# 2020 iMac i7 or i9 for 200+ track orchestral/kontakt template?



## Gusteeno (Aug 1, 2021)

I'm currently looking to upgrade from a "mid-2017 3.4GHz i5 iMac 64gb RAM" to a 2020 iMac (not wanting to wait for the new iMac announcement). 

My question to all of you who have upgraded to the 2020 iMac is whether or not the i9 will allow for a more robust orchestral template (200+ tracks with Kontakt loaded on every track) than the i7? I will be maxing out the RAM at 128gb and upgrading to a 1TB SSD internally whichever CPU i choose.

On my current mid-2017 quad core i5 iMac w/ 64gb RAM I have my Ableton Live 10 template up to 200 tracks with Kontakt on each track (with every instance turned off until ready to use it) and yet I've already maxed out my RAM somehow at 60GB. I assumed having each Kontakt instance turned off would use no RAM but I guess thats not the case, unless its the number of tracks alone that is causing that. Not sure!

Anyway, I'd love to finish this epic template at about 250 tracks so I'm just hoping someone out there that also uses huge Orchestral/Kontakt templates on the 2020 iMac i7 or i9 can chime in and let me know what's possible and what would be too much for it to handle.

Thanks so much!


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## Justin L. Franks (Aug 1, 2021)

You're going to be spending well more than $3,000 ($2,500 + ~$700 for 4 sticks of 32GB RAM). The CPU upgrade is only $400. IMO, it would not make much sense to _not_ just go for the i9.


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## Gusteeno (Aug 1, 2021)

That makes total sense, and I would have the same thought process if it weren’t for reading comments of people worried of overheating/fan noise due to the extra two cores. So just hoping to hear from someone who has the i9 and can maybe weigh in on that being an issue or not, and if so, if it’s worth the extra power in cores.


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## jbuhler (Aug 1, 2021)

I’ve not had any issues with the fan on my 2020 i9. The fan comes on when rendering or transcoding video, and occasionally when bouncing audio but that’s about it. It’s much better than my 2015 i7 in that respect, and it renders and transcodes twice to three times faster than the i7. In terms of audio I’m mostly running sample libraries and I don’t put a heavy load on effects or run lots of cpu hungry synths, so the fan situation might be different in those cases. Whether you need the extra cores for audio work is a different question, and there are audio things my 2015 handles better, I presume because its clock speed is faster. But overall I’ve been very pleased with the i9.


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## Gusteeno (Aug 1, 2021)

Glad to hear you haven't had any fan issues. I'm definitely looking forward to the jump from the i5 like you made. I imagine it was quite a difference!


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## gisligaldur (Aug 9, 2021)

jbuhler said:


> I’ve not had any issues with the fan on my 2020 i9. The fan comes on when rendering or transcoding video, and occasionally when bouncing audio but that’s about it. It’s much better than my 2015 i7 in that respect, and it renders and transcodes twice to three times faster than the i7. In terms of audio I’m mostly running sample libraries and I don’t put a heavy load on effects or run lots of cpu hungry synths, so the fan situation might be different in those cases. Whether you need the extra cores for audio work is a different question, and there are audio things my 2015 handles better, I presume because its clock speed is faster. But overall I’ve been very pleased with the i9.


Can I ask you how you manage connections to the computer, especially regarding the one thunderbolt 3 lane? 

I am trying to figure this out and if I would run into troubles regarding bandwidth coming from a mac mini 2018 that has 2 tb3 lanes.

Thanks in advance : )


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## jbuhler (Aug 9, 2021)

gisligaldur said:


> Can I ask you how you manage connections to the computer, especially regarding the one thunderbolt 3 lane?
> 
> I am trying to figure this out and if I would run into troubles regarding bandwidth coming from a mac mini 2018 that has 2 tb3 lanes.
> 
> Thanks in advance : )


I have two USB-C/TB3 ports. One carries a daisy chained set of 2 Thunderbays with 8 SSDs, and a 2k monitor. The other carries a hub with additional USB3 ports, the audio interface, and another 2k monitor. In addition I have two powered USB3 hubs for 15 additional USB3 ports to the four that come with the iMac and 5 on the TB3 hub. I don’t have any issues with bandwidth bottlenecks on this system.


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## gisligaldur (Aug 9, 2021)

jbuhler said:


> I have two USB-C/TB3 ports. One carries a daisy chained set of 2 Thunderbays with 8 SSDs, and a 2k monitor. The other carries a hub with additional USB3 ports, the audio interface, and another 2k monitor. In addition I have two powered USB3 hubs for 15 additional USB3 ports to the four that come with the iMac and 5 on the TB3 hub. I don’t have any issues with bandwidth bottlenecks on this system.


Nice setup and great to know! 

Thanks for the information : )


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## A minor (Aug 9, 2021)

jbuhler said:


> I have two USB-C/TB3 ports. One carries a daisy chained set of 2 Thunderbays with 8 SSDs, and a 2k monitor. The other carries a hub with additional USB3 ports, the audio interface, and another 2k monitor. In addition I have two powered USB3 hubs for 15 additional USB3 ports to the four that come with the iMac and 5 on the TB3 hub. I don’t have any issues with bandwidth bottlenecks on this system.


It would be helpful to see a pic of all of that. Would you consider posting one? I would appreciate it.


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## jbuhler (Aug 9, 2021)

A minor said:


> It would be helpful to see a pic of all of that. Would you consider posting one? I would appreciate it.


I'm not even sure I can really capture it in a picture.





The desk is height adjustable. I would like to get the hubs underneath the desk to minimize cable clutter but that will take attaching a shelf under the back of the desk so the drives and hubs float with the desk height.


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## A minor (Aug 9, 2021)

jbuhler said:


> I'm not even sure I can really capture it in a picture.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you for the pic. Very busy desk. I need to do something. I'm using a 2015 iMac and just don't have enough USB3 ports. I need to start using a HUB. I don't think I've seen a USB3 hub like you have. Looks like you have ten ports there to use.


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## Justin L. Franks (Aug 9, 2021)

A minor said:


> Thank you for the pic. Very busy desk. I need to do something. I'm using a 2015 iMac and just don't have enough USB3 ports. I need to start using a HUB. I don't think I've seen a USB3 hub like you have. Looks like you have ten ports there to use.


Looks like an Anker hub. I have one of the 10-port ones too, but mine is black. Works great, and quite inexpensive.


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## jbuhler (Aug 9, 2021)

Justin L. Franks said:


> Looks like an Anker hub. I have one of the 10-port ones too, but mine is black. Works great, and quite inexpensive.


OWC, if I remember right. But there are lots of alternatives. I needed one that was TB2 compatible, which is how I ended up with this one. 


A minor said:


> Very busy desk.



Yup. That’s why I need to build the shelf to hold all the drives and eliminate a good deal of the cable clutter.


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