# Anyone running LPX on an i9 8-core iMac?



## Bear Market (Feb 26, 2020)

I currently run LPX on a trash can with an upgraded 8-core Xeon processor (an E5-2667 v2 3.30GHz to be precise). I'm now finding myself in need of more CPU horsepower. 

I'm not interested in changing DAW but, alas, the new Mac Pro is way out of my price range and I don't have neither the balls nor nerves (or patience for that matter!) to go down the Hackintosh route. 

Is there anyone on here that runs LPX on an i9 8-core iMac? If so, how is it treating you? Any issues with throttling, fan noise, or what have you?

Based on various CPU comparison charts, the i9 9900K should blow my old Xeon out of the water, but I guess that is only the case under optimal conditions. I am hence interested in some real life experience, especially connected to LPX performance. 

Thanks!


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## Silence-is-Golden (Feb 26, 2020)

Bear Market said:


> I currently run LPX on a trash can with an upgraded 8-core Xeon processor (an E5-2667 v2 3.30GHz to be precise). I'm now finding myself in need of more CPU horsepower.
> 
> I'm not interested in changing DAW but, alas, the new Mac Pro is way out of my price range and I don't have neither the balls nor nerves (or patience for that matter!) to go down the Hackintosh route.
> 
> ...


using the model i9 (max iMac version of 2019 with base GPU) that you refer too, incl 64Gb of Ram.
Allthough I havent pushed it to its limits (lots of omni or u-he or so) I havent had heat/throttling issues with a decent ammount of tracks.
(But I havent had it in a warm summer as yet)

All in all for me it works fine. My various research also said it was a safe bet to go for. Trottling issues would be my main problem, since I don't like the fan background noise whilst wanting to make music.


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## Bear Market (Feb 26, 2020)

Silence-is-Golden said:


> using the model i9 (max iMac version of 2019 with base GPU) that you refer too, incl 64Gb of Ram.
> Allthough I havent pushed it to its limits (lots of omni or u-he or so) I havent had heat/throttling issues with a decent ammount of tracks.
> (But I havent had it in a warm summer as yet)
> 
> All in all for me it works fine. My various research also said it was a safe bet to go for. Trottling issues would be my main problem, since I don't like the fan background noise whilst wanting to make music.



Thanks for your reply! That sounds very encouraging indeed! May I ask what buffer size and buffer range you are using? How many processing threads have you allocated to LPX? 

For some reason, I have gotten better performance out of my Xeon when I only allocate 10-12 (of 16) threads to LPX.


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## Silence-is-Golden (Mar 1, 2020)

Bear Market said:


> Thanks for your reply! That sounds very encouraging indeed! May I ask what buffer size and buffer range you are using? How many processing threads have you allocated to LPX?
> 
> For some reason, I have gotten better performance out of my Xeon when I only allocate 10-12 (of 16) threads to LPX.


Apologies, never seen your reply. Buffer size is currently at 256 if I recall. due to renovation my iMac is being stored atm.


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## Alex Fraser (Mar 1, 2020)

It may only be a minor help, but with regard to fan noise, those on my 2011 imac only ever spin up when the room is warm (ie summer.)


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## gpax (Mar 1, 2020)

FWIW, my top-spec 2019, 9000k iMac apparently rivals, if not out-performs base iMac Pro specs from what I recall reading last year. Theoretical benchmarks are lost on me, I must confess, but this is the most robust setup I’ve had (relatively speaking) since the sweet-spot era of my 2008 Mac Pro. 

I’m not sure my real-world workflow represents anywhere near the benchmarks you would be considering, but I typically run between 40-50 tracks in LPX, mostly Kontakt, with combinations of keyswitch patches and single articulations. More recently, I’ve been using some BBCSO, hence the SA player as well. I was so accustomed to reaching a threshold with my prior iMac, that I still hold my breath if/when I increase my track count, but it’s not warranted. I keep throwing things at it, and still haven’t tapped half of its processing power. 

I can count about 6 - 8 times the fans have revved up. Even then, I’m thinking it was due to running tasks in the background, i.e., a web browser. The first fan noise I heard was in early December, while beta testing a library loaded into LPX. This, after countless, long-day sessions in LPX with no issues. This machine didn’t break a sweat back when I loaded the full BBCSO template (with several reverbs) that were causing others some grief.

At least right after its release last April/May, numerous sources I follow tested the 2019 9000k for any of the throttling issues that plagued prior iMacs. The consensus was that hardware/software changes have now resolved all this. My real-life observation is that all fan-revving incidents I have encountered have occurred since Catalina, the above seven-month period prior to that without a single incident. In fact, the first time the machine did this in December, I started looking around the house to decipher the source of a noise I couldn’t identify. 

