mother always says..., there is a 'price to pay.' And that is? The fans are at their loudest on the Blender test. Lower on the Cinebench...test and quieter still on the Unigine. So it says to me the cpu gets quite hot. The gpu is down clocked and is under great check for efficiency.
I can't say conclusively for all 3D rendering. (See anthony13's posts...on Vectorworks...and that new 3D app he has discovered.). Some benches may tax it less or be more software efficient.
I did get the 10 core. 5700XT 16 gigs of VRAM. My ram (32 gigs 2x16 gigs of Crucial RAM) arriving tomorrow or day after.
What we have on the top tier 3 iMac is a machine that generally performs better than the iMac Pro for 50-60% less (as I predicted.)
...and if you want a machine to run Maya? This is it. No question.
For you the 10 core and 5700XT 16 gigs of VRAM with a 1TB SSD? Will do everything you want from a Maya work perspective.
SSD.
Black Magic. 2700. 2500. Read. Write. Whiplash speed! Boots fast. Moves files fast.
Conclusion.
Great performance. Intel and AMD have taken steps to make this performance more efficient.
But the fly in the ointment of this 'great' legacy iMac (the finest and best performer and more value ridden yet...) is that Apple didn't take the chance to use the spare space to put better cooling on there. A real shame.
But? Two of the following I used to consider weaknesses of the iMac range. 3d and Gaming.
It can 3D. (10 cores! What those render times fall. COAR blimey)
It can video. (Some great x2-x3 perf' numbers from AMD's codec VCN 1.0...)
It CAN game. (That GPU. How DID they do that? PHWOAR!!!)
A worthy purchase. (Any AS large screen iMac is about a year away.). Slapping the iMac Pro and Mac Pro for fun at orders of magnitude less pricey.
Power. Performance. Value? What the hell is going on Apple?
For £3400. I get a £1300 LG 5k display. A 5700 XT with 16 gigs. And? A ten 10 cpu! And a turbo charged 1TB SSD. And ? IT doubles as the same for a 'free' PC.
Azrael.