Terrible performance on 2020 iMac 5K

[I Bleed Pixels]

Premiere Pro is virtually unusable on my brand new, top-of-the-line iMac. Can anyone help me with this. I have tried everything.

My specs:

2020 iMac 5K

3.8GHz 10-core 10th generation Intel i9

64GB 2666 MHz DDR4

AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT with 16GB of GDDR6 Memory

1TB SSD

Catalina OS

And before anyone jumps to clearing caches, moving caches to separate SSD's, proxies, using Metal vs software, different project or sequence settings, etc...

I have tried all of these.

I have also tried both Premiere Pro 2020 and 2019.

I have gone through all updates for both the software and the computer OS.

Nothing solves the terribly slow rendering and playback lag. Despite weeks of research, I'm still uncertain if this is a Catalina issue, a GPU issue, Premiere not using multi-cores properly, something to do with Apple's 5K monitor, or some simple setting I've missed or was unaware of. Or some combination of all the above.

Premiere Pro was faster on my old 2011 iMac (with much lower specs than my new machine). It is also faster on my 2015 MacBook Pro (although it has gotten slower with each new release of Premiere Pro.

I DO realize that the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT is NOT on the list of compatible GPU's. But it DOES kick in when I check my Activity Monitor. As does the CPU. Despite that, the lag is awful.

I DO realize that Premier Pro is kinda designed to perform best with Nvidia GPU's. But PP can't seem to function with the AMD at all???? Moreover, it is a highly rated graphics card on all the benchmark sites and, by the numbers, compares very well against most of the upper end Nvidia's. Neither Final Cut Pro X nor Davinci Resolve appear to have ANY problems with the AMD... in both cases, playback and rendering are fast and smooth.

I have used Adobe CC products, including Premiere Pro, for YEARS. And, for the most part, have loved the software, integration and workflow. And, until recently, rarely ever had any problems.

But  editing in Premiere Pro is now a nightmare.

I'm hoping SOMEONE can point me in the right direction here, and that I can find a solution to speed things up and continue to use the software I've spent all these years learning.

But, barring a solution, I am now switching to Davinci Resolve. No other choice if I want to be even remotely productive in video editing.

[Michael Grenadier]

please tell us your source properties and your sequence settings...  

[I Bleed Pixels]

Source... lol...

MPEG Movie (.mp4)

23.976 FPS

Image Size: 1920x1080

Codec: MP$/MOV H 2.64

(stock video, in this case!)

Sequence settings...

Timbase: 23.976 FPS

Square Pixels/Prog Scan/23.976 FPS Display Format/Rec.709 Color Space

Video Previews/Codec: QuickTime/Apple ProRes 422 (but I've tried every combination of Format and Codec available... literally, every combination)

No max bit depth. No max render quality. Yes Composite in Linear Color (but I've tried without as well)

Appreciate your reply. I'd love to be able to solve this. But sorta sounds like the same questions I've seen asked of other Mac users experiencing similar problems. And none seem to be resolved.

I've opened the same files, and done similar edits/effects/titling/grading in both Final Cut and Resolve today. Without any hitch whatsoever. The difference is night and day. I have trouble believing it's a source/sequence/settings issue. I really believe it has something to do with Premiere not being compatible with the Radeom Pro 5700 XT, or the CPU, or the retina display... or some combination of all three.

[I Bleed Pixels]

For what it's worth, I've edited similar source material... with multiple tracks, color grading, effects, etc... much more complex timelines.... in earlier versions of PP and on a much slower machine with only the occasional slow down.

And part of why I think it's GPU/CPU related is that GPU Performance in Illustrator (which I also use) keeps crapping out as well. Far less of an issue for me - doesn't affect me too much in that case. But it tells me that maybe Adobe hates my GPU.

I just want to (a) find a fix, ideally... cause I've used PP for years and know it well; or (b) find out if/when current Adobe software (particularly PP) might be compatible with newer iMacs (or my GPU in particular if that's the case).

If there's no resolution in sight (i.e. if Adobe isn't ever going to make PP compatible with what should otherwise be a pretty fast, late model iMac) then I need to drop PP and move to another NLE. Because this is unusable at the moment - even relatively simple text animations or transitions bog the whole thing down.