In terms of performance, this iMac is vastly overlooked, if not underrepresented in threads I’ve followed here, though perhaps because of its modest i/o where some talk iMac Pro (and beyond). I’ve got the two USB-C/TB ports occupied with two generations of Blackmagic docks, for example, hence my options for expanding there are limited.


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## gst98 (Mar 1, 2020)

Just thought I would mention, it is exepected that Apple will be refreshing the iMac soon. We never know exaclty when they do, but it's not far off. 

And yes the iMac is by far the best value computer apple make. The screen it comes with you really can't get for less than $1000-1200 (most other 5k moniters don't even compare), let alone the rest of the computer that comes with it. It's the cheapest way to get 8 cores of Apple. biggest issue? it's not USB-C so the i/o is a bit dated in the Mac world, but this might not even bother you depending on what your use case is.

The thing that would put me off is knowing how great this iMac is, what is the new one gonna be like.


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## proxima (Mar 1, 2020)

gst98 said:


> And yes the iMac is by far the best value computer apple make. The screen it comes with you really can't get for less than $1000-1200 (most other 5k moniters don't even compare), let alone the rest of the computer that comes with it. It's the cheapest way to get 8 cores of Apple. biggest issue? it's not USB-C so the i/o is a bit dated in the Mac world, but this might not even bother you depending on what your use case is.


All modern imacs have 2 Thunderbolt/USB-C ports. They're the same 40 Gb/s that the Mac Pro's 4 ports are.


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## gst98 (Mar 1, 2020)

proxima said:


> All modern imacs have 2 Thunderbolt/USB-C ports. They're the same 40 Gb/s that the Mac Pro's 4 ports are.


ah okay I stand corrected. mines a few years old.


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## Bear Market (Mar 1, 2020)

Thanks everyone for your input, much appreciated!



gpax said:


> In terms of performance, this iMac is vastly overlooked, if not underrepresented in threads I’ve followed here, though perhaps because of its modest i/o where some talk iMac Pro (and beyond). I’ve got the two USB-C/TB ports occupied with two generations of Blackmagic docks, for example, hence my options for expanding there are limited.



Hmm, yes this is not perhaps optimal. Besides the usual dongles and peripherals, I'd like to have 2 additional screens (2K is sufficient), a Blackmagic Multidock (TB2), a TB2 audio interface, and UAD Satellite (TB2). Will the TB3 buses (or is there only one?) on the iMac be able to handle this you think?



gst98 said:


> The thing that would put me off is knowing how great this iMac is, what is the new one gonna be like.



Yes, I understand your point. But there will always be something better just around the corner. It is the nature of the "nextopia" we're living in.


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## gst98 (Mar 1, 2020)

Bear Market said:


> Thanks everyone for your input, much appreciated!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Sounds like you're going to pretty demanding on i/o. I have no idea what the situation on the TB imac is, but on the macbook pro's, each pair of ports (left and right), are exactly that - pairs. So my understanding is you can't have 2 monitors plugged in to the two ports on thr right; they have to be one on the left, and one on the right. You'd have to make dure the iMacs ones can support that. Other wise you'll need some external hubs to let you do this. 

For me, even with 4 TB3 ports I'm struggling.The best solution I've found is the hub apple sell, which is the Caldigit TS3 plus. seems to cover anything you can throw at it. The qustion I have, is I also use a UAD Octo, and I have no idea how much bandwidth it needs. it says it has to be TB3, which makes me qustion if these hubs will work wiht it.

And yeah I get what you mean about everything being round the corner, but this will be a new model, not a yearly refresh. The iMac has been the same since 2012, and then in 2015 they added retina screens. So this model is 8 years old, so presumably its gonna be big one.


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## Patrick.K (Mar 1, 2020)

Just for information ... I am working on an "Old" IMac 27 i5 Mid 2011 with 32 GB of Ram and 3 LaCie DDs.
I can say that this machine is of a reliability and endurance that always amaze me, including video editing in 4k, of course without too many effects and complex transitions, but it works really well.
I regret not having bought an I7 at the time, but as it was a birthday present, I made with it, and it is really a faithful work tool. But I do not surf the internet , and no games ... It is mainly used for music.
I have an orchestral template of 50 instances of Kontakt, with Logic Pro X and with large orchestral libraries and it works without problem. I hope it will hold a little longer, waiting for the release of the next Imac 27 to have at minus 64 GB or 128 GB of Ram.
Thank you Apple ... even if it's expensive, it's a sustainable investment.


