Ditch iMac Pro for iMac 2019 i9? Noise?

[Groovykeys]

I have an iMac Pro with 64 RAM and it is still in the return window. I'm wondering if I should consider ditching it for a i9 8 core 2019 iMac with similar specs and save about $1400 (by adding my own RAM from OWC). I have not seen any conclusive breakdowns saying if the new iMac i9 is having any excessive fan noise like the 2017 models when under stress, although I have seen some posts saying that people were hearing more fan noise at idle. I've seen videos showing that there is no throttling, but they can run hot. I use the iMac mainly for audio production so noise is a consideration but, for a difference of $1400, maybe I can tolerate a little noise once in a while? ASLO, sometimes when I record vocals, I have to turn off the AC and the ambient air temp can go up, causing the fans to come on... especially in the summer. Are the iMac pro's cooling system and T2 chip, etc really worth the price difference? Thanks!

 

[dcpmark]

I was pondering a similar quandary, but for a different reason. I went back and forth between a refurb iMac Pro and a 2019 iMac before finally ordering an i9 8-core. Before it could even be shipped I found out that I can’t boot a 2019 iMac into High Sierra if needed while I could with the iMac Pro. So, I debated whether to cancel my order and go back to the iMac Pro, but the price differential made it not worth it to me. The i9 iMac with 1TB SSD with Applecare was $3188 out the door, plus $200 for 32GB RAM for a total of 40GB for $3388. The refurb iMac Pro would have been $4854 for the 32GB base unit. $1500 was not worth it to me when I can just run the old OS in Parallels for $63 if I needed High Sierra.

 

[Groovykeys]

I was pondering a similar quandary, but for a different reason. I went back and forth between a refurb iMac Pro and a 2019 iMac before finally ordering an i9 8-core. Before it could even be shipped I found out that I can’t boot a 2019 iMac into High Sierra if needed while I could with the iMac Pro. So, I debated whether to cancel my order and go back to the iMac Pro, but the price differential made it not worth it to me. The i9 iMac with 1TB SSD with Applecare was $3188 out the door, plus $200 for 32GB RAM for a total of 40GB for $3388. The refurb iMac Pro would have been $4854 for the 32GB base unit. $1500 was not worth it to me when I can just run the old OS in Parallels for $63 if I needed High Sierra.

Wow! Didn't know about being able to boot to High Sierra. Thats cool! The price difference is very substantial but boy this iMac Pro runs cool. Decisions!

 

[Honumaui]

both have some small pros cons
from one I read is the pro has dual thunderbolt bus where the regulars have one ? so that could be a issue if you had multiple devices that require that ?

otherwise I reckon I would go for the iMac i9 9900 and put the coin into something else

 

[CWallace]

Jason Snell reported that his base iMac Pro is fairly quieter than the top-spec iMac he was loaned by Apple for evaluation. While the 2019 iMac does not ramp it's fans as quickly as the 2017, it will still spin them much faster than the iMac Pro when both are under "full load" and therefore the iMac will be noticeably louder at in such situations.

 

[Honumaui]

Jason Snell reported that his base iMac Pro is fairly quieter than the top-spec iMac he was loaned by Apple for evaluation. While the 2019 iMac does not ramp it's fans as quickly as the 2017, it will still spin them much faster than the iMac Pro when both are under "full load" and therefore the iMac will be noticeably louder at in such situations.

good to know
I have never owned a iMac but looking now and wonder if even when so called loud what they are like compared to the older mac pro like the 5,1 ?

for some reason the sound of my old G5 tower came into my head and was saying WHAT I CANT HEAR YOU if you ever had a silver towered G5 you would know what fan noise can be hahahhahahahah

 

[CWallace]

The maximum fan RPM for the iMacs is 2700RPM. It was quite noticeable to me on the 2015 model and a bit less so on my 2017. I am told it is less noticeable on the 2019 than the 2017.

Not sure what the maximum RPM is on the iMac Pro is, but all the owners who have commented have said even when they "fully load it", they cannot hear the fans and have to put their hands or a piece of paper next to the fan exhaust to notice the breeze.

 

[macduke]

I'll be interested to hear this famously quiet iMac Pro. My boss is in the process of ordering me one at work, so if it's approved I'll be able to test both. I have the i9 iMac at home and it seems pretty freaking quiet to me, but it's also pretty cool in my basement studio area. The top-end i7 2017 iMac I had at my old job was pretty loud a lot of the time, and that was also in a relatively cool basement.

If I had more budget, I'd have gotten the iMac Pro for use at home, even though the CPU is a little slower. I'd prefer a faster GPU and the space gray look. But you can't beat the i9 5K iMac on price/performance ratio as it's among the fastest Macs you can buy.