[Flywithjohnnythai]

I am in the same situation. One day last week Premiere was working beautifully and now it lags, stutters, pressing the space bar to stop the timeline doesn't respond for a few seconds. It's a nightmare to edit and makes premiere almost unusable. If anyone has a solution I'd appreciate it. I'm in the same settings as well just different specs that should easily handle a 1080p timeline.

[Michael Grenadier]

if premiere was working properly in an earlier version, I'd revert to that version.   If you need the latest features, I'd investigate a proxy workflow.  prores proxy is a great format and looks and plays smoothly in my experience.  This may or may not be adobe's fault, but some of the blame may be apple's fault.  They've never been particularly commited to making 3rd party software work seamlessly.  They'd much rather you be editing in fcpX.  

[I Bleed Pixels]

First of all, I DO want to thank mgrenadier for taking the time to reply. I appreciate your quick response. And I'm sure you're doing your best to help.

And apologies if this becomes a lengthy response. But I've seen the the same things being said, over and over again, with no REAL resolution. Or any honest answer as to if and when one might be forthcoming. So I feel the need counter a lot of the suggestions coming from Adobe and others.

I'm going to reply to your 3 main statements/suggestions:

1. Use an earlier version.
2. Use proxies.
3. Apple is partly to blame.

1. Use an earlier version.

Basically, for me (and many other Mac users it would seem), Premiere Pro has gotten progressively worse in both 2019 and 2020 versions. I have TRIED both those versions. Including a variety of releases within each major version. None are acceptible.

The last version I've used that worked remotely well was 2018. And, obviously, that's no longer available via Creative Cloud.

But more importantly, I shouldn't HAVE TO use an older version of any piece of software. Particularly when my computer should be more than powerful enough to run it. Why would I want fewer features, less efficiency, collaboration issues, etc?

So that is simply not an answer. If that doesn't work, should I shoot on Super 8 and literally cut film instead? Cause that's also an earlier version, arguably.

2. Use Proxies

I've SCOURED the web and countless forums attempting to find some resolution to this. And I've seen countless replies from Adobe or others suggesting "work arounds" to the problem. Among them:

• Proxies
• Lowering playback resolution (1/4 or 1/2)
• Turn off effects on the playline
• Repeatedly render the timeline with every edit or addition to the timeline
• Etc.

I am aware of all of these work arounds. And, agreed, each does improve performance... although very, very slightly and still not to the point making PP efficient or remotely competitive with other NLEs.

I work on predominantly 5 minute, relatively simple videos. Which simply should not require proxies or any of these work arounds. They never did in pre-2019 versions?? I'm not editing feature films here.

So my response to proxies (and all the other suggested work arounds) is this:

I appreciate the suggestion. But I don't have to go through this hassle with ANY of the competitive video editing packages that I've tried. Again... I have tested the same footage, with the same level of effects/grading/motion graphics in FCP and Resolve... and I literally just open them up and go. No lag. No issues. No proxies. No concessions. No work arounds required. In fact, it's slick as all get out and makes me remember "Ahhhh... this is what the process should feel like. This actually makes editing enjoyable again."

Which was ALSO my experience with older versions of Premiere Pro. On a slower machine.

And I've seen this argument over and over again. For example:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro/serious-performance-issues-with-premiere-pro-14-0/td-p/1...

https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro/serious-performance-issues-with-premiere-pro-14-0/td-p/1...

I've read endless posts from people with some pretty powerful new Macs, many far better than mine (and mine is top of the line for a consumer-end product). All experiencing horrible lag and other issues. And no real answers or solutions that I've seen yet.

3. Apple is partly to blame

I've read the replies that try to shift the blame over to Apple. And I will concede that Apple doesn't make it easy for many software developers. And that, yes, they have a vested interest in pushing FCP.

BUT... and I know I'm repeating myself... the EASY counter to that argument is... the team behind DaVinci Resolve seems to have had NO problems making their product work just fine on Macs. Or at least far, far fewer problems than Adobe.

I'll also add that both Apple and Adobe kinda group up together. The reason I switched over to Apple twenty-or-so years ago was that, in the creative industry, Apple hardware and Adobe software were the ones that worked together best! And it was the thousands (millions?) of people in the creative/design business that formed the early base that led to BOTH companies growing to be the dominant mainstream players they now are. I've spent a career using Adobe products on Apple devices. It baffles me that, at least with PP, Adobe can't or won't make it work on new model Macs that, by all the specs, should perform wonderfully.