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## Alex Fraser (Mar 1, 2020)

Patrick9152 said:


> Just for information ... I am working on an "Old" IMac 27 i5 Mid 2011 with 32 GB of Ram and 3 LaCie DDs.
> I can say that this machine is of a reliability and endurance that always amaze me, including video editing in 4k, of course without too many effects and complex transitions, but it works really well.
> I regret not having bought an I7 at the time, but as it was a birthday present, I made with it, and it is really a faithful work tool. But I do not surf the internet , and no games ... It is mainly used for music.
> I have an orchestral template of 50 instances of Kontakt, with Logic Pro X and with large orchestral libraries and it works without problem. I hope it will hold a little longer, waiting for the release of the next Imac 27 to have at minus 64 GB or 128 GB of Ram.
> Thank you Apple ... even if it's expensive, it's a sustainable investment.


Same machine right here. Still going strong, though I sense it won't be long before it's cut off from the latest Logic updates etc.

But, yes. iMacs = unreliable, yada yada.


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## ironbut (Mar 1, 2020)

I was a pretty early adopter of the i9 iMac and (coming from a 6 core 5,1) I couldn't be happier. 
Quiet and overkill for what I'm doing right now.
I believe this could be the last reasonably priced Mac that is fully upgradeable. 
So far I haven't seen replacement screens particular for this iMac for sale yet, but the other 5k 27 inch replacements are less than $500 plus 30 or 40 bucks for the adhesive kit. Of course, these only went on sale last summer (got mine in June 2019).


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## Patrick.K (Mar 2, 2020)

Alex Fraser said:


> But, yes. iMacs = unreliable, yada yada.


Hi Alex, Welcome to the "Club of old IMac's"...I feel less alone !
Seriously, this machine surprises me every day, and I pray that it will still resist planned obsolescence.
No USB 3, No SSD...Only USB 2 and Firewire 800 for HDD.
Stability is exemplary with High sierra, and Logic X is updated regularly. I am only afraid that the screen crashes, so I'm not forcing the brightness.
Of course I have to "Purge" the instances of Kontakt to manage the ram, but I realize that we can work comfortably with only 32 GB of ram. I wonder if we make better music with 200 tracks and 128 GB of memory ?.
I'm waiting to see what Apple will do with "non-Pro" IMacs.


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## jcrosby (Mar 2, 2020)

Although I'm running a 990k Hackintosh performance is basically the same between this and the iMac so this should give you a real world ballpark for Kontakt.

I had 190 Kontakts simultaneoulsy playing back 3 sustained notes. Patches ranged from Forzo and Novo, to Gravity, to Trailer Xpressions I & II, to Spitfire eDNA engine, (and a ton of other engines.)

The CPU hit in Logic hovered between 85-95%, not a single dropout or hiccup. Considering I can take this machine right to 100% CPU in the Logic benchmark before it taps out I'd imagine getting over 200 simultaneous Kontakt instances wouldn't be an issue.


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## Alex Fraser (Mar 2, 2020)

Patrick9152 said:


> Hi Alex, Welcome to the "Club of old IMac's"...I feel less alone !
> Seriously, this machine surprises me every day, and I pray that it will still resist planned obsolescence.
> No USB 3, No SSD...Only USB 2 and Firewire 800 for HDD.
> Stability is exemplary with High sierra, and Logic X is updated regularly. I am only afraid that the screen crashes, so I'm not forcing the brightness.
> ...


Do I get a membership card? 

I'm looking to upgrade soon, most likely a new iMac. This has certainly been the best machine I've owned. I've got some strange "coffee stains" on the screen, near the base. But they haven't expanded so I'm not too worried.

BTW - have you not got the twin first gen thunderbolt ports on the rear? I'm got 2, with an SSD hooked up to one. Maybe not cutting edge, but fast enough.


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## Patrick.K (Mar 2, 2020)

Alex Fraser said:


> Do I get a membership card?
> 
> I'm looking to upgrade soon, most likely a new iMac. This has certainly been the best machine I've owned. I've got some strange "coffee stains" on the screen, near the base. But they haven't expanded so I'm not too worried.
> 
> BTW - have you not got the twin first gen thunderbolt ports on the rear? I'm got 2, with an SSD hooked up to one. Maybe not cutting edge, but fast enough.



I have never used thunderbolt ports, it may be a mistake, because it is much faster than firewire 800 or usb, but it never bothered me.
I'm like you, I'm thinking to upgrade to the new IMacs, or I'm keeping mine 10 years longer 
I criticize Apple for always wanting to manufacture more and more thin, I think that it must have an influence on the reliability?. Older generations like ours are thicker, therefore dissipate heat better, so maybe to be more reliable than the current generations, but maybe I am wrong ?.


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## Alex Fraser (Mar 2, 2020)

Patrick9152 said:


> I have never used thunderbolt ports, it may be a mistake, because it is much faster than firewire 800 or usb, but it never bothered me.
> I'm like you, I'm thinking to upgrade to the new IMacs, or I'm keeping mine 10 years longer
> I criticize Apple for always wanting to manufacture more and more thin, I think that it must have an influence on the reliability?. Older generations like ours are thicker, therefore dissipate heat better, so maybe to be more reliable than the current generations, but maybe I am wrong ?.


