Can I run Smoke 2015 on this iMac?

[rubinworld]

Hello All,

Im getting a ton of differing opinions as to what I need to have to run Smoke 2015. Many people have said an iMac is just fine, others have said no way. If I had this system http://store.apple.com/us/product/FE089LL/A/refurbished-27-inch-imac-34ghz-quad-core-Intel-Core-i5

would Smoke run well on it? If not, do you have suggestions on what I'd need? Looking to get info beyond the specs and get the users opinion! Any info would help!

Thanks.

[BKM]

I would get a i7 imac. Yes Smoke would run on the one you posted, but not well.   Get as much RAM as you can, at least 16gigs. Thunderbolt storage will also be needed. 

I currently run Smoke on an i7 2011 Macbook Pro

[rubinworld]

Wow! Do you feel you're able to do what used to be done on an older Linux system? Will I feel and processing limitations moving to working on a good iMac? I'm really excited to try it but would hate to feel disappointed.

[BKM]

Yes, I would say that my MBP performs about the same as my ageing HP9400. Eventually with comples CFX batch trees and large format 4K media the i5- iMac will feel sluggish.  

Again, an iMac woudl work pretty well, but i'd use an i7 and make sure you have RAM and disk IO.

[truss7]

and whatever you do, go for a solid state system drive NOT a fusion drive. The fusion drives do not work well with smoke under mavericks. Still...

[robbie]

Brian,
Just curious. What Disk IO do you use when you travel with your MBP??
Thanks,

Robbie

[BKM]

I have a small Segate TB caddy. (3tb) Works well this prores and I sometimes use proxies with 4K footage. It's both the media drive and the Media Storage Location.

[chismoke]

I'm running my home system which I bought a few years ago on an iMac and it gets along quite well...but again, its a stand alone home system.

 2011 27inch iMac

 3.4 Ghz intel i7

 16 gigs memory (now 32)

 ADM Radeon graphics

 Lion 10.7.5

 Pegasus R6 12TB storage

I have since sent it to OWC for an upgrade in which they doubled the memory to 32 and installed one of their extreme 500gig SSD's.

It's made an incredible difference in the performance of the system especially when it comes to booting up/down, autosaves and jumping in and out of modules. So yes, as it's been stated, highly recommend beefed up RAM and especially the SSD drive.

based on some VERY unscientific tests, my home system seems overall snappier then my work system...

Mid 2012 MacPro

2x2.4 Ghz 6 core intel Zeon

32 gigs memory

Quadro 4000 graphics card

Proavio JS 316 32TB storage

Lion 10.8.5 

The test below was done before I did the upgrade to the iMac...

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/general-discussion/imac-vs-macpro-2k-4k-test/td-p/4978286

Anyway, hope any of this helps in your decision...