27" imac vs custom pc

david1701

david1701

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Hi all,

My mate is stuck between a base model 27" imac and a 1500 quid custom MATX rig with a pair of 22" panels. Both are similar in cost and he's a linux guy so can take or leave osx (dual booting is likely)

Does anyone feel like speccing 1500 quids worth of bits and comparing them to an imac?

David

ps particular purpose is 3d graphical design
 
I got the top end 27" iMac for £1538 inc vat. Surely it's the model to be comparing? To clarify, I did not opt to change any of the hardware, but its the top option in terms of default configuration.

G.
 
David- the custom pc will have more raw power, but then won't have mac os. You would be paying more for the design....
 
aligibbs said:
David- the custom pc will have more raw power, but then won't have mac os. You would be paying more for the design....
Click to expand...

kk, any details on the power front as we've specced up a few intel and amd options and the winners aren't that clear tbh

EdinburghGary said:
Apologies, I thought base model = bottom spec. My bad :D
Click to expand...

is all good, spent too long on the education store site the last few days, and I don't actually have this money yet :bang:
 
I had this exact dilema just before christmas and I opted for the PC route because of the additional power and processing ability.

I had a thread running on it with the specs of the machines and I ended up spending about £1500.00. The thread is here:

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=155026

Having used the PC for a while I am overall happy with the performance with a couple of minor exceptions.

I have used the motherboards RAID facility and have 3x 500gb drives configured in a RAID 5 array and because this is software based RAID through the motherboard it can be slow when you are moving around large numbers of big files. I have persevered with this because I know it gives me the added security that if a drive goes down then I have still not lost anything.

Secondly Photoshop CS3 and lightroom 2 are 32 bit applications and so can't utilise the additional RAM (12Gb) that I built into the machine. I am aware that there is a 64bit version of Photoshop CS4, however I have heard that there are a number of pluggin's from third parties that won't run on the 64bit version!

A lot of people argue that the sheer power of high spec PC's is advantageous over MACs but I often wonder whether OSX's platform doesn't need all that processing and RAM because it runs cleaner with no registry to clog up the machine over time. I also still browse the apple stores and wonder did I make the right choice - if nothing else they are achingly beautiful pieces of kit!!!!
 
27" iMAC

# 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
# 1TB Serial ATA Drive
# ATI Radeon HD 4670 256MB
# Apple Wireless Keyboard (British) and User's Guide (English)
# 8x double-layer SuperDrive
# Apple Magic Mouse

Summary
Purchase Information

*

£1,378.00
incl. VAT

Compared with the Studio XPS 8100, from £979 which beats all those specs above, and then put on 2x http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158908 £140 each.
Total Price: £1259 (possible reduction if you don't use vista and get a refund for it)
 
cheers guys keep this info coming :thumbs:

reiterating the linux thing he can cope without prettyness (and shuns how I lust for a sexy mpb lol)
 
very rough spec... minus a couple ancillerys and OS.. obviously things like the case and GFX can be downgraded/adjusted to suit.

Silverstone TJ08B MicroATX Aluminium Tower Case, Black w/o PSU £57.69

650W Corsair CMPSU-650TX, single 12V rail, energy efficient, quiet & cool, fully compatible £71.96

DFI JR X58-T3H6, Intel X58, Sok1366, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 1066/1333/1600, SATA 300, SATA RAID, mATX £129.45

6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3 Classic, DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 7-7-7-20, 1.65V £179.35

1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM £60.12

1GB XFX HD 5850 Black, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 4000MHz GDDR5, GPU 765MHz, 1440 Cores, DP/ 2x DL DVI-I/ HDMI £248.61

Intel i7 960, D0, S1366, Bloomfield, 3.20 GHz, QPI 4.8GT/s, 8MB Cache, OEM £445.28

Total Inc VAT and P&P

£1,203.54
 
From my experience, you get a better power to cost ratio with AMD/ATI.

I would probably build a rig with a Phenom II x4 processor and Sapphire ATI 5870 1GB Vapour X graphics card.

The problem with Mac, and what I have to explain to friends at the minute, is that you are paying for the brand. Just like Dell, you will pay over the odds for the parts you get through Apple.
 
Not just that, upgrade options are limited with a mac- especially an imac. With a pc, you can put 4 hard drives in (if you wanted...)
 
I hate saying this or even entertaining the idea, but I can't ignore it...there really is some hidden quality about the Imac. It's the same as the iPhone, just something that feels solid, slick and reliable (ok, maybe not physically solid, I'm looking at you, iPhone number 9)....

But anyway, there is. I love W7. I absolutely love OSX though. I feel with Windows at times, I need to check Tyre pressure, make sure the oil filters are regularly cleaned, I must give it a good valet every now and again just to wash away the dirt and debris of every day driving.... With OSX, I feel like my own personal team of mechanics and cleaners are hard at work behind the scenes, making sure every time I take the baby for a spin, it's good as new.

Yeah, I'm a complete dick. I do honestly now though have a strong urge to become a mac devotee...Windows is fading fast the more I use these apple thingies.

Gary.
 
