Benchmarks for iMac with unreleased Intel processor & Radeon Pro surface

AppleInsider · July 1, 2020 6:33PM

Alleged benchmark test results for an unreleased 2020 iMac with a currently nonexistent Intel Comet Lake chip have surfaced on Geekbench.

Credit: Apple

Although Apple announced a massive transition to Apple Silicon in its Macs at WWDC, it didn't reveal any new consumer-facing hardware. That's despite rumors that it would.

The Geekbench 5 report, first spotted by @_rogame, appear to show off an unreleased iMac machine with an Intel Core i9-10910 processor. Although benchmark specifications aren't always reliable, if legitimate, the specifications could hint at an impending refresh.

[Apple iMac 2020]

Intel Core i9-10910
1 Processor, 10 Cores, 20 Threads
GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 165 Stepping 5

AMD Radeon Pro 5300 Compute Engine
20 Compute Units
1.65GHz core clock
4GB VRAM

Apple Inc. Mac-CFF7D910A743CAAF AAPJ1851,1https://t.co/RLXyEapa4z pic.twitter.com/bjul5rnZq5
-- _rogame (@_rogame)
July 1, 2020

As far as processor specifications, the Intel chip sports a 10-core CPU and 20 threads and 20MB of L3 cache. According to the Benchmarks, it runs with a 3.6GHz base clock and a 4.7GHz boost clock. Compared to the Core i9-10900, the 10910 boasts a 28.6% higher base clock, Tom's Hardware notes.

The supposed unreleased Mac also packs a currently unannounced AMD Radeon Pro 5300 graphics card with a maximum clock speed of 1650MHz. That GPU could be a desktop version of AMD's Radeon Pro 5300M chip, released last year and included in the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

The device packs 32GB of 1333MHz DDR4 memory. Although that may sound improbable, current iMac devices released in 2019 clock in with the same RAM frequency.

Although Geekbench didn't list the thermal design power (TDP) of the chip, Tom's Hardware speculates that it could slot in as Intel's 95W processor this year.

Based on the specifications and other available information, it appears that the Intel Core i9-10910 is a chip custom-made for Apple and will likely remain an exclusive to the Cupertino tech giant. The custom chip would follow the mainstream Comet Lake processors released in 2020.

Although it isn't clear when a new iMac could be coming, previous rumors have suggested that it would feature "iPad Pro design language" and slimmer bezels, a T2 chip, and an AMD Navi GPU.

Well-connected TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously forecast that the smaller model would be the first get a refresh in 2020 with a new 24-inch iMac.

prismatics · July 1, 2020 6:59PM

Close but no cigar AMD Zen 2.

The 95W TDP are fake anyway (at full base speed comparable SKUs consume more like 200 W on the Windows machines, and macOS does not magically make the chip run cooler).
En plus, Apple can cool only 80 Watt continuously and I don't expect this to change. Look at how they murdered the MacBook Air cooling performance. So it is expected that there would be no improvement to last gen except for a few milliseconds when ramping up a workload.

notwichred · July 1, 2020 7:04PM

Didn’t they say at WWDC that there were new intel iMacs coming later this year?

chasm · July 1, 2020 7:05PM

While I’m not personally in the market for an iMac, my main hope for those buying one is that Apple finally removes the last vestiges of traditional hard drives from its lineup with this model. Fusion drives were a clever idea when they first arrived — nicely bridging the then-expensive costs of SSDs while balancing the benefits through intelligent management — the costs of SSD tech has come down to the point that the very notion of Apple offering a 5400RPM (!) hard drive as the main storage of a Fusion Drive in 2020 is nearly criminal in its cruelty to consumers on what is otherwise a very fast and capable machine.

canukstorm · July 1, 2020 7:14PM

notwichred said:

Didn’t they say at WWDC that there were new intel iMacs coming later this year?

Tim Cook said Apple has more Intel-based Macs in the pipeline. He didn't say when. But other well-known leakers have mentioned an updated iMac is imminent.

blastdoor · July 1, 2020 7:27PM

prismatics said:

Close but no cigar AMD Zen 2.

The 95W TDP are fake anyway (at full base speed comparable SKUs consume more like 200 W on the Windows machines, and macOS does not magically make the chip run cooler).
En plus, Apple can cool only 80 Watt continuously and I don't expect this to change. Look at how they murdered the MacBook Air cooling performance. So it is expected that there would be no improvement to last gen except for a few milliseconds when ramping up a workload.

Do you have a cite for the 80 Watt number? Is that for a 27" iMac?

Note that there's a difference between power consumed and heat dissipated. I believe the TDP number is *supposed* to be heat dissipated.

blastdoor · July 1, 2020 7:29PM

I'm hoping to get a price cut on the 8 core version of the iMac relative to the current model. That's really the main feature of Comet Lake (lower price). Otherwise it's essentially the same product as gen9.