 

[Jamers99]

I have a i9 iMac here and am returning to keep my Late 2015 with 4.0 ghz i7. The 2019 seems every bit as noisy when rendering video and was could even be heard more when idling or simply importing video from flash drives. To me it was not quieter in any way. Also, my IR gun was reading 20 degrees Fahrenheit higher temps on the back near the fan. It ain't cooler either, it's hotter. I'll wait for a cooler running redesign. I'll like my 2015 even more now after sampling the 2019.

 

[mikehalloran]

I'll be interested to hear this famously quiet iMac Pro...

Don’t worry, you won’t.

Actually, I heard mine for the first time yesterday. I was helping someone troubleshoot a system and ran the hardware test on mine (hold the D key while booting)— didn’t know if it worked the same in Mojave (it does). Among the many tests, the fans come on for about 5 seconds. So that’s what they sound like... Interestingly, the progress bar stated the test would take 4minutes but took about a minute to complete.

The iMac Pro is an incredible machine for audio production.
https://youtu.be/EouLohgmvrI

 

[macduke]

Don’t worry, you won’t.

Actually, I heard mine for the first time yesterday. I was helping someone troubleshoot a system and ran the hardware test on mine (hold the D key while booting)— didn’t know if it worked the same in Mojave (it does). Among the many tests, the fans come on for about 5 seconds. So that’s what they sound like... Interestingly, the progress bar stated the test would take 4minutes but took about a minute to complete.

The iMac Pro is an incredible machine for audio production.
https://youtu.be/EouLohgmvrI

The 2019 iMac 5K isn't bad but I finally heard mine ramp up to full speed for a long period the other day. I was doing a large ingest of 42MP RAW files into Lightroom and it was having to generate a thousand or so smart previews while doing image analysis for facial recognition and things like that while uploading the smart previews to Creative Cloud in the background to sync to my iPad. So it was kinda annoying but not something I can't deal with every once in a while.

 

[Hessel89]

Keep in mind that an 27 inch iMac 5K, 2015 to 2019 (doesn’t matter what year) holds a value around 1400€ on the used market while an iMac Pro is still worth around 4000€. So if you’re planning to sell it within 6 six years the iMac definitely has a steeper write off. It’s thermal system also isn’t optimized as well as the Pro.

 

[mikehalloran]

The 2019 iMac 5K isn't bad but I finally heard mine ramp up to full speed for a long period the other day. I was doing a large ingest of 42MP RAW files into Lightroom and it was having to generate a thousand or so smart previews while doing image analysis for facial recognition and things like that while uploading the smart previews to Creative Cloud in the background to sync to my iPad. So it was kinda annoying but not something I can't deal with every once in a while.

As I’ve said before, I hope you get your Pro at work. You will be in the unique position of actually knowing the difference based on ... what’s that word? ... oh yea, experience.

 

[macduke]

As I’ve said before, I hope you get your Pro at work. You will be in the unique position of actually knowing the difference based on ... what’s that word? ... oh yea, experience.

Yeah they were fighting my boss on it the other day but that’s based on being classified as a web designer and developer when in reality I already do so much more than that and it will be expanding even further with video production. She’s fighting back now but I may just end up getting a similar system to the one I have at home, which wouldn’t be bad. We’ll see but I’m not as hopeful as I was at the outset.

 

[Groovykeys]

I have decided to keep the iMac Pro. Yes its more expensive but after having had it for a couple of weeks it just never breaks a sweat. Its whisper quit and has a certain mojo. Maybe Apple has it figured out and didn't screw the iMac Pro owners with the release of the iMac with i9 after all? I am sure the i9 kicks butt but the extra fan noise may be a deterrent... or not. The new cooling design of the iMac Pro won me over.

 

[smayer97]

I was pondering a similar quandary, but for a different reason. I went back and forth between a refurb iMac Pro and a 2019 iMac before finally ordering an i9 8-core. Before it could even be shipped I found out that I can’t boot a 2019 iMac into High Sierra if needed while I could with the iMac Pro. So, I debated whether to cancel my order and go back to the iMac Pro, but the price differential made it not worth it to me. The i9 iMac with 1TB SSD with Applecare was $3188 out the door, plus $200 for 32GB RAM for a total of 40GB for $3388. The refurb iMac Pro would have been $4854 for the 32GB base unit. $1500 was not worth it to me when I can just run the old OS in Parallels for $63 if I needed High Sierra.

BTW, how did you determine that 2019 mica I9 cannot boot into High Sierra? I am looking for corroborating info please to determine other boot options too.

