iMac pro recommendations

[ericsvizeny]

Would you recommend a 8 or 10 core iMac pro for pro tools ultimate and hd native thunderbolt. 64gb ram and 2 Tb. Just unsure if I should go 8 or 10 core.

[Darryl Ramm]

Nobody here can give you a clean answer. I depends on your budget and workload.

Some comments:

2019.5 is such a huge performance win you likely want to get on that ASAP, if you are not there already.

The internal SSD is so fast on these Macs you want to maximize that, and plan on running sessions on that, and samples if they can fit...Hopefully the 2TB you have lets you do that. I would personally spend as much money on SSD as I could... they are upgradeable but with proprietary cards and you have to open up the iMac Pro.

The DRAM is upgradeable on these iMac Pro as well, but you have to open up the iMac. So it's good you have configured that well.

Pro Tools under lots of workloads can make use of two additional cores, the down side is the thermal compromise of these iMacs Pros means that all the cores running likely means things are throttled. And you already take a slow down of a few hundred Mhz on the 10 core. And it's $800... and the CPU is socketed and _might_ be upgradeable later.... all those reasons help mean that personally I'd go with the 8 core... especially because I also expect to help manage CPU load with workflow using freeze/commit.

And I'd think hard about spend $$$ on an iMac Pro now when the new $$$? Mac Pro is supposed to be announced this year. I hope that has easier upgrade access, much better thermals, more expansion, etc.. That's actually my position, I was considering a iMac Pro, but really want to see a powerful new Mac Pro. If I was going to by the iMac Pro I would want to listen to one running under load, hopefully others here can give their experience wit fan noise.

[reichman]

Backing up everything Darryl just said, but adding a chart:

https://browser.geekbench.com/mac-benchmarks

Click 'multicore.' This chart isn't perfect, but in my experience, it's a good shorthand for comparing machines.

[Sugarnutz]

Here's my i9 benchmarks (Disclaimer - This is not an Apple product, but a PC I built):

https://imgur.com/a/k0A8p7n

[paulo m]

We recently bought an iMAC Pro. We couldn´t wait for the new MAC Pro and the 2013 model would be a bad investment IMHO.

We went for the 8 core, 64 Gig Ram, 1Tb SSD, Radeon Pro Vega 56, 8 GB. We also bought the optional VESA adapter for mounting on an Ergotron artulated arm.

Also bought a Sonnet Echo 11 Dock to expand connectivity.

Running the system with PT 2019.5 and HDX 1 installed on Sonnet TB2.

No problems with fan noise from the iMAC, it´s really quiet even working for 15 hours a day or more.

We have it connected to a Nexis server, so can´t comment on local storage load here.

So far so good. The only downside is Mojave compatibility to all apps, some are not yet certified, like DADman on MTRX.