So, lower price 8 core, Navi graphics, maybe better SSD options.

I'll take that as a good upgrade over my quad-core 4 GHz 2014 5k 27"

semajnollissor · July 1, 2020 7:33PM

Currently, 27” iMacs are listed as unavailable for pick up at my closest Apple store, and the expected delivery date for shipping for the highest end models is more than a month from now.

I’m hopeful that the limited availability is because new 27” models are eminent, but I know that it could just be a blip in the supply chain causing the issues.

anome · July 1, 2020 8:50PM

semajnollissor said:

Currently, 27” iMacs are listed as unavailable for pick up at my closest Apple store, and the expected delivery date for shipping for the highest end models is more than a month from now.

I’m hopeful that the limited availability is because new 27” models are eminent, but I know that it could just be a blip in the supply chain causing the issues.

Mine is saying delivery on 10th August. That's a Monday. Odd timing for an announcement - Macs are usually in the store day of announcement, but it could just be a placeholder. Or it might be "orders start now" and they have a few days before they start shipping.

Still, that kind of delay is very suggestive of a new release, rather than a supply chain glitch. We shall have to wait and see.

blastdoor · July 1, 2020 9:12PM

I found this:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201918

which, when combined with this:

https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/power/BTU_to_Watt.html

tells me that my 2014 27" iMac with quad core 4 GHz i7 consumes 288W at max CPU and, coincidentally, has a thermal output of 288W. (or maybe not so coincidentally -- it would seem that Apple is just converting watts to BTU/h in their table).

In any event.... this would make it seem like a 27" iMac can handle quite a bit more than 80 watts.

tht · July 1, 2020 11:42PM

blastdoor said:

I found this:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201918

which, when combined with this:

https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/power/BTU_to_Watt.html

tells me that my 2014 27" iMac with quad core 4 GHz i7 consumes 288W at max CPU and, coincidentally, has a thermal output of 288W. (or maybe not so coincidentally -- it would seem that Apple is just converting watts to BTU/h in their table).

In any event.... this would make it seem like a 27" iMac can handle quite a bit more than 80 watts.

The Apple support document is showing the total machine power draw and thermal output when the CPU is at idle and when the CPU at max. The small print says:

Power consumption data (watts) is measured from the wall power source and includes all power supply and system losses. Additional correction isn't needed.
CPU Max is defined as running a compute-intensive test application that maximizes processor usage and therefore power consumption.

This includes the display, GPU, memory, HDD, etc. I believe the recent iMac 5K models have a 300 W power supply, while some in the past were lower or higher depending on components of the era. The 288 W implies it has a 300 W power supply with about a 4% efficiency loss.

One of the big questions for a Comet Lake iMac 5K is how Apple is going to handle the 125W TDP and 250W turbo for the Core i9-10900K as well as a more performance GPU. Well, looks like they are getting a special binned part with lower power consumption, like 95W, with about 100 MHz less clock. Good trade if that's the case.

On the other hand, maybe the update is just an iMac Pro with Core processors and a silver finish?

blastdoor · July 1, 2020 11:56PM

tht said:

blastdoor said:

I found this:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201918

which, when combined with this:

https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/power/BTU_to_Watt.html

tells me that my 2014 27" iMac with quad core 4 GHz i7 consumes 288W at max CPU and, coincidentally, has a thermal output of 288W. (or maybe not so coincidentally -- it would seem that Apple is just converting watts to BTU/h in their table).

In any event.... this would make it seem like a 27" iMac can handle quite a bit more than 80 watts.

The Apple support document is showing the total machine power draw and thermal output when the CPU is at idle and when the CPU at max. The small print says:
Power consumption data (watts) is measured from the wall power source and includes all power supply and system losses. Additional correction isn't needed.
CPU Max is defined as running a compute-intensive test application that maximizes processor usage and therefore power consumption.
This includes the display, GPU, memory, HDD, etc. I believe the recent iMac 5K models have a 300 W power supply, while some in the past were lower or higher depending on components of the era. The 288 W implies it has a 300 W power supply with about a 4% efficiency loss.

One of the big questions for a Comet Lake iMac 5K is how Apple is going to handle the 125W TDP and 250W turbo for the Core i9-10900K as well as a more performance GPU. Well, looks like they are getting a special binned part with lower power consumption, like 95W, with about 100 MHz less clock. Good trade if that's the case.

On the other hand, maybe the update is just an iMac Pro with Core processors and a silver finish?

The iMac Pro can definitely handle more power/heat, but of course that cooling system adds cost AND prohibits user-upgradable RAM.

I'd rather just take the slightly slower CPU. Trading 100 MHz to get 30 Watts sounds like a win to me. Really, that 125W part is just a stunt chip to compete with AMD in benchmark bragging rights (and arguably Intel still loses).

entropys · July 2, 2020 12:24AM

On the other hand, maybe the update is just an iMac Pro with Core processors and a silver finish?

