Render Speeds - 2017 iMac vs 2023 Mac Studio Max

[Phil2611]

I was really looking forward to testing out the render speeds on my new Mac Studio Max (64Gb Ram, 38 core GPU) and see how they compared to my 2017 iMac (48Gb Ram, Quad core i7). After hearing how fast the Mac Studio is, I was expecting to be blown away...

I work in a paper cut-out style of animation, extruded out into 3D with lights, shadows and depth of field, using the built-in AE 3D, not Cinema 4D. I've attached a still of the kinds of animation I do. I did a test render of a couple of shots, but below is a typical result for a 5 second shot:

iMac - 83 minutes. Mac Studio - 22 minutes.

So about 4 times quicker. And of course, 4 times quicker is not to be sneezed at, but I really expected a greater difference, after all the iMac is 6 years old. 

So the question is, do you think my expectations were unrealistic? 

[Phil2611]

So, I've kinda answered my own question. Ran Geekbench on the iMac and on the Mac Studio M2 Max. Both machines are working to the speeds expected of them, and apparently I should only be seeing a three times (approx) speed boost. So I should be happy with 4 times. (I would imagine Geekbench doesn't give an entirely accurate figure of what to get from After Effects, I was just looking for some ballpark indications.)