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Purchasing an iMac Pro vs an iMac Dilemma


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Hello,

 

I am currently have a 27-inch iMac 3.5GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 Late 2013 running OS Mavericks10.9.5 and Logic X 10.2.2 using an Apogee Symphony I/O 2×6 Analog I/O Module and a ThunderBridge.

 

I have composed some music for film and television but mostly I now just write for my own pleasure. The Virtual Instruments I mostly use are 8Dio, AmpleSound, Arturia, Audiobro, EastWest/SoundsOnline, Heavyocity, Lennar Digital, Native Instruments, Output, ProjectSam, Spitfire Audio and Steven Slate SSD as well as a number of Plug-Ins such as iZotope, Revoice Pro, Slate Digital, Softube, Soundtoys and Waves.

 

I have been maxing out from time to time on my iMac especially when working on a lot of orchestral/sound design music so I am thinking of purchasing a new computer. Either a 2017 27-inch iMac 4.2GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz with 64GB 2400MHz DDR4 and 1TB SSD or an iMac Pro 3.2GHz 8-core Intel Xeon W processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz with 64GB 2666MHz DDR4 ECC memory and a 1TB SSD.

 

Either of these would absolutely break my bank account but will one really be better than the other when it comes to performance and spreading out the CPU workload.

 

If anybody has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate any advice one might be able to give.

 

Thank you for taking the time and hopefully responding to these questions and have a wonderful holiday.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

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Thank you both so much for taking the time to answer my questions and for your valued opinions and no I am absolutely not rich. I am now starting to consider getting back into composing for film and television though. The only thing I am still a little worried about is the CPU overloading. I realize that I can freeze tracks but work flow is always faster when not freezing tracks. I was working on my current Mac and I was watching the Monitor system performance window and for some reason the bar on the left would max out even during playback while the other Monitor system performance bars all stayed around 20%. Would you happen to know if I can split the audio and VI's so that the Monitor system performance bars are more even across the screen as opposed to having 1 bar red lining or is this a bad thing to do? Thank you again for all of your time, patience and help. Sincerely - Chris
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I would first max out the Ram in your current iMac, it has a powerful processor; what's currently in it?. Are you running your libraries from an external drive? If not, invest in some external SSD's. If these two ideas are already in place, then perhaps consider a PC slave, but your current iMac should suffice.
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Thank you for taking the time to respond.

Have you ever run into the issues of one of the Monitor system performance bars red lining and all of the other performance bars staying at about 20%?

 

Also would you happen to know if I can split the audio and VI's across the Monitor system performance so the bars are more even across the screen as opposed to having 1 bar red lining or is this a bad thing to do?

 

Also I am still on Mavericks, do you think upgrading to High Sierra and the latest version of logic might help?

 

Regards,

 

Chris

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Also I am still on Mavericks, do you think upgrading to High Sierra and the latest version of logic might help?

 

At least in my experience, every new version of OSX and Logic was harder on CPU and graphics.

I think High Sierra is geared towards the newer machines that have SSD system drives and good graphic cards.

 

Otherwise, I would go to El Capitan (10.11) if you want the latest Logic.

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I'm running latest HIgh Sierra and Logic Pro 10.3.3, and I can't say that I'm seeing a noticable drop in performance, but I guess ymmv depending on which mac do you run.

 

El Capitan was the peak though, my Retina MacBook 2012 worked much better with every new OS since 10.8 up to 10.11, and has stayed pretty much the same through 10.12 and 10.13.

 

CPU usage depends a lot on what kind of work you plan to do and how big your projects are.

 

I can run some projects fine on a quad-core Retina MacBook, but struggle with others. But larger orchestral templates were never issue when running them from SSD... However I'm not the megalomaniac with 300 tracks and 100gb of samples loaded.

Especially with Kontakt libs, running from fast drives (SSDs) you can manually lower sample preload size and significantly shrink the memory footprint.

 

if you're not married to latest and greatest maybe look into refurbirshed trash-can Mac Pros. I think they're amazing honestly and you might just get a little more bang for the buck.

 

A new modular mac pro is also rumored for 2018, if you can go on your imac for a little longer.

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Not convinced that the iMac pro is even better CPU-wise. Those FX and soft synths you listed push the 6700k iMac to the limit. Yes, the iMac Pro has a 4.5 ghz boost, but that's one core. The thermal design probably doesn't allow you to maintain it for very long either.

 

I respectfully disagree, the new processors are monsters; even my "old" i7 2700k PC slave can handle a ton of heavy hitters...such as Hollywood Orchestra without flinching. And when using VEPro to host VI's, the core loads get distributed more efficiently in Logic.

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@Wolfie Sounds like the iMac pro is probably better for you, since you hinted at orchestral template writing.

 

Most of my hangups come from a single core overload from synths and effects. There are some Reaktor ensembles, for instance, that will push even the 7700k to the limit. That 2700k is one of the best IMO, it's still a relevant CPU.

 

If Macs had a better thermal design they'd be able to get more juice from the CPUs they're using already. That's one of my issues with the iMac design. My 6700k PC, for instance, can run all cores at the stock boost speed of 4.2Ghz at around 45 degrees celsius. That's all cores @4.2Ghz, all 100% of the time. I wish the Mac pro had that capability.

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Hello All,

 

I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and thank everyone for their comments and suggestions.

 

I have to say that I am still on the fence between choosing the top of the line iMac or going with an iMac pro opening model with 128gb ram.