Not only helping any heat issues you have raised, but an additional selling point to minimise the Osborne Effect. and maybe as an extra sweetener it comes with more RAM out of the box. That geek bench ‘report' had 32GB.

frank777 · July 2, 2020 1:24AM

My guess is that anyone who wants or requires Boot Camp use for work will buy the last Intel iMac upgrade, and those of us who don't need it and can afford to wait will buy the Apple Silicon iMac upgrade in early 2021.

A form factor change may or may not come this summer, but I'd guess USB4 and Wi-Fi 6 will wait for the A-chip model.

MplsP · July 2, 2020 1:25AM

canukstorm said:

notwichred said:

Didn’t they say at WWDC that there were new intel iMacs coming later this year?

Tim Cook said Apple has more Intel-based Macs in the pipeline. He didn't say when. But other well-known leakers have mentioned an updated iMac is imminent.

If they are planning on completing the transition to Apple silicon within 2 years any new intel machines can’t be that far off.

Rayz2016 · July 2, 2020 4:37AM

frank777 said:

My guess is that anyone who wants or requires Boot Camp use for work will buy the last Intel iMac upgrade, and those of us who don't need it and can afford to wait will buy the Apple Silicon iMac upgrade in early 2021.

A form factor change may or may not come this summer, but I'd guess USB4 and Wi-Fi 6 will wait for the A-chip model.

Sounds sensible.

red oak · July 2, 2020 7:05AM

Intel is incapable of making a cooler running CPU. It is really sad what has happened to that once great company. These iMacs will serve as portable room heaters

Apple Silicon is going to use one half the energy (or better) with better performance.

rome2807 · July 2, 2020 9:56AM

Re: "The device packs 32GB of 1333MHz DDR4 memory. Although that may sound improbable, current iMac devices released in 2019 clock in with the same RAM frequency. "

The clue is in the different represenation. 1333MHz is the underlying clock rate of DDR4-2666 RAM which in turn has a transfer rate of 2666.67 MT/s . So Apple reports the transfer rate with the right number (rounded) but the wrong unit of measure. Geekbench reports the underlying clock rate which is 50% of the transfere rate number). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR4_SDRAM for a table with corresponding values:

From Apple system report -

...

BANK 0/ChannelA-DIMM0: [ of a total of four ]

...

Size: 16 GB

Type: DDR4

Speed: 2667 MHz

Status: OK

Manufacturer: Micron

...

vs geekbench

Memory Information

Size 64.00GB
Frequency 1333 MHz
Type DDR4

So while the alleged new iMac reported in the geekbench browser may be fake, the memory spec is plausible i.e. same as the current generation. Mainstream part, makes sense froma logistics and cost perspective.

mjtomlin · July 2, 2020 12:37PM

MplsP said:

canukstorm said:

notwichred said:

Didn’t they say at WWDC that there were new intel iMacs coming later this year?

Tim Cook said Apple has more Intel-based Macs in the pipeline. He didn't say when. But other well-known leakers have mentioned an updated iMac is imminent.

If they are planning on completing the transition to Apple silicon within 2 years any new intel machines can’t be that far off.

I believe that any new Intel Macs would be the Pros. The iMac Pro is overdue for an update.

MplsP · July 2, 2020 1:17PM

mjtomlin said:

MplsP said:

canukstorm said:

notwichred said:

Didn’t they say at WWDC that there were new intel iMacs coming later this year?

Tim Cook said Apple has more Intel-based Macs in the pipeline. He didn't say when. But other well-known leakers have mentioned an updated iMac is imminent.

If they are planning on completing the transition to Apple silicon within 2 years any new intel machines can’t be that far off.

I believe that any new Intel Macs would be the Pros. The iMac Pro is overdue for an update.

Yeah - i don't know if they would push out an intel iMac pro or if they would have it be one of the first 'apple silicon' machines to showcase the capabilities. I can see them doing both. From a software perspective the Mac Pro will probably be one of the last to switch over so it might make sense to keep the iMac pro on Intel longer as well.

johnbear · July 2, 2020 2:00PM

chasm said:

While I’m not personally in the market for an iMac, my main hope for those buying one is that Apple finally removes the last vestiges of traditional hard drives from its lineup with this model. Fusion drives were a clever idea when they first arrived — nicely bridging the then-expensive costs of SSDs while balancing the benefits through intelligent management — the costs of SSD tech has come down to the point that the very notion of Apple offering a 5400RPM (!) hard drive as the main storage of a Fusion Drive in 2020 is nearly criminal in its cruelty to consumers on what is otherwise a very fast and capable machine.

I would add here to the list the abominable 10-year old 720p webcam that the MacBook pros of 2020 are equipped with

Benchmarks for iMac with unreleased Intel processor & Radeon Pro surface

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