# 2020 iMac with 128 GB RAM



## ChrisHarrison (Oct 29, 2020)

Hello All,

I got a 2020 iMac 8 core with 128GB RAM and it is RIPPING fast for cubase with a full orchestral template. I have literally all articulations loaded from Spitfire Symphony Orchestra and Solo Strings and it's not even sweating. Using about 65 gigs. 

Just wanted to say that I've tested it and it's insane. I Highly recommend. 

Curious if anyone else is using this? 

I also picked up an OWC box that lets me put up to 16 TB Storage with NVME SSDs that runs thunderbolt 3 and clocks very close to the speed of the internal.


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## jtnyc (Oct 29, 2020)

christopherharriso said:


> Hello All,
> 
> I got a 2020 iMac 8 core with 128GB RAM and it is RIPPING fast for cubase with a full orchestral template. I have literally all articulations loaded from Spitfire Symphony Orchestra and Solo Strings and it's not even sweating. Using about 65 gigs.
> 
> ...


Congratulations! And this is welcome news indeed! I've been torn between the 10 core i9 and 8 core i7. I don't run large templates like that, so I'm now pretty convinced the i7 will give me ample headroom.

May I ask, when your running that large template, do your fans spin up? Any extra noise from them? Heat? 

Enjoy your now setup!


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## Rex282 (Oct 29, 2020)

I’m about to pull the trigger on the same rig .What was your wait time on delivery.


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## synthnut1 (Oct 29, 2020)

Its my understanding that you really can’t utilize the speed of NVME drives as kontakt is the bottleneck restricting the speed.....have you checked your thruput to see the actual read/write speeds ?.....They just might be a lot closer to USB3.2 speeds running sata ssd’s......and saving a chunk of $$....Please check this out....I’m running the same computer and I’m very curious about this.....Thanks for your time


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## jamie8 (Oct 29, 2020)

christopherharriso said:


> Hello All,
> 
> I got a 2020 iMac 8 core with 128GB RAM and it is RIPPING fast for cubase with a full orchestral template. I have literally all articulations loaded from Spitfire Symphony Orchestra and Solo Strings and it's not even sweating. Using about 65 gigs.
> 
> ...


just got the same machine and compared to my old trash can this thing smokes it, much better for bbcso pro!!! and i am running pro tools and a 128 buffer, couldn't do that before!


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## jbuhler (Oct 30, 2020)

I have the i9 sitting in a box across the room. The 128GB memory came in today and I’ll be setting it up this weekend. 

Looking forward to seeing how well my template works on it SSO/SCS. Also Seeing if I can finally run Berlin Strings along with the rest of an orchestra.


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## Adrian Stavian (Dec 9, 2020)

Hi, I have an 2020 Imac , 3,8 Ghz , 128 Gb ram.
I made some tests and don't know, just wanted to check if everything is ok.
My problem is with hdd and ssd speeds. I made 2 tests 2 - with Blackmagic disk speed test and with the Synchron engine.
The hdd, and ssd conected from an OWC Drive dock (https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/external-drives/owc-drive-dock) ,connection with TB or Usb almost same speeds -
Synchron tests : Speeds HDD 51 , SSD 176 
Blackmagic tests : Speeds HDD 78 / 77 - SSD - 480 /500 
It looked kind of slow , especially with Synchron engine .
I made the Synchron test with 2 laptops - Lenovo P71 , and LENOVO Legion 5 15ARH05.
Both with an usb 3 direct from hdd - Synchron speed - 620 .
Also the same hdd connected thru usb to the new Imac : 51 MB/s (vs 620 MB/s laptops)
What is wrong ? 
Do you have synchron ? I'm interested to see some comparations...


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## holywilly (Dec 9, 2020)

I believe the Synchron player measure the random read speed instead of sequential read speed.


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## Adrian Stavian (Dec 9, 2020)

Could be, but the differences laptops vs imac are still ( 620 vs 176 )..


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## Virtuoso (Dec 9, 2020)

holywilly said:


> I believe the Synchron player measure the random read speed instead of sequential read speed.


This. You're not comparing like with like.

There is a huge difference between the 64k and 4k random speeds that Synchron measures, which are a reflection of how sample players stream relatively tiny sample files, and the contiguous GB reads and writes that Blackmagic measures, which are how large video files tend to be processed.

