iMac Pro vs Custom PC

andreigalvez51

Prominent
Dec 15, 2017
2
0
510
So my rich friend who is a music creator and a video editor wants to buy an iMac Pro. I told him that he should buy a Windows PC, it would probably outperform the overpriced tech. He then answered that he can't build a PC. So, I offered to build one for free, since he's my good friend and all. But he's still skeptical. I've shown him the hardware I've compiled at PC Part Picker. The thing outperforms the iMac in every criteria. But he said that he won't buy a custom PC because it doesn't have professional overview.

And here I am, I told him I'll post this in a number of forums and ask for their insight.

Here's the specs for the iMac:
2.3GHz 18-core Intel Xeon W processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.3GHz
128GB 2666MHz DDR4 ECC memory
4TB SSD
Radeon Pro Vega 64 with 16GB of HBM2 memory

With softwares of:
Final Cut Pro X; and
Logic Pro X

This all amounted to $14,860


Then here's the PC:
Intel - Core i9-7980XE 2.6GHz 18-Core Processor (4.20 GHz Max Turbo Frequency)
Asus - PRIME X299-DELUXE ATX LGA2066 Motherboard
Corsair - Vengeance LPX 128GB (8 x 16GB) DDR4-2666 Memory
2x Samsung - 960 Pro 2TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB SC Black Edition Video Card
Corsair - 1000W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Dell - UP3218K 31.5" 7680x4320 60Hz Monitor (8k)

The software includes:
Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit
Image Line - FL Studio 12 Producer Edition Software
Cyberlink - PowerDirector 14 Ultimate Suite Software

This even have a 1080p 60fps webcam, a very good UPS, great speakers, has a good wireless keyboard and mouse, a solid sound card, SIX FANS, and very good studio headphones.

AND IT ONLY COSTS $13,941! Not only is it cheaper, but more powerful!

I even thought about going full on ape$#!t and add another 1080 ti for SLI. But I think one is already overkill. I dunno, but I think I should switch the 1080 ti for a Titan Volta or a nice Quadro.

Is this comparison legitimate? Please leave answers below so he can see it. I don't know, is there a part where the iMac is superior or nah? I know for sure that the gigabit lan is what makes the iMac Pro on par with the PC I picked, but I guess it should not be such an issue right?

Oh and by the way, he is all good about the softwares, he says he actually prefers the FL Studio and Powerdirector 14 over the Final Cut Pro X and Logic Pro X. Says he's used to Windows UI too so it's fine.

Thank you and have a nice day!
 
Here is the list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i9-7980XE 2.6GHz 18-Core Processor ($1949.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H115i PRO 55.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME X299-DELUXE ATX LGA2066 Motherboard ($465.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($699.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 960 PRO 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($299.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung - 960 PRO 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($299.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Gold 12TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($489.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital - Gold 12TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($489.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: PNY - Quadro P6000 24GB Video Card ($4576.59 @ Amazon)
Case: be quiet! - Silent Base 800 (Orange) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair - 1000W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($229.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Dell - UP2718Q 27.0" 3840x2160 60Hz Monitor ($1658.20 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Dell - UP2718Q 27.0" 3840x2160 60Hz Monitor ($1658.20 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Logitech - G19s Wired Gaming Keyboard ($399.99 @ Amazon)
Other: Asus Essence STX II 7.1 Soundkarte (inkl. 7.1 Mehrkanal-Platine, Kopfhörer-Verstärker bis zu 600-ohm, 124dB (SNR), austauschbare Op-Amps) ($379.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $13857.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-28 03:50 EST-0500

You are correct for that budget he can lot more power as that Xeon CPU 18 core has only Turbo of 4.3GHz which is limited to single core. All core turbo will be around 3.7GHz but i9-7980XE can be overclocked all cores to 4.5GHz with ease.

Quadro P6000 is lot more powerful than Vega 64. One thing he can or you can do is give him GTX1080Ti/TITAN Xp both are equally priced and upgrade to Quadro V6000 when launched. Ask him if if he can increase his budget bit more by a year. If he is unable to increase his budget by that time give him P6000.
 
Solution
I am taking it that it is okay to be a bit subjective here. (As a broad classification, I speak as someone who uses a Hackintosh.)


First thoughts.

I would go with the Macintosh, because… .
• The OS is vastly superior. (This was true even before the Windows 10 nightmare.)
• The industry in which he is working has a strong Macintosh leaning (which I believe to be for good reasons, as opposed to historical inertia [noting that the latter is changing]).
• I was going to say that he should go with the Macintosh software, for reasons similar to the above, but then I noticed that he is okay with either; up to him, then.


Second thoughts.

