TEMPERATURES and FAN SPEEDS:
iMac 5K versus iMac 2.5K
Posted Friday, March 27th, 2015 by rob-ART morgan, mad scientist
Which runs hotter, the top iMac with Retina 5K Display or the previous top iMac? And how about fan speeds?
GRAPH LEGEND
iMac 5K = 'late 2014' iMac Retina 5K 4.0GHz Quad-Core i7; Radeon R9 M295X GPU
iMac 2.5K = 'late 2013' iMac 3.5GHz Quad-Core i7; GeForce GTX 780M GPU
Both iMacs were running OS X 10.10.2 Yosemite. HWMonitor version 6.14 was used to sample sensors. Room temperature was 71F.
UNiGiNE Heaven
We used this OpenGL benchmark stress the GPU, we ran the EXTREME HD preset. Temperature and fan speed were sampled at the 24th scene. (RED graph bar means HOTTEST temp or HIGHEST fan speed.)
MAXON Cinebench R15
To stress all CPU cores, we ran the Multi-Core render test. Just before the 3D Model was complete, we sampled temperature of the CPU and speed of the fan. (RED graph bar means HOTTEST temp or HIGHEST fan speed.)
INSIGHTS
The iMac 5K clearly runs hotter and the fan has to work harder.
As for noise levels, we don't have an industry standard acoustic lab, but using the iOS dB Meter Pro app and placing the iPhone 6 Plus on the base of the iMac 5K. we recorded a high of 55dB during the Heaven test and 56dB during the Cinebench test. By contrast, the 'late 2013' iMac measured a maximum of 48dB during both tests.
In defense of the iMac 5K, it is more powerful overall than the previous model and the fan noise is an unobtrusive, low frequency 'whooshing.'
To see how these two iMacs compare in performance, refer to other "iMac 5K versus others" articles on our INDEX page.
Comments? Suggestions? Feel free to email me,
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