Core 2 Duo imac past it?

silvine

There's an 27 inch iMac 3 ghz core 2 duo on the refurb store I'm eyeing up for EUR1279. Only thing is I'm wondering if that processor is a little old, I mean they've been out for two or three years. I want it for light video gaming and some occasional video encoding/processing, media, the wbe and for the whopper screen. The I5 is a bit beyond my budget at the moment., it's going for EUR1529. Should I hold off a few months or look elsewhere? It will have to last minimum 24 months.

nesf

Gaming doesn't need an i5. It's nice but I sincerely doubt there'll be any game coming out in the next 2 years that a 3GHz Core 2 Duo couldn't handle. That said, an i5 will give better performance, especially with single core games.

Video encoding would benefit quite a bit from one but if you're not time constrained with respect to video editing then it's not really that big a deal, it's just a matter of getting the job done quicker with an i5 rather than not being able to handle the job with a Core 2 Duo.


Edit:

The bigger difference between the two machines will be in graphics card. For gaming purposes the graphics card attached to the i5 will be far superior.

Talisman

A friend bought that exact model (3GHz C2D) from the refurbished store the day after the new models came out - it is silver backed like the new models as opposed to the black plastic back on the previous generation. It runs a lot cooler than the previous model (early 2009, 2.93GHz) which he got last year. His justification for buying it was that it was almost half the price of what he paid for what was then a top of the line iMac and in a professional capacity he is never going to run software that requires the i5/i7 processor.

silvine

There's an Ati HD4670 256mb card in the core 2 duo. Will that card be up to scratch for long?

nesf

It should hold its own for a good while, depending on your type of game of course that while could be a year or two or many years.

Only at the highest graphics settings will it suffer over the next 2 years.

K.O.Kiki

Any 256mb dedicated card will do for Steam games -- just not at native resolutions AFAIK.

silvine

I rang up Apple in Cork and asked for an education discount. (I'm going to back to col this year). They gave it to me but didn't ask for any student details.

I bought an i3 27 inch iMac with 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD and an ATI 5670 256mb card. Total costs: €1556!

I couldn't believe it when he quoted that price to me. It's cheaper than any offers I've seen online on the education or refurb stores. It was still a little outside my budget but I figured the i3 is a happy medium between Core 2 Duo and i5 and worth stretching the bank balance for.

I also availed of the rebate offer for the free touch which I hope to sell. That should knock another €150 or so off that price tag if the sale goes well. I already have keyboard and mouse and plan to sell the my Magic Mouse and wireless keyboard which should mean more savings.

Considering I sold my old iMac for €850 upgrading should only cost me €350-500. Very happy with this.

The only disappointing thing? Buying an SSD drive directly off Apple is another €500 and from the reviews I've read the Apple SSD drives are low-end and from what I've read online it's quite difficult to manual install an SSD drive. Hopefully Compub or Mactivate will start rolling out these services in a few months.

If anyone is buying a mac in the next month or so I'd recommend ringing them in Cork and asking for the education discount.

Talisman

silvine wrote: »

The only disappointing thing? Buying an SSD drive directly off Apple is another €500 and from the reviews I've read the Apple SSD drives are low-end and from what I've read online it's quite difficult to manual install an SSD drive. Hopefully Compub or Mactivate will start rolling out these services in a few months.

If you don't order the SSD when you buy the computer from Apple then it doesn't come with the mounting to fit a SSD drive yourself later.

silvine

Yeah I know and that's why I'd rather get a professional to fit it rather than attempt it myself with parts from the net.