 

[i'm the mac daddy]

I went from an i9 iMac to the iMac Pro back to the i9 over a 4 week period. I did find the iMac Pro is quieter under load and with light gaming. BUT here is why I decided to go with the i9

1. i9 is faster vs the 8-core iMac Pro
2. i9 is significantly cheaper. I got the Vega 48, 2TB SSD, and 128GB of RAM for slightly less than the iMac Pro
3. iMac Pro as mentioned above is quieter, but not silent. For day to day use the sound is about the same. But under load the iMac gets loud. But if I'm gaming I'm wearing headphones so I'm ok with it taking off like a jet.
4. i9 has no T2, which is important for audio
5. I fear the iMac Pro will be a one off device and I expect the resale value to drop significantly once the Mac Pro and future iMacs trounce it performance wise

I do use FCPX and Lightroom and do like the quieter iMac Pro when using them. But I also run several VMs for work and the i9 is faster and much cheaper for a comparable performance iMac Pro. Hell going to 128GB and 2TB on the iMac Pro is almost twice the cost of the iMac.

 

[Trusteft]

One thing that might matter to some is that from what I understand the top of the line i9 on the iMac 2019 doesn't use thermal paste. This means that in the long run there is no thermal paste to dry out to the point of being dust and that at least the CPU will/should remain around the same temps in the long run.
If the iMac Pro's CPUs use thermal paste then in the long run (2+ years depending on various factors) the CPU will start to reach higher and higher temps and/or throttle, more than the i9 in question.
All that if the information is accurate and I am right.
I am mentioning it here because if this is the case, the CPU fans of the iMac Pro, no matter how better they are, they will eventually have to speed up or the CPU throttle down to keep the temps low.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"Wow! Didn't know about being able to boot to High Sierra. Thats cool!"

dcpmark DID NOT say that he could "boot" from High Sierra.
What he DID say is that he could run HS "in emulation" using Parallels.

 

[i'm the mac daddy]

One thing that might matter to some is that from what I understand the top of the line i9 on the iMac 2019 doesn't use thermal paste. This means that in the long run there is no thermal paste to dry out to the point of being dust and that at least the CPU will/should remain around the same temps in the long run.
If the iMac Pro's CPUs use thermal paste then in the long run (2+ years depending on various factors) the CPU will start to reach higher and higher temps and/or throttle, more than the i9 in question.
All that if the information is accurate and I am right.
I am mentioning it here because if this is the case, the CPU fans of the iMac Pro, no matter how better they are, they will eventually have to speed up or the CPU throttle down to keep the temps low.

That is a very good point. Are you referring to Intel using TIM on the Xeons and older desktop chips and they finally started soldering them on instead. It might be too early to tell the long term affect, but you're right it does means solder is a better and cooler interface.

 

[Trusteft]

That is a very good point. Are you referring to Intel using TIM on the Xeons and older desktop chips and they finally started soldering them on instead. It might be too early to tell the long term affect, but you're right it does means solder is a better and cooler interface.

Unfortunately I don't know what they are doing with the specific Xeons. I do know from what I have read that the top CPU option for the 2019 27" iMac, the i9 9900K is soldered/without thermal paste.
However as i am not an owner of either an iMac or iMac Pro, I can't confirm it first hand.

 

[dcpmark]

BTW, how did you determine that 2019 mica I9 cannot boot into High Sierra? I am looking for corroborating info please to determine other boot options too.

Can’t remember the exact sources, but I confirmed through multiple sources that Apple will not let you boot into an Mac OS LOWER than what the Mac ships with. The iMac Pro shipped with High Sierra, and the 2019 iMac shipped with Mohave. You can still boot to an older OS on a 2019 iMac through a virtual machine like Parallels, though, so it can be done.

 

[Sam Marks]

The maximum fan RPM for the iMacs is 2700RPM. It was quite noticeable to me on the 2015 model and a bit less so on my 2017. I am told it is less noticeable on the 2019 than the 2017.

Not sure what the maximum RPM is on the iMac Pro is, but all the owners who have commented have said even when they "fully load it", they cannot hear the fans and have to put their hands or a piece of paper next to the fan exhaust to notice the breeze.

Where did you obtained the info on the max fan speed of the 2019 imac. Independently of the Macs Fan Control limits of 2700rpm, I saw speeds up to 3200rpm.

 

[ondert]

No thermal paste for the i9 model? The cpu die is soldered on the new models and there is still thermal paste between the cpu and the heatsink right? For the first time I heard that.
AFAIK, iMac pro should be better for audio works thanks to T2 chip and quieter cooling system.
I'm lookin for the same comparison but mine is used iMac pro vs. new iMac i9 around 3500€.

 

[i'm the mac daddy]

No thermal paste for the i9 model? The cpu die is soldered on the new models and there is still thermal paste between the cpu and the heatsink right? For the first time I heard that.
AFAIK, iMac pro should be better for audio works thanks to T2 chip and quieter cooling system.
I'm lookin for the same comparison but mine is used iMac pro vs. new iMac i9 around 3500€.

The heatsink does use thermal paste. The earlier poster was talking about TIM which has caused higher temperatures on Intel chips. As for T2 chips there is a lot of information showing that the T2 chip introduces latency when recording. I would look into that if you plan on using it with a DAW.