Latest thoughts on 2020 iMac i9 vs iMac Pro re:performance

[lmgphx]

I know, this old chesnut, but I've been scouring the interwebs for info and coming up short so here I am. My video production company is getting ready to make a large hardware investment to upgrade our machines. We exclusively use Premiere Pro latest version and want to use the iMac form factor, so this thread is limited to that discussion. We primarily do multicam productions with a mix of 4k and 1080 footage (4-6 sources). Typical finished programs are 1-1.5 hours. Nothing fancy effects wise but there is generally a lot of Lumetri involved. I need help from the working pros here who make their living editing.

Main questions:

1. From a performance standpoint, is it better to have the newer i9 processor with 10 cores or more cores as offered by the the Xeon processors (14-18)? Where is the perfromance most pronounced?

2. The Radeon Pro 5700 seems to be a major problem slowing things down, has this been addressed in the 14.8/14.9? Does the Radeon Pro 5500 exhibit similar slow down issues?
3. Is the Radeon Pro Vega 64 a better solution compatibility wise with Premiere Pro? It's a drag to see that the GPU's that are available now from Apple are not on the Adobe recommended list.
4. In terms of stability and the overall editing experience (playback, exporting, responsivness) has the 2020 iMac i9 5k overtaken the iMac Pro or is the Pro still the better overall solution for professional level editing.

We're in Premiere 8-12 hours a day cranking out content, so this decision is a big deal for us. Any feedback you can provide based on your experience would be greatly valued. Thanks!

ADOBE PLEASE PARTICIPATE IN THIS THREAD

[John V Knowles]

Hi there,

I don't have either iMac so I'm basing my observations on what I've seen online. To answer your questions:

1. Premiere Pro hits peak performance at a certain number of cores, above which there's no benefit. 10 -12 cores are great but I don't think more than that will add much to performance. More CPU cores do help with faster Media Encoder exports though.
2. I haven't heard about issues with the 5700, but the 5500M in my MacBook Pro rocks in 14.8 and 14.9. The newer 5600 is even better.
3. Don't go by the compatibility list on the Adobe site unless you're looking up an older card. All of the recently released AMD cards in Macs are supported; they just haven't updated the list recently. 
4. From what I've seen online, the latest iMac seems to outperform the iMac Pro in a lot of areas. Check out some of the video comparisons on YouTube like this one: https://youtu.be/4Fa5yNwsK7o

[Warren Heaton]

They're each amazing machines for Premiere Pro, Premiere Rush, Media Encoder, After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.

Main questions:

1. From a performance standpoint, is it better to have the newer i9 processor with 10 cores or more cores as offered by the the Xeon processors (14-18)? Where is the perfromance most pronounced?

Fewer faster cores.  If you check Geekbench, you can compare the scores of the two machines that you're loooking at. 

2. The Radeon Pro 5700 seems to be a major problem slowing things down, has this been addressed in the 14.8/14.9? Does the Radeon Pro 5500 exhibit similar slow down issues?

It's still about fewer, faster cores.  Have you had a chance to read this article?  https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/multi/gpu-acceleration-and-hardware-encoding.html

3. Is the Radeon Pro Vega 64 a better solution compatibility wise with Premiere Pro? It's a drag to see that the GPU's that are available now from Apple are not on the Adobe recommended list.

Probably overkill for video editing, but are you going to be doing any 3D?

4. In terms of stability and the overall editing experience (playback, exporting, responsivness) has the 2020 iMac i9 5k overtaken the iMac Pro or is the Pro still the better overall solution for professional level editing.

Again, they're each fantastic machines.  

Thunderbolt - You've probably noticed that the 2020 i9 only has two Thunderbolt ports while the iMac Pro as four.  I've found two thunderbolt ports to be a bit of a limitation and am much happier with the six on my 2013 Mac Pro.

Display - The 2020 i9 has the nono-texture glass option while the iMac Pro does not.  I find this to be really important, but some users may not.  The 2020 i9 also offers True Tone, but for video editing that's not so important. 

RAM - How much RAM are you considering?  2020 i9 maxes out at 128GB and allows you to add it yourself.  With the iMac Pro, you have to order it with the desired RAM configuration, but it can go up to 256GB.  It can be changed later, but needs to go to an Apple certified service center for it.

Macintosh HD - The 2020 i9 offers a up to a whopping 8TB SSD while the iMac Pro maxes out at a 4TB SSD.

Perhaps the most important consideration right now is if you can wait.  The Apple Silicon version of the iMac should be available this October.  Yeah, that's a long way off if you need to be working right now and a brand new iMac or iMac Pro should serve you very, very well for a good seven years or longer.

Also, have you use Apple's comparison feature?  https://www.apple.com/mac/compare/?modelList=iMac-5K,iMacPro,Mac-mini-M1