Summary

Yup. I've included a summary. Cause I've droned on this long. So why not continue, at this point?

Make no mistake. My PREFERENCE would to be to continue using Premiere Pro. I've liked it in the past. I'm comfortable with it. I don't want to go through the learning curve of another program or change my workflow. I'm not trying to knock Adobe. I LOVE most of their products. And I can appreciate how challenging software engineering for different operating systems and hardware capabilities must be.

But Adobe does seem to be struggling in this case. And not very forthcoming. So it's frustrating.

Perhaps a ridiculous analogy:

I feel like I've purchased a Ferrari (cause I am paying for PP, via CC). And I just picked it up at the lot and tried to drive it. But it only goes 5 miles per hour. So I call up the Ferrari salesman, and say "Hey, my new Ferrari is only going 5 miles an hour. What gives?"

To which the salesman replies "Gosh. That sucks. How about we give you an old Ferrari instead? At no additional cost. That should go fast." (i.e. use an older version of PP, in this analogy) 

Of course, I say "WTF? I bought a new Ferrari! Why would I want your old Ferrari for the same price as a new one???"

"Okay, okay.", says the salesman. "In some cases this seems to happen for some people. But you're in luck! There are work-arounds. Here's what you do. Remove the doors and seats. Try to only drive downhill, never up. And if you have a few friends who could push the car as well... your Ferrari will definitely go faster." (See what I'm doing here? This is a metaphor for proxies, etc. Clever, huh?)

Becoming mildly frustrated, I argue, "That's ridiculous. Other people seem to have Ferraris that go fast without being pushed by people. And all the ones I see seem to have doors and seats."

The Ferrari guy then says, "I don't know what else to tell you, man. And let's be fair here. The truth is, the roads in your city are notoriously bad for Ferraris. So don't blame us. Petition your city to build better roads. Or move to a better neighbourhood."

"But all the other cars seem to drive just fine on my roads!!!", I scream in desperation. "Plus... I just bought this house. I can't afford to buy another house. Surely to God you can fix my Ferrari so it drives on my roads?"

Then the Ferrari salesman just hangs up.

So anyway. What I'd really love... somehow... is one of three possible answers (listed in order of preference) so I can plan my video editing future:

1. "You messed up [fill in random preference/setting here], dude! Just change [fill in preference/setting here] and it will all work fine."
2. "Adobe is aware of and acknowledges the problem. And we are trying to fix it. It'll probably all be resolved by [fill in date here]."
3. "Adobe is aware of the problem. But has no plans to do anything about it. So, if we're being honest, in your case and on your machine, you're probably better off using one of our competitors' editing suites."

Anyone of those answers would help me decide what to do next.

P.S. I've placed a bet with a Las Vegas bookie that this conversation will be locked in very short order.

[Michael Grenadier]

fwiw, I haven't seen any attempts at censorship here except an attempt to keep the conversation as civil as possible.  I got my knuckles rapped a few months ago by an adobe employee when I'd suggested that instead of answering my question about his source formats the op spent twice as long arguing why he didn't need to.   Made me laugh, but I appreciate that it's not simple keeping everyone polite in this strange world we live in. 

I've worked fairly extensively on a few projects in resolve and was not happy with the editing ui.  And I've had some serious issues with things falling apart in resolve...  When resolve loses connection to media it's usally an ugly pileup...  Happy to go in to more detail if you want...  Much prefer how premiere works.  I do think that for color correction, resolve is much better, and will sometimes send to resolve to finish the color correction.  And I'm working on both a. 2012 macbookpro and a custom built windoze machine that's a few years old without any serious issues.   Right now I'm in the process of finishing a piece that was shot in a variety of formats over the last 4 years.  Not simple, and if I'd known where we were headed when I started working on it, I'd have probably used a different workflow but premiere is very flexible and I'm able to adjust things to keep working without any serious issues.  

I also work with a number of clients as "post production supervisor" designing workflow and dealing with technical issues on a variety of different systems.  Gotta say, my clients are happy working with premiere...

It's not always easy to troubleshoot these things from a distance and I'm sorry we haven't been able to be help you.   If you'd like to spend an hour or so seeing if we can get any further with your issues via zoom or teamviewer  send me a messsage and we'll see what we can work out.  It's quite possible I won't be able to help...  but I'm willing to waste an hour or so...

