Can an iMac render?

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Can an iMac render?

I currently have a 4 year old iMac 27", only upgrade is the RAM (8GB). Last fall I started studying Digital Media (3D, VFX, Animation etc..) and I have had to study at home for a few months now. I don't do "insane" things yet, maybe compared to my fellow students I do but it's not that heavy yet. It will get a lot heavier thou. I use mainly Autodesk Maya, and I've had LOADS of problems when rendering. Even with the lowest settings! My iMac gets exptremely hot and if I render much more than once on low setting within an hour, especially after a few hours of work, the program just frezzez and I can't do anything so I have to "strangle" my com.

So, it's time to invest. Especially since I will be taking a year of just working on my portfolio in a few months time. I prefer working on a mac, I use PC's at college and I really just do not like them of several reasons. And they are at least as faulty as my old mac. So here is what I am considering:

27-inch iMac

Hardware

3.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
32GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4X8GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5

In other words an almost fully upgraded iMac. I've heard the NVIDA card is ok for 3D and the i7 will make it a lot smoother too, but I need to be certain this will do the job since it will be a pretty expensive investment for me. So, will this machine be able to render hig res pictures with final gather etc? I am gonna be doing the render in v-ray in the future to, can it handle that? And will it be able to render semi-heavy After Effects and NUKE projects without crashing? Is it worth buying for a beginner going into intermediate? Can it handle working in these programs for up to 16+ hours a day?

I don't have too many problems modeling, but the render is so incredibly vital to be able to make a proper portfolio. I hope you can help me make this decition, thanks 😉

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Mar 31, 2014 5:54 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

85,366 points

Mar 31, 2014 9:02 AM in response to Grubbe

Even your old iMac should render. If it gets extremely hot, check that your environment in your room is within parameters of the specs:

"Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)

Storage temperature: -13° to 113° F (-24° to 45° C)

Relative humidity: 0% to 90% noncondensing

Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet

Maximum storage altitude: 15,000 feet

Maximum shipping altitude: 35,000 feet"

And run the hardware test that comes with it. If you are getting four language screens telling you to restart, or the machine shuts down on its own, and the hardware test detects nothing, it could be the RAM is bad. And make sure the hard drive never gets over 85% full.

For fastest renderings, nothing beats a Mac Pro.

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Answer 2

Grubbe Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 31, 2014 9:42 AM in response to a brody

Hey, thank you for the reply!

I try to keep the room themperatur around 16-18*C cause it makes it easier to work for longer periods of time and reduces the chance of getting headaches (I find it so at least) and everything else should be within the parameters as well. When I started doing heavier projects around christmas I reformated it. And since then I've been storing everythin on an external harddish exept the files I'm working with, so I can't imagine that would be a problem. I guess I've just worned it down or something, but the rendering isn't exactly easy on the com 😉

But thanks for your comment, I'm afraid a Mac Pro is a bit out of my price range atm.

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