• In the Macintosh world, professionals are complaining that, whereas the machine was fine for the money when it was new… a few years later they would have upgraded to a new video card that was twice as fast, and more RAM, and what-have-you… and the option simply was not there. Apple has strongly and explicitly said that it has taken on board this feedback, and is working on making a modular Mac Pro. Two problems. One: ominously, they understood the issue to be that of how to Apple-ize the thing (which will take them 6 to 9 months) (as opposed to just going with the given requirements). Two: presumably because they had been working on it for months, they brought out the iMac Pro (viz. non-modular) — the issue being that, if they had really been listening to their customers hard, they would have started on the modular Mac Pro a year or two earlier, and the iMac Pro would have never existed (not mention (as I have already) that it is not modular).

The theoretical ideal, then, would be that he did not want the machine until mid- to late-2018; in that case, we would see what Apple comes up with, with slots, and then compare apples with apples, so to speak. [Just quietly: I half expect that it will be a marvel of industrial design, and look spectacular, and concomitantly be compromised in functionality somehow; this is the Apple way (to which witness the Mac Pro and the iMac Pro).]

As for reality: I think the summary is that it comes down to superior OS/inferior hardware versus superior hardware/inferior OS. Simplistically — after checking whether the iMac Pro has adequate cooling — I suggest that you should look at what software any relevant others are using, and consider which you would prefer long-term, and buy on that basis, noting that the iMac Pro is not (internally) upgradeable and that Windows 10 can be your worst enemy. *Personally* (if I were rich enough!), I would buy the Apple machine, for the OS; you can add more and better hardware to the iMac Pro (or sell it and buy a new one in 3 years), but a Windows OS will always be ugly.


Notes

"professional overview"
This might be simple bias, but I would actually prefer a machine selected and assembled by someone who knew what they were doing.
! Cooling
I would also ask around, to see if the cooling in the iMac Pro is up to sustained hard work.
Monitor
• [I am somewhat well-informed on this topic.] For my money, I would never buy a Retina display; it fails to make sense to pay to literally not be able to see the pixels. (Don't underestimate your brain!) A 27" screen with (whatever it is) 6000x4500 pixels is no better than a 27" screen at 4k, if the point of the former is expressly that you can not see the pixels… and there is the fact that your expensive video card is working harder to drive those extra pixels. If the machine is for work, he is much better getting more screen area, for obvious reasons. I would not buy one myself, but I would not talk you out of a 27" 4k monitor; what I am against is cramming a 5k monitor into 27".
• AOC has just brought out a new-generation 31.5" 4k monitor (U3277PWQU); I lust after it. He would probably prefer to get a monitor with professional colour quality — the point being that you can now get that for half the money; monitor technology is changing, and it is worth being on top of that. Search RB-LED and GB-LED and RB-G, or just start here https://pcmonitors.info/articles/the-evolution-of-led-backlights/ . I think the iMac Pro has this well in hand.
Storage
• I am not expert here, but… I would suggest re-considering using a large SSD as your main working drive; I would suggest setting up a (relatively) smaller SSD as a boot and applications drive (unless your applications really do take up 3TB), and using HDDs for your documents. … But you should ask someone else about this.
• I suggest that it is a moot point, though; unqualifiedly, I would flag a maximum possible storage of 4TB as untenable, and infer that you would need to have external storage. (Do *not* make the mistake of thinking that that clean, simple Mac Pro will be the only computer equipment on your desk; you will have a Blu-Ray writer, and a USB/Thunderbolt multi-port adapter, and more than one storage unit, and a couple of devices that have not yet been invented.)
Blu-Ray
• I just thought I should flag this as a separate point.
ECC
• Note that the iMac Pro has ECC RAM. I believe this is half the speed of the same non-ECC. You should decide which you want. (I think offhand it is not trivial to get a PC with ECC RAM.)
AVX
• You might like to actually look into which AVX instructions you might want, just out of curiosity.
Spectre/Meltdown
• I feel obliged to mention that the recent CPU security issues could theoretically be relevant to this decision.
VR
• There is VR. Again, not my area of expertise.
 


As you have been working with Hackintosh is the new Mac OS compatible with Intel i9-7980XE and NVIDIA Quadro P6000
 


Keep in mind that Hackintosh is an emulator. It's not a substitute for a dedicated Mac. Even if the hardware matches spec for spec you still won't get the same processing performance as you would having the dedicated hardware. Things like software codecs, drivers, and other processor tunings are what will prevent it from behaving the same way that a dedicated Mac does.
 


Yes I get to a point where it is not perfect. But probably it will not work at all as I think(not sure) i9-7980XE and Quadro P6000 combo is not supported to create Hackintosh.
 


I look at it this way - if the software is made for a Mac, get the Mac. If it's made for Windows, get the PC. But I wouldn't get one and expect it to work as well on the other with an emulator.
 

Sorry; I have no idea about that specific hardware/software (although offhand I am leery of the Quadro bit). [I did not mean to suggest that I work professionally with the things.] You will have to ask on a Hackintosh site. Best wishes!