[I Bleed Pixels]

Dude (dudette?), I have to say that, despite my frustrations with Premiere right now, I am extremely impressed by your timely, courteous and patient replies. And, lol, I'm kinda amazed that you actually read my diatribe and didn't just say "This guy's a nut."

Sincerely... appreciate it.

RE. Resolve... can't argue with you, I've just started testing Resolve (as a possible alternative). All I know is that lag I've been experiencing in Premiere (which is pretty much any kind of timeline with more than one track) has thus far been non-existent in Resolve. But I don't claim to be a Resolve guru by any means. And I have no doubt that there are bugs there too. I just haven't hit them yet. But so far Resolve has been beautiful. Problem is, if I go that route it'll take a little time to get up-to-speed, and change my workflow a bit.

I've also been testing out FCP (which I last used years and years ago). And it's definitely faster. Crazy fast (not surprising, per your earlier point about Apple. But from a "features and capabilities" standpoint, if feels targeted more for beginners. Premiere can clearly do more, if I could just get it working.

I use Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Audition, etc. as well. A lot. So the integration between apps is great. As I said, my STRONG preference is to figure out a way to get Premiere running better. I haven't opened AE on my new machine. I'm terrified to. I'm guessing that whatever incompatabilities Premiere has, AE will have two-fold.

I have a 2015 MacBook Pro also. And I've edited on it in the past (travelling, etc). Premiere is better on it than on my brand new iMac. But it's still laggy (and was also far, far faster with pre-2019 versions of Premiere).

I also probably got away with using Premiere on an older iMac for many years, and somehow having virtually no problems no matter how much I abused the machine. A ten year-old Mac was running Premiere SIGNIFICANTLY faster the my new, loaded one (which is what's driving me nuts). Alas, that Mac finely succumbed. But it put up the good fight for years.

So I kinda got this new iMac as my intended "editing" workstation. Big screen, all the peripherals/drives/capture devices hooked up, etc.

I am NOT trying to bash Premiere too much. Frankly, if you'd asked me a year or two ago I'd have said Premiere is great. Probably the best consumer-level editor.

But it's tough to spend over $5000 on a machine that, by the specs, should fly through any editing project (4K res and under) without a problem... install the same software you've been using for years... and hit this kind of wall. It's not like iMacs are some obscure custom builds. Per your own statement... you've got a 2012 MacBook Pro that runs Premiere just fine. And it's not like other editors aren't working comparatively fine on it. And I've run Premiere on dozens of Macs over the years in the office... and never had issues until recently.

From what I can tell, most PC users with Nvidia cards get blazing speeds with Premiere. In hindsight, I probably could have spent half as much on a PC, and gotten a far better experience with Premiere.

But even now knowing that, I'm not sure I wouldn't have still gone with the Mac. Which I prefer for so many reasons.

Still hoping that someone else comes across this thread and maybe has some solution. Cause I know I'm not alone in this. I've seen endless posts along this line for Mac users.

But I may just take you up on your offer. Cause I'm at a loss at this point. Honestly, I really don't think you'll see anything that I haven't already tried. But I won't complain at all if you do end up saying "You dummy! You forgot to set the thingamabobdoodad right!" and I end up looking like a fool. I'd be completely fine with that if I can get this to work.

[Michael Grenadier]

Dude...  I understand your frustration and you have my sympathy.   When and if you want to see if we can figure out what's going on just send me a dm by clicking on my name at the top of any of my posts and you'll be able to send me a message, and we can discuss when to do this.  I'm in NYC so consider the timezone.

Besides my own production and post work, I also provide support for a number of clients.  One of them purchased a new imac a few months ago to my specs and it's been working ok although it's not easy for me to judge via zoom...  so part of my willingness to help is in my selfinterest so I'm better prepared to deal with situations like this...  

and it's Michael. fwiw...

[AlanM3]

I'm hoping that we end up with a resolution to this major concern. I'm interested in purchasing a beefed up 2020 iMac 27-inch to replace my 2008 Mac pro that is limping along. I haven't used the Adobe suite but am planning on working with Lightroom, Photosop, and Premiere. I sure would be bummed if Premiere Pro doesn't run well on these new iMacs. It is unbelievable that a supposed popular video editing program doesn't run well on iMacs. I've been reading many of the related posts and it does seem to me Adobe needs to do major work on the software using the graphics cards that come with iMacs. And how long a wait might we have for that...if ever. Sigh. Thanks for your detailed post and good luck.