Hate to point out- but this is for somebody that's not going to use Windows at all- but linux :)
 
neil_g said:
very rough spec... minus a couple ancillerys and OS.. obviously things like the case and GFX can be downgraded/adjusted to suit.

Silverstone TJ08B MicroATX Aluminium Tower Case, Black w/o PSU £57.69

650W Corsair CMPSU-650TX, single 12V rail, energy efficient, quiet & cool, fully compatible £71.96

DFI JR X58-T3H6, Intel X58, Sok1366, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 1066/1333/1600, SATA 300, SATA RAID, mATX £129.45

6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3 Classic, DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 7-7-7-20, 1.65V £179.35

1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM £60.12

1GB XFX HD 5850 Black, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 4000MHz GDDR5, GPU 765MHz, 1440 Cores, DP/ 2x DL DVI-I/ HDMI £248.61

Intel i7 960, D0, S1366, Bloomfield, 3.20 GHz, QPI 4.8GT/s, 8MB Cache, OEM £445.28

Total Inc VAT and P&P

£1,203.54
Click to expand...



Where did you price this? Especially the HDD...
 
just get the i7 920 - you can overclock it to 3.2ghz with a few minor tweeks.
 
The_Bulb said:
.......................
Secondly Photoshop CS3 and lightroom 2 are 32 bit applications and so can't utilise the additional RAM (12Gb) that I built into the machine. ..............QUOTE]

Lightroom comes with 32 and 64bit applications.
Click to expand...
 
I would go for AMD setup...
phenom II 965 + 4gb RAM (or more but dont think you will use it...)
5870 GPU but if you do not intend to play games 5770 would be suficient
with this money I would go for SSD for system and run programs ie PS4

maybe later I will see more or less how much the whole set up would be ;-)
 
supposedly nvidia gpu's are better for 3d stuff thant ati, not sure why though :D

he's following the thread and getting me to post stuff as he's not a member and not a tog either
 
david1701 said:
supposedly nvidia gpu's are better for 3d stuff thant ati, not sure why though :D

he's following the thread and getting me to post stuff as he's not a member and not a tog either
Click to expand...

...
as they say : when I would win 1mil on lottery I could afford Intel CPU and Nvidia GPU
haha
 
just read main thread and see that he needs micro ATX rig ?
 
bastic said:
...
as they say : when I would win 1mil on lottery I could afford Intel CPU and Nvidia GPU
haha
Click to expand...

bastad has the money I spent on cameras :p

bastic said:
just read main thread and see that he needs micro ATX rig ?
Click to expand...

yeah for neatness and smallness, not 100% how this tallies with twin panels though
 
I'd seriously look at the iMac, the screen on it is amazing (if glossy isn't an issue.)
 
alien is even bigger less subtle and more expensive

ruined my life when dell bought them, I stopped aspiring to one :(
 
Ive just made a setup...with 2x22" (dell ultrasharp) it came out £1,461.86 ...
forgot to mention that it does include SSD drive for system and apps...
 
bastic said:
Ive just made a setup...with 2x22" (dell ultrasharp) it came out £1,461.86 ...
forgot to mention that it does include SSD drive for system and apps...
Click to expand...

that sounds very very nice :D

any chance of a linky, or copy of the txt doc or however you work out systems?
 
ok here it goes :
Dell UltraSharp 2209WA 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor x2 = £507.98

Patriot Torqx 64GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (PFZ64GS25SSDR) = 154.99

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition 3.40GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail = £149.99

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5770 Vapor-X 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card = £131.99

Patrtiot G Series Sector 5 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C9 2000MHz Dual Channel (PGV34G2000ELK) = £115.98

Lian Li PC-V351R Case - Red = £106.98

Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD1001FALS) = £77.98

Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AMD 785G (Socket AM3) DDR3 microATX Motherboard = £76.99

Antec TruePower New Modular 550W Power Supply = £74.99

Corsair H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1156/1366/AM2/AM3) = £63.99


Total : £1,482.54

that was a quick setup.....almost sure that everything will fit in to this nice,red small LianLi case :nuts:



recently I bought same CPU...Simillar RAM( this one above can be quicker - mine is not slow doh haha ) and have same GPU.

I run my system on 24" @ 1900x1200 :) play games with high settings etc :)

it would be nice to have SSD drive as well ;D ....maybe one day haha
 
OP wanted small case....
I would go for normal one and normal MOBO not micro ;-)
I would choose this case linky
 
neil_g said:
dont get me wrong i love lian-li cases, ive got a PC-Q07 and a PC-C32B.. i just have too much stuff either side of my computers to have CD drawers ejecting lol :D
Click to expand...

hehe and I love mine antec p180 ;D

best case i ever had but with few bits inside it can get messy with cables inside :D

PLayed with my mates p182 and in it you can get cables in the back of mobo and makes more tidy :)
 
bastic said:
hehe and I love mine antec p180 ;D

best case i ever had but with few bits inside it can get messy with cables inside :D

PLayed with my mates p182 and in it you can get cables in the back of mobo and makes more tidy :)
Click to expand...

I (L) my 182, never get to use it though as I'm always moving :(
 
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