iMac 4k - PC Equivalent

jbrown832

jbrown832

jbrown832

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1 Mar 2014
Posts
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Hi,

I'm looking at a PC build for 4k video editing. Now the 'obvious' choice for editing would be the iMac but I don't want to pay extra for an Apple logo so what would be the PC equivalent?

The iMac specs I'm looking at:

3.1GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
8GB of onboard memory, configurable up to 16GB
1TB hard drive1
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6200
Retina 4K 4096x2304 P3 display

Coming in at £1,399

Would anyone be kind enough to throw together a similar machine? Preferably for a lower price.

Thanks
Jason
 
Anything with comparable display in pc-world costs more than imac. However, if you are happy to stick with sRGB display, then you can build a decent competitor by using 3840x2160 res 24-27" IPS scren.

The real issue with the mac is the sorry state of ssd/hdd pricing.
 
It would be ideal if Apple were to allow stripping the iMac of all its hardware save for the screen, selling it as barebones, and then use a cheaper and faster PC to run the iMac screen. But they aren't about to do that.

They'll also get the processors, drives, memory etc for peanuts with their vast bulk purchasing and then gouge the hell out of them for the customer.

At i5/8GB/one slow HDD level, price is competitive with similar PC hardware + comparable screen (because of the screen, as dlite points out). But moving beyond that, to i7/three SSD's (recommended for video editing set-up)/one large HDD for storage/16-32GB RAM, is where you'd see massive savings along the lines of £500+ along with even greater performance than could fit on an iMac.
 
Here is what ive got so far but not sure if you needa dedicated gpu, you could be served better by getting a cheaper 4k monitor and up the cpu to an I-7.

What software are you gonna use for video work ?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,161.81
(includes shipping: £15.90)
 
The 24" version (Dell P2415Q) of that monitor would save you £150.

You could get the i7 Broadwell CPU (the iMac you are looking at has the i5 Broadwell) with Iris Pro graphics. OcUK doesn't list it, unfortunately. Doing a search for "5775C" on the rainforest brings up some Retail (boxed including heatsink) i7-5775C's at sub-£350. These need Z97 or H97 motherboards. You really do want 8 threads minimum for the job.


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,012.58
(includes shipping: £14.70)
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And add the i7-5775C from somewhere else bringing total to around £1,350.

If you want cheaper than that, can sacrifice two sticks of RAM making it 16GB instead of 32GB, and/or go with one 500GB SSD instead of three 250GB's.

PSU has enough juice for if you add a good GPU, depending on whether your software would make good use of it.

Only issue is the monitor. It's not 10-bit and not full (or close to full) Adobe RGB but sRGB instead. If your camera is not 10-bit then this becomes pretty irrelevant. If it is, then it's a bit of a pity but can always purchase a better monitor in future I suppose.
 
I would not buy a 24" 4K IF you going to read any text on a browser etc.

Even on 27 4k is pretty small for me to read I can read it fine but t 3" less would be a struggle

Just want to pre warn you

IFC you can use windows textscaling...
 
Thanks for the heads up.

Having looked into it, I see windows 10 offers the scaling option which appears to work pretty well. In terms of applications Chrome doesn't seem to support 4k very well, but if must i'd switch to IE.

Also I'm not sure whether I'll be running Mac OS, would they be a better option for 4k support?
 
I have the P2415Q, the scaling in windows 10 is fine, I have it set to 175% and have no problems. Windows 10 copes with the scaling far better than 7.

Reading text is amazing compared to a 24" 1080p, just due to the sheer pixel density, I have it side by side with a 24" 1080p 144Hz monitor, and the difference in clarity is ridiculous.

The colour reproduction is great, my missus uses it for photo editing.

When gaming you don't even need any anti-aliasing turned on because the sharpness is so high already.
 
jbrown832 said:
Thanks for the replies.

I'm going to go ahead with that build Danny75
Click to expand...

Make sure you double-check the display connector options. For example, if you wanted/needed Display Port, I don't think that mobo brings any* so you'd want to swap it for another which does.

*OcUK website seems to be down so can't check just now.
 
Thanks DazQ87.

Just a question on the cables, I've looked into HDMI v Display port and they seem very similar with the HDMI 2.0 now released and being able transmit 60Hz and the bonus or carrying audio.

What's your preference
 
jbrown832 said:
I've looked into HDMI v Display port and they seem very similar with the HDMI 2.0 now released and being able transmit 60Hz and the bonus or carrying audio.
Click to expand...

Was able to check now and the motherboard in the spec has:

* Support for HDMI 1.4a version.
Click to expand...

Me, I'd probably get something with Display Port, even if as a back-up plan. Unfortunately the lowest-priced available with DP, whether micro-ATX or ATX, is £138.95. Seem to remember some cheaper MSI H97's that surprisingly came with DP but can't be sure. The nice thing about the Asus board though, is that you can update BIOS (if needed for Broadwell CPU to work, depending on manufacturing date of board) without a CPU needing to be installed.

And one other thing that stood out upon revising the spec is that faster memory will benefit the on-board graphics. Say 2133/2400MHz.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £269.43
(includes shipping: £10.50)
​


​
 
Should also add that the Broadwell i7 plan is based on (a) your request for a PC equivalent to the iMac i7 (the chip is identical or near-identical) and (b) the fact that Iris Pro on the Broadwell has 10-bit support and Skylake Iris does not (and only Quadros or Firepro discrete GPUs have 10-bit support so adding the latter would raise the total cost some).

If you aren't fussed about having that 10-bit capability on the CPU, then you could look at Skylake or X99 alternatives before pulling the trigger, as they would be faster at the job, particularly X99. You'd need a discrete GPU for X99.
 
Hey man thanks for taking the time to help out on this, much appreciated!

What faster CPU would you recommend? The idea behind using the same chip as the iMac is I know it's capable of handling Premiere Pro/After Effects/Da Vinci
 
X99 i7-5820K:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,496.77
(includes shipping: £15.90)
​


​

So price goes up, and note that this spec has 16GB RAM (with four extra slots to add more) not 32GB. Good cooler to get the most out of the 6 core chip (it brings no stock heatsink). And the cheapest discrete GPU with Display Port (plus 3 year warranty) I came across. Radeon not Nvidia, so OpenCL not Cuda (by most accounts - actual tests are sparse - OpenCL support and performance is now very close to Cuda's, and in any case CPU is still king, and more reliable, for video editing).


A Skylake option is interesting if keeping costs down is a must, as it comes out cheaper than Broadwell (if you don't count the aftermarket cooler and go for cheaper RAM than in the below spec), not to mention X99. You lose some graphics power compared to Broadwell in exchange for slightly faster processing power. From what I've read, this ends up 50/50-ish in creative applications, so it's a tough choice between Skylake and Broadwell. Unless you knew you'd be adding a discrete GPU later on, in which case Skylake is the better bet.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,370.57
(includes shipping: £14.70)
​


​


So to wrap up:

X99 best choice long-term but more expensive.
Broadwell best choice within budget if not adding discrete GPU.
Skylake best choice within budget if adding discrete GPU later.
 
Okay.. The MSI Radeon R7 360 doesn't appeal to be too much, if I'm buying a GPU I'd want a better spec and 4gb memory minimum for 4k editing.

I'm leaning toward the Skylake with either:
GTX760
GTX 960

Or if you could recommend another gpu card, ideally I want around the £150 mark
 
Or if I go AMD..

Radeon R9 Nitro 380
Radeon R9 380
Radeon R9 380 "DD Dual Fan"
Radeon R7 Nitro 370

I'm don't know a great deal about CUDA v OpenCL when it comes to Premiere.
 
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