[joe88]

I have the exact same machine and specs and problem. 

[Luca98BC]

Hi, 

i have the same specs. Only the i7 instead of the i9. The performance of the iMac is also terrible. Not only in Premiere Pro, also in FCPX and DaVinci. It's horrible!!! I've tested everything. ProRes, h264, h265. Catalina and Big Sur. The performance is soooooo bad. I have no idea what i can do anymore. How about you meanwhile? Do you have an solution? I have a few days to send the iMac back. But i have no idea what could be an alternative. I don't want to switch to windows but i also dont wan't to leave adobe. What i also dont understand is that also FCPX and DaVinci do not work fine on my iMac. I've tested footage from the Sony A7Siii in 4k120p+60p  h264 10 bit but also ProRes 4k60p. It's a nightmare! Do you use DaVinci Studio or the free version?

cheers

luca

[I Bleed Pixels]

Hey Luca,

Sorry to hear you're going through this same thing. LOL... but it's actually a little comforting to know I'm not alone.

So far (and this is early testing only) I haven't been having any issues with Resolve or FCPX. FCPX is blazing fast... but, frankly, not as robust as either Premiere or Resolve. So I'm trying to transition to Resolve, which is quite impressive but a different workflow/UI from Premiere, so a bit of a learning curve. From a "processing power" standpoint, I think Resolve Studio and the free version are pretty much the same (I think)... the paid version is just more feature-rich.

Still using Premiere as best I can while I ramp up in Resolve. One thing I did find is that Premiere really seems to lag with playback if there's any footage in the timeline that doesn't match the sequence frame rate - really seems to struggle with interpolating the footage. So, when I do use Premiere, I'm very careful to avoid that. And I'm rendering the timeline constantly as I work.

As far as your situation...

I'm no expert. So I hesitate to tell you what to do. But here's my two cents for whatever that's worth, based on my recent experience with this Mac/Premiere combination...

I could have gotten a PC custom-designed specifically to crush it in Premiere (basically a gaming machine)... for half the price of my Mac (or a ridiculously decked out PC for the same price). But I'm a Mac guy, so it's really hard to imagine going back to a Windows. If you don't care too much Mac vs PC... and really want to stick with Premiere... you might want to go to a PC. Cause barring a miracle, I just don't see Adobe fixing this issue - it's been going on for a while, across many new Mac versions (including maxed out Mac Pros), with no resolution yet and very little meaningful response from Adobe. I think Adobe knows about the issue. But either doesn't care, or can't solve it. (again... I love Adobe for so many of their other products... so not trying to knock them too much)

If money is no object for you, you could keep the Mac for all other things and get a PC purely for video editing. I know people who've done that too.

If you're an adament Mac person, I'd suggest Resolve. Personally, I can't afford to plod away for too long continuing with Premiere... with no end in sight to all the bugs, and no guarantees it won't actually get even worse (which it progressively has over the past 2-3 years).

But I can't speak for the issues you're having with Resolve. I'm not experiencing that myself. I do vaguely recall seeing some posts about Resolve having issues with ProRes or Red footage in the past... but I've never researched it. The fact that you're having ANY issues in FCPX is concerning though... it does make me wonder if you've got an issue with your setup or specific machine. Cause FCP and Apples are designed to work fantastically together. And in my experience FCP is killer fast. I just don't love it as an editor.

Best of luck?

Will

[Jeff Bellune]

Hi Will,

I read through your posts and I appreciate the thoroughness of them. And what's not to like about sharing some opinions along the way? 🙂

It may be obvious and you may have answered this already, but I missed it. So here goes: is any/all of your source footage variable frame rate? If you haven't done so, have a look at it with the excellent inspection tool, MediaInfo.

I have a 2019 16" MBP running Catalina and I have not encountered the issue. Yet. AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8GB graphics. For whatever that is worth.