I got this to keep the iMac in service a little longer:




It's gen 1 thunderbolt, but is fast enough for me for the time being.

As far as cooling goes, I'm pretty sure that Apple would have made the 2011 iMac thinner if it could have! For anyone not familiar with the machine, it has a CD/DVD burner built in. Remember those? That's how old we're talking..


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## Patrick.K (Mar 2, 2020)

The link does not work ?
I don't know what it is?


Alex Fraser said:


> I got this to keep the iMac in service a little longer:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




The link does not work ?
I don't know what it is?


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## Alex Fraser (Mar 2, 2020)

Patrick9152 said:


> The link does not work ?
> I don't know what it is?


It's a 500GB external SSD. USB 3 - but also with a gen 1 Thunderbolt option. Rare.


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## Patrick.K (Mar 2, 2020)

Alex Fraser said:


> It's a 500GB external SSD. USB 3 - but also with a gen 1 Thunderbolt option. Rare.



Thunderbolt 1 and SSD, yes it's rare. I'm interested but I don't have the model or the brand?


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## Alex Fraser (Mar 2, 2020)

"Transcend StoreJet 500 1TB Portable SSD"

Try this link:



or do an Amazon search.


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## Patrick.K (Mar 2, 2020)

Alex Fraser said:


> "Transcend StoreJet 500 1TB Portable SSD"
> 
> Try this link:
> 
> ...




Ah Ok ,
I had already seen it
thank you do much Alex


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## Bear Market (Mar 2, 2020)

Thanks everyone for chiming in!

I think my trash can has some mileage left in it, but it seems clear to me that an iMac (either the current i9 one, or a potential new model) will be the next step for me when the can craps out.


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## sourcefor (Mar 11, 2020)

I'm running on an i9 MacBook Pro 2019 and it usually works fine, but sometimes the I load up some samples and start working with them I get POPs, Clicks, Stuttering and SAMPLE RATE NOT RECOGNIZED! Other than that it works flawless!


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## Bear Market (Mar 11, 2020)

sourcefor said:


> I'm running on an i9 MacBook Pro 2019 and it usually works fine, but sometimes the I load up some samples and start working with them I get POPs, Clicks, Stuttering and SAMPLE RATE NOT RECOGNIZED! Other than that it works flawless!



Do you use a HDD or SSD for your samples? Also, what buffer size and process buffer range are you running in LPX? And what preload buffer size in Kontakt?


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## jcrosby (Mar 11, 2020)

sourcefor said:


> I'm running on an i9 MacBook Pro 2019 and it usually works fine, but sometimes the I load up some samples and start working with them I get POPs, Clicks, Stuttering and SAMPLE RATE NOT RECOGNIZED! Other than that it works flawless!


In kontakt or in your DAW?

And does that message also tell you it detects an _impossible_ Sample Rate?
(An arbitrary example would be 40,738.)

The _Sample Rate Not Recognized_ Error I've seen is related to the T2 chip bug Apple haven't fixed since 11/2018. It's plagued my MBP for 2 years now.


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## sourcefor (Mar 11, 2020)

Bear Market said:


> Do you use a HDD or SSD for your samples? Also, what buffer size and process buffer range are you running in LPX? And what preload buffer size in Kontakt?


SSD for Samples and Sessions, Buffer size 512/1024 mostly and most of my Kontakt Instruments are purged!


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## sourcefor (Mar 11, 2020)

jcrosby said:


> In kontakt or in your DAW?
> 
> And does that message also tell you it detects an _impossible_ Sample Rate?
> (An arbitrary example would be 40,738.)
> ...


Mostly just says 'Sample rate Not recognized , conflict between Logic and external device' even when I have none hooked up! I know the T2 is troublesome and have done so many things to try and make it work better but pop, pop clik clik away!!


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## sourcefor (Mar 11, 2020)

Bear Market said:


> Do you use a HDD or SSD for your samples? Also, what buffer size and process buffer range are you running in LPX? And what preload buffer size in Kontakt?


sorry preload buffer is 60 kb


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## Bear Market (Mar 11, 2020)

sourcefor said:


> SSD for Samples and Sessions, Buffer size 512/1024 mostly and most of my Kontakt Instruments are purged





sourcefor said:


> sorry preload buffer is 60 kb



Hmm, those appear to be pretty relaxed settings. Perhaps it is the T2 thing then, which I have to admit I know very little about. Sounds infuriating though!


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## Nate Johnson (Mar 12, 2020)

Man, I didn’t realize the T2 issue was a still a thing!


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