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Hello,
I have been using a 2007 MacPro for general recording and recently the hard drive died. I am considering purchasing either a late 2015 iMac Intel Core i7 (Skylake) 4Ghz quad core or the base model 2013 MacPro quad core. I am leaning towards the MacPro for its upgradability if my needs change in the future and the fact that its quiet as I will be recording in the same room. Although many reviews don't see that much of a speed difference between the iMac and MacPro quad when an app capable of accessing multi cores is tested(their advice: if you can only afford the quad core, get the iMac since you get a "stunning" monitor with it). I am planning to take on more film scoring projects and my orchestral works tend to have rather dense textures. Also planning on buying a few more orchestral libraries and Mach5. So, I would greatly appreciate any feedback or guidance as to which makes the most sense, given a budget around $2600. Thanks for your input.

The problem is your budget. $2600 does get you the base model nMP from the Refurb store but will it do what you need? 256k storage? You still need monitors and more storage. If using many VIs, more RAM will be needed.

The 27" iMac Retina is nice but $2600? Where do you find that? Like the nMP, you want as storage as you can get. 1T of Flash is really the minimum. You might be able to get away with a hybrid drive but those are not ideal for AV applications. Also, get an i7, the FPU makes certain DP functions a lot faster. Additional monitors, storage and RAM are doable but you have only one graphics card in an iMac as opposed to two in the new Mac Pro.

There are a number of threads on this subject. Also a number of pros who make their living doing what you want to do.

You do not need Thunderbolt monitors with either machine inexpensive TB-HDMI adapters exist and work quite well as does MDP-HDMI on the iMac.

If $2,600 is really a hard ceiling, consider a non-retina iMac or a later Mac Pro and build it up to your needs. Old threads on that, too.

Thanks Mike for that thorough reply. Good points to ponder. $2600 is not a hard ceiling but I did not consider a 1T flash drive. That raises the price substantially. I had planned on buying RAM from OWC and using my existing monitor with TB-HDMI adapter. I suppose that what led me into nMP territory was that I saw few on this site who were using iMacs, and as you said in a previous post, you want to be planning for what you may do in the future. Right now I don't have much work but I will look up those old posts on the subject for more guidance. Thanks again Mike for your time.

Here's one of those threads; a year old and still pertinent for the power hungry on a budget:

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... hilit=xeon

Compare 6,1 Quad nMP to 5,1 (or 4,1>5,1) Hex cMP in horsepower (Geekbench), then note the relative price.

Downside of of cMP: noisier, no Thunderbolt. Upside: PCIe, much lower cost

Thanks Marcus for the link to that thread. Another option I hadn't considered though I'm a bit hesitant to try that CPU upgrade myself.

Lane wrote:Thanks Marcus for the link to that thread. Another option I hadn't considered though I'm a bit hesitant to try that CPU upgrade myself.

Piece of cake for