[Luca98BC]

Hi Will, 

thank you so much for your answer. I'm really a Apple-Fanboy. I would even switch to DaVinci to stay at Apple but as i mentioned the performance is also not good :(. But I have to say that I am a not advanced in DaVinci. Thats why I have some questions about your workflow. Which Codec do you have tested in DaVinci? I've tested ProRes 422 4K60p and the playback is not good. Is your playback good or do you have to render the timeline for a better playback? If I switch 60p to 23,976p to see the footage in slow motion the playback is more liquid. On my old iMac from 2012 I was able to play 4k60p in Premiere without any issues. Another problem with DaVinci: It can't open my footage frome the Sony A7Siii (4K60p H.264 10bit, wtf??)

Meanwhile i really think that i send the iMac back. The thing is that my old iMac is also slow but i save up 3500€. Maybe its better anyway to wait for the new iMac 2021 with m1? i don't know :-/! All i know is that im really pissed off. 

Greetings from Germany 

Luca

[phil bauch]

Hi all,

I was just about to receive exactly the same iMac as described, and canceled my order yesterday for some furthe rinvestigation, after I found lots of issues like this here around. 

Have there been any improvements about the overall performance and situation? I'm on Mac nearly 30 years now, and god knows which was the first Photoshop versione, I've gone through hod knows how many compatibilty issues, minor and major bugs, and the usual "it's noit us to blame" chats 😉

But as I've never seen soemthing even close to this one right now I really don't know what to do now! I need a new Mac soonish (still working on my late 2013 27" 3,2 4-core). But 90% of my daily work life and moneymaker does rely on Adobe CC: AE, PP, PS, AI, INDD, even Animate for HTML5 Banners, Dreamweaver for some coding jobs and so on.

If there's is no solution up to now, I won't spend any 4k ony a new 5K, because speaking about income this would mean a loss of even more "k" (sorry, I had to put something more or less funny, to calm myself down 😉

 I'd appreciate your answers and really hope to hear some positve news by real world users here around. Meanwhile, best greetings from Spain (not that sunny neither these, so good news even more welcomed)

Cheers,

Phil

[parkerf57576642]

Hi Phil,

I just received this computer a few days ago and am having the worst time editing on it (lagging is making it basically impossible to do any kind of simple edits). I have about 12 more days before I have to make the return if I'm not keeping it. Apple couldn't really offer me any information on why this is happening (they said "that computer should not being having any kind of issues editing the footage you are editing"). I'm waiting to see if adobe can help, but for some reason, I am unable to reach their service team.  Since I'm on a time crunch for retunring, I am really hoping someone can provide any kind of issue if this will be resoled or if I should return the computer altogether.

Smart choice to cancel your order. I am lucky to have discovered this issue because if I didn't have the padding to return it, I would be devastated having just spend $6,000 on this "powerful" computer.

[phil bauch]

Hi Parker,

damned, sorry for you to hear this 😞 Is it "just" Premiere or do you have any other issues with other CC app, too? And whats your setup of the iMac? 

I just asked directly the supoort chat here, they confirmed me, that there are no problems and issues known, and everything should work perfectly. So I asked explicitely if this is just an interpretation of what is written in the recommended specs, or if he could confirm this by users. The answer was "by users". So if it this, it's even worse. Having a problem – well ... but denying is is really a shame. 

Lets see, what come around in your case. Good luck and would be great if you keep us updated here,

Cheers Phil

[Luca98BC]

Hi,

as i mentioned before I am also very unhappy with the iMac. The performance is really not good. I spend a lot of time with the Support and they was also suprised about the bad performance. I've tried everything. But footage from the Sony A7S3 is sooooo hard to edit. It is a disaster. Meanwhile I regret that i did not send the iMac back. I would recommend you to send it back and wait for the new iMac with M1. Sorry for that :-(.  But i don't see any improvement for the future. 

[phil bauch]

Hi Luca,
pretty sorry for you 😞

To narrow down this bug a bit: Did you try to edit or at least replay the footage with any other app? E.g. QT (not sure which codec is used by this Sony), FCP, DaVinci. If it plays fine there, than it points more to Premiere not to Mac OS or Hardware. Which meens: The new M1 –though more powerful – night suffer the same prob. And of xourse does also mean: Won't heklp you anyway now with Premiere, but there migth be hope that Adobe fixes this in an update, so your iMac will be find again

Which one do you you have? It really might help to get more details about your setup. There have been  some heavy issues and problems in the beginning about the Radeon 5700XT for example. Others reported overall system instability, crashes etc using OWC Ram, which isusually a really good brand. 

How is the overall behaviour in other Apps? Or are you mainly using Premiere. (IÄm doing everything, wide range all across GraphicDesign  (PS, AI, INDD), Animation (AE, C4D, Blender) as well as music, audio recording, editing, mastering and composing (Logic Pro).

Cheers, hope there wil be found a solution soonish
Phil

[Luca98BC]

Hi Phil, 

this is my setup: 

Intel i7 8-Core

72GB Ram ( also tested it with 64GB)

AMD Radeon Pro 5700 xt 16GB

Yes, i also tested DaVinci and Final Cut. The performance is a little bit better i would say. But DaVinci can't handle h264 4:2:2 10Bit in the free version. I have to say that the sony footage  is really painful to edit for any computers but I was suprised that the iMac performs that bad.

After Effects is nearly unusable. I often use AE-Templates but you can't imagine how slowly they are.

Shoutout to the Apple Support. They tried everything: Ram-Setup, VRam, Benchmarks, Tests, everything. The iMac doesn't have any hardware problems. I am at a loss...

Cheers .

[basil1891]

Mac users, FYI, Retina display related bug and a workaround:

(MacOS Retina 2x) Premiere Pro 2020 Choppy / Stuttering Playback... - Page 6 - Adobe Support Communi...

[Jonah Lee Walker]

I have an iMac Pro 3GZ 10 core, 64 gigs of RAM and Radeon pro VEGA 64x 16GB, not the same machine, but mine runs great. I also always use SwitchRezX. I know high DPI displays look pretty and all, but to get high DPI you are literally rendering your display twice, using up twice the ram it should, so I run my iMac display and external display at 2560x1400 to save on Video Ram and it runs great.

[Greendialer]

I feel the pain. I am in the process of giving it another try after one year or failing to be able to get to a stage where I can even start learning entry level video editing.

I had those lucky days where I did not fall asleep waiting for a render with all the checks and balances, reducing quality, etc.

My previous attempts involved two environments. One was a $5000 build with two Nvidia g-force 3GB vid cards running in SLI mode. Tried on and off for SLI. I had 64 Gigs RaM and dedicated most to premiere pro, I had the best processor at the time, well about two hops from the best but it was the i7 12 core 3.5Ghz processor. I had (4) 128GB Samsung 870 EVO running in Raid 10 for super fast I/O, and top of the line MB I think Extreme 8, but it was a beautiful blazing fast system, running win10 Pro.

same issues as you described. Just terribly slow and tried so many hours and never got it working. Found so many horror stories like these but I kept going.

I upgraded my iMac to 32GB Ram from 8GB. That was the late 2014 model with 5k 27inch and the Radeon 2GB with 3.5Ghz processor and 1TB fusion drive.

I ran into the same issues with playback and rendering taking so long on even brand new empty projects and all settings dulled down.

Now a year later I was looking to try again, I found some people who do video editing and have money left, discussing builds and they were $6000 to $10,000 builds. I wasted about that much plus my time and lost my existing business which was failing due to legislation that made my technology pretty much illegal.

What more could go wrong in life? I do not know. These failures came at a time when failure was not an option. I am the person everyone comes to as "the computer guy" to fix everyone's issues with computers A-Z.

This experience did not just consume my life, it set me back and I felt that not only did I continuously fail over and over, but I lost faith, endurance, and motivation to continue in learning various other skills in routing, coding, etc. -- It took all the gas out of my tank and I have not recovered yet.

But I will try again. I am thinking of working more on starting a new company if I can solve the rendering issue using supercomputing, log introspection, and live monitoring deep down in the published code.

These areas are not where Adobe would want someone trying to increase knowledge, outside their camp. If they solved it then nobody would bother or care to dig this deep but since they do not have any idea why so many people have these horror stories, it is motivating people to start new business focusing on solving the issue.

They have such amazing software and it is hard to get away from it. The software has so much potential that it's sucked me into going through such pains to try and make it work.

Those times that it did work kept me from giving up and pro-longed the effort. The multiple breaks I had to take caused me to have to relearn some basics and forget some of the cool tricks I learned.

I have read so many posts like this. If someone knows what magic combo of hardware works, that is a business right there. Just build units with that blend of hardware and they will sell out as so many people spend thousands of dollars and have terrible progress with Adobe. 

They need to fire Engineers and hire new ones. It is clear they continue down the same path of trying to address the issues. Usually asking about cache settings, video cards, project settings, etc.