 

I am not rich and I am certainly not as technically knowledgable as all of you that have responded. And after reading an iMac Pro article at Macworld I am now starting to have more questions as the article is suggesting that the iMac Pro will be upgradable other than the video card which is permanently installed on the mother board.

 

This being said...

1 - If I am not composing huge scores do I really need the iMac Pro vs a maxed out iMac?

Are the internals of the iMac Pro that much better to justify the cost difference?

 

2 - I like to get a new Mac if I can afford it every 3 to 5 years because of warranty and parts issues. This being said in 3 years from now will a maxed out iMac still retain some value for resale or will the iMac Pro be the better choice for resale.

 

Both of the questions play a part in making a decision and though I have many more questions technically between the iMac and iMac Pro that I would like to ask... I believe that they will be answered here by any responses that I might receive.

 

Thank you all for time, patience, help and recommendations.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

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Happy New Year!

 

Depends what you mean by composing "huge scores". For what it's worth, my typical orchestral templates are around 150+ tracks while scoring to picture....most of them hosted from a PC slave via VEPro (master is a 2013 MacBook Pro). Unless you are going to earn enough money (from composing) to justify the insanely priced iMac Pro, I wouldn't waste your money; especially if you plan on ditching it in a few years. A regular top-spec'd iMac would be just fine IMO, along with T3 connected external SSD's for samples, etc. You could even spend the cost difference on a nice T3 Blackmagic Multi-dock. However, if you can earn enough from a scoring gig to pay off the iMac Pro within a short timeframe, then it's worth it.

 

Personally, I would order the regular 27" i7 iMac, with 64GB Ram, and put it to the test for 14 days. If it doesn't fit your workflow, just return it. Heck, you could even add a powerful PC slave to it and you'd have a beast of a system....a nicely spec'd machine would cost around $1200.

 

Just my 2 cents! I sure they will be a lot good advice.

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Hello Wolfie2112 and thank you for responding so quickly.

 

I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the following 2 questions:

 

1 - Are you saying that the latest regular 27" i7 iMac, with 64GB Ram which I believe starts with a 3.4GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor is going to be faster than my current 27-inch iMac 3.5GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 Late 2013?

 

I realize that technology and internal processors etc. has probably grown since I purchased my 2013 above iMac I just want to make sure I am understanding you correctly because I know so little about computer tech.

 

 

Also, thank you for showing me the Blackmagic Multi-dock. All of my sample libraries reside on four different Samsung EVO850 Pro SSD Drives housed in OWC enclosures connected to my current iMac 4 USB 3 ports. At the time the and after some testing I found the Samsung EVO850 Pro SSD Drives were the fastest around.

 

2 - Do you think that the Blackmagic Multi-dock using 1 thunderbolt cable and accessing all 4 SSD Drives at the same time is as fast, faster or slower than using all 4 drives at the same time each connected to their own individual USB 3 ports in the back of my iMac.

I hope this makes sense.

 

Thank you.

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I'm by no means an expert, but here's what I think....

 

1) The i7 will be faster than the i5, even your current system. Definitely go with the i7.

 

2) Thunderbolt would most likely be faster, even using the single port...I would check with the manufacturer. I also recently heard great reviews about this...

 

https://www.akitio.com/portable-storage/akitio-thunder3-quad-mini

 

It's T3, and would be lightning fast on a single T3 port if you went with a new iMac.

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USB3.0 has latency, TB will be faster, but TB enclosures are more expensive.

 

Wolfies suggestion isn't bad at all.

 

Also, keep in mind, most of new macs have proprietary SSDs that are insanely fast (faster than anything you can buy on the market) so think about upgrading internal storage before going external.

 

The new iMac pro has roughly 3000mb/s throughput! That's like 6 (six) SATA 3 SSDs (they cap at 500mb/s). Most m.2 and nvme ssds cap at 1000mb/s.

 

Thunderbolt3 has 40gbit/s, USB3.0 has 5gbit/s. (3.1 is a bit faster but its rare) (so yes, tb3 can handle 4 full speed usb3 ports). I'm talking about gbits here. divide with 8 to get bytes/s :)

 

1 thunderbolt 3 has enough speed for (~4500mb/s) internal SSD, but there's no controller boxes available.

 

so peripheral speed is all about how much money you're willing to spend.

 

Also keep in mind that with such disk speeds, you can use significantly less RAM running Kontakt libraries because they can pretty much be streamed from disk, and since RAM can be upgraded with 3rd party and SSD not, i would definitely think of getting larger SSD before more RAM in a new iMac Pro.

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Hello Wolfie2112 & Ploki,

 

Thank you both for you suggestions.

 

I just checked Apple’s website and the only iMac that come with 7th-generation Intel Core i7 processor is the top of the line iMac 4.2GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz. This, with 64GB 2400MHz DDR4 and 1TB SSD of memory comes to $4,499.00.

 

The iMac Pro 3.2GHz 8-core Intel Xeon W processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz with 64GB 2666MHz DDR4 ECC memory, and 1TB SSD of memory comes to $5,799.00.

 

A roughly $1,300.00 price difference

 

This being said, is the iMac Pro price difference worth the money to spend an additional $1,300.00. And if it is then is it worth it to upgrade the memory card for another $600.00 for resale value down the line making the iMac Pro appealing to Video people as well?

 

There is also one last thing I would like to add which I am just finding out is an option for me. Because of a very large and time consuming problem, I will be able to get a one time 20% discount on a computer purchase. Again, not rich and I can’t even begin to tell the story about what I went through in order to get the one time break on price.

 

I thank you both for being extremely helpful and taking the time to help me

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

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