Hey All,
Thank you for taking the time to review my post. I had a question about whether or not the new 27in iMac would be able to run SL raids (12-25 people) on high settings without any issues. Below are the specs of the iMac I plan on ordering.
- Standard glass
- 3.6GHz 10-core 10th-generation Intel Core i9 processor, Turbo Boost up to 5.0GHz
- 16GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
- Radeon Pro 5700 with 8GB of GDDR6 memory
- 1TB SSD storage
I can upgrade the graphics to Radeon Pro 5700 XT with 16GB of GDDR6 memory for an extra $200. Will this upgrade be worth it? Thanks in advance for you advice!
Hey there!
Going over the details, everything meets or exceeds recommended! The only real difference between XT and non XT cards you mentioned is the XT version having double the video memory.
Blizzard can’t technically recommend what to buy, but I did want to let you know of the above. The choice is yours!
Hope the info helps. Cheers!
2 Likes
-
Stick with the baseline 8GB of RAM. Apple RAM is expensive and should you wish to upgrade it later, you will need to completely remove it. Lots of issues with RAM compatibility in the new 2020 iMacs. You literally need to put 4 sticks of identical RAM in the thing to obtain optimal RAM performance. Head over to Macrrumors-dot-com to read the many many many threads about it. In a nutshell, get the 8GBs, buy your 16GBs or more elsewhere, replace the 8GBs entirely with your third-party RAM. Put your 8GBs on eBay or toss it in a drawer. Sad but true, this is what all new iMac 2020 buyers are doing.
-
Unless you absolutely have a need for 10-core, it’s hardly worth it. Many many many benchmarks and real world testing have shown minimal improvements over the 8-core. Thus far the 8-core i7 CPU is hailed as the best bang for the buck. It seems the system is most optimized for the 8-core i7 CPU, throttling is introduced on the 10-core i9 CPU.
-
The 5700XT is a better choice for gaming being that the GPU is non-upgradeable. That being said, the XT is plagued with some graphics issues hopefully will be addressed in a future OS update. These issues seem to only affect the XT version of the card as both the 5700 and 5700XT use the same basic underlying design.
Of all the upgrades you can get, the 5700XT is going to be the one you want for gaming. Talking more than just WoW here, gaming under bootcamp to run PC titles for example.
My personal recommendation? Wait it out a little bit longer and see how the graphics glitch thing plays out. Big Sur will release before long and hopefully will address it. Means playing WoW on what you currently have a bit longer… but I think the wait is worth it if you want the graphics horsepower that the XT can provide over the next few years.
If you’re planning on staying in the Mac eco-system for the long haul, remember ARM is replacing the INTEL chipset over the next 2 years. Lots of changes coming for Macs which may make you entirely rethink your purchase.
Lots to think about I know. Of your build you listed, drop to 8GB RAM for sure and get you 16GBs elsewhere (ultimately cheaper than thru Apple). No brainer.
Drop to 8-core i7 CPU if you don’t absolutely have a technical need for it, very very very few people do. Also a no brainer for 99.99% of the folks.
5700 is a safe bet for WoW… no graphics glitches noted compared to 5700XT. Fine for WoW, may not have as much bang for the buck for Windows gaming due to the 8GBs of RAM versus 16GBs on the XT. That one is a coin tosser depending on your personal use.
Dropping the RAM down and the CPU down easily pays for the GPU upgrade plus your new third-party RAM.
2 Likes