Here's a screen grab I just took from my RAID showing the vast difference between Synchron and Blackmagic:-


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## Adrian Stavian (Dec 9, 2020)

I understand that. I don't understand the differences laptop vs imac made just with synchron. Synchron on Laptop shows 620 , and on imac 176 . Could be Windows vs macos?


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## Adrian Stavian (Dec 9, 2020)

Also synchron ,the same 2'5 hdd connected directly thru usb - imac speed 51 MB/s , both laptops 620 MB/s


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## Virtuoso (Dec 9, 2020)

Can you post screenshots of your results?


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## Adrian Stavian (Dec 9, 2020)

I will post tomorrow. Maybe someone can help me to see what's the problem..or maybe mine has a problem...


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## Adrian Stavian (Dec 10, 2020)

Hi , 
Synchron & Blackmagic for Imac , Synchron + Samsung Magician for Lenovo. 
Looks like Lenovo shows much higher speeds in Synchron. 
I mean , usb connection from an external hdd is quicker than Owc Dock SSD or hdd - Thunderbolt on Imac 2020 ?
Also usb connection with the same external hdd on Lenovo is 622 MB/s and with Imac 51 MB/s ? 
Do I miss something ?


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## Adrian Stavian (Dec 10, 2020)

Hi, can someone please make some measurements with the new Imac ?


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## rmak (Dec 10, 2020)

Do you guys upgrade the ram through apple or purchase your own ram to put into the iMac? Does the make really matter for the ram? Thanks


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## JohnBMears (Dec 10, 2020)

What is the price tag on that machine?


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## jbuhler (Dec 10, 2020)

rmak said:


> Do you guys upgrade the ram through apple or purchase your own ram to put into the iMac? Does the make really matter for the ram? Thanks


Purchased the RAM from OWC.


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## jbuhler (Dec 10, 2020)

JohnBMears said:


> What is the price tag on that machine?


Mine was roughly $3400 with upgraded GPU and 1TB SSD. Then another $600 or so for the 128GB of RAM, if I recall right. So about $4000 altogether. Repurposed a bunch of stuff from an older iMac, so I didn't need to buy anything else to get it all running except a Tb2>TB3 adapter.


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## rmak (Dec 10, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> Mine was roughly $3400 with upgraded GPU and 1TB SSD. Then another $600 or so for the 128GB of RAM, if I recall right. So about $4000 altogether. Repurposed a bunch of stuff from an older iMac, so I didn't need to buy anything else to get it all running except a Tb2>TB3 adapter.


With the iMac transition to arm chips, did that influence your decision with the upgrade? Is there a reason you are sticking with apple?


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## jbuhler (Dec 10, 2020)

rmak said:


> With the iMac transition to arm chips, did that influence your decision with the upgrade? Is there a reason you are sticking with apple?


I would wait if you are reasonably happy with your set up. This was a university mandated purchase. I tried to postpone it but was turned down so I got the best I could get under the circumstances. 

The i9 is a very good machine. I have rarely heard its fan. My personal top of the line i7 2015 iMac had its fan coming on all the time. But it's surprising where I don't see performance boosts as well. FCP for instance. I assume that means my bottleneck lies in the drives I'm using. And Logic has also shown less impressive gains. Yes, the additional memory means I can load larger templates, and I can run at a lower buffer. But the performance of CPU intensive VIs like Symphonic Motions or CPU intensive effects plugins are not much improved, maybe because the clock speed of the individual cores is actually slower than what I have on the old iMac. Maybe single core performance is more important than number of cores. I know that's what many around here have been saying...

I'm sticking with Apple because I've been with Apple since 1986. All my software and knowledge is with Apple.


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## colony nofi (Dec 10, 2020)

Adrian Stavian said:


> Hi ,
> Synchron & Blackmagic for Imac , Synchron + Samsung Magician for Lenovo.
> Looks like Lenovo shows much higher speeds in Synchron.
> I mean , usb connection from an external hdd is quicker than Owc Dock SSD or hdd - Thunderbolt on Imac 2020 ?
> ...


Something is not sitting quite right here.

A couple of things. Thunderbolt vs USB 3.1 won't make any difference for a single SATA drive. SATA maxes out at 600MB/s. So that 622.5 speed measured is problematic, and I think is not correct.

What is the drive model that you are testing there? Is it this one :


https://www.seagate.com/www-content/datasheets/pdfs/barracuda-2-5-DS1907-3-2005GB-en_AU.pdf



The top results - showing 82 read and 73 write with 183 ramdom iops read look ok...1464 write iops look odd (I will need to double check why the write IOPS are an order of magnitude higher...)

The Synchron Speed test looks strange though. Those figures are NOT for any USB EXT HDD. 
Its impossible on two accounts. First, that HDD you point to maxes out at 140MB/s for read/write when using very large files. I would expect it to be around 40-50MB/s (estimated) for sample libraries.

They are also NOT for any SATA SSD - which will max out at 600MB/s, real world likely 550MB/s and expected speed for sample library data probably closer to 150 or so.

I say we start again and try keep the tests REALLY simple.

Pick one drive to test. Lets go with the 2TB 2.5" hard drive (spinning rust!)

Can you do a blackmagic speed test on the PC & Mac for that drive using the OWC dock?

If not - grab any usb 3.1 caddy and throw it in there. The caddy will not change the results for a HD.

THEN try it with a 2.5" SSD. (Again, SATA) and post those results.

We'll get to syncron later. Its not important right now.

Also - this has got in the way of a completely different post from the OP and is distracting. Can you start a new thread with all your data, and we can discuss there.


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## Adrian Stavian (Dec 25, 2020)

Thank you ! 
I started a new thread..





Imac 2020 vs Pc - Synchron speed comparation, please help!


Hi , I recently bought an Imac 2020, 3,8 ghz, 128 gb ram (owc). I noticed some low values on synchron speeds and did some test in comparation with my older Imac mid 2011 and 2 laptops (Lenovo P71 and a LENOVO Legion 5 15ARH05 . Looks like Lenovo shows much higher speeds in Synchron. I mean , usb...




vi-control.net


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## berto (Dec 27, 2020)

christopherharriso said:


> Hello All,
> 
> I got a 2020 iMac 8 core with 128GB RAM and it is RIPPING fast for cubase with a full orchestral template. I have literally all articulations loaded from Spitfire Symphony Orchestra and Solo Strings and it's not even sweating. Using about 65 gigs.
> 
> ...


what buffer size can you afford on that machine for live recording with some Virtual instruments and plugins already loaded? 
(i understand LogicPro, not Cubase but i guess it's almost the same lingo) 


Thanks

B


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## Antkn33 (Dec 27, 2020)

Are you all talking about the regular iMac, not the pro, correct?


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## rmak (Dec 27, 2020)

Antkn33 said:


> Are you all talking about the regular iMac, not the pro, correct?


yes I believe this post is referring to the iMac


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## ChrisHarrison (Jan 23, 2021)

Hey fellow computer nerds!

You guys have gone way deeper than I thought!

I've been using the imac2020 with 128 GB Ram daily for composition in Dorico (mostly orchestral scoring) and for some more contemporary music in Cubase. 

Haven't put it through the full test with my spitfire orchestra yet, but I just finished this large orchestra piece I'm working on and will be putting in into the mock up phase in cubase soon. I'll give you guys an update. 

As far as ram, I used OWC and it saved me so much money it's not even funny. 

I also bank with Chase and had a ton of points saved up that I was able to use on this computer, so that cut it down like a grand or so. 

All in all, this thing is a beast. 

I got the OWC thunderbolt 3express 4m2 that holds up to 16 TB. They can be cascaded too so I can expand if I need to. 

Just got a basic 1TB nVME SSD from OWC when i ordered it and it runs fast as hell.


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## Antkn33 (Jan 23, 2021)

🤤🤤🤤


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## storyteller (Jan 26, 2021)

Has anyone tried just running their samples off the internal drive in a large template? I have been a big proponent of separate drives from the system drive, and separate drives for orchestral sections to increase performance... but the speed of Apple’s internal ssd, and the price difference, I’m considering just getting the 8tb internal SSD and calling it a day... then using my external SSDs for other purposes. Thoughts?


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## synthnut1 (Jan 26, 2021)

I’m using an iMac.....I would NEVER consider just 1 internal drive...samples load so fast using external thunderbolt 3...anything goes wrong you can repair much more easily externally without involving the O.S.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Jan 26, 2021)

Yes, what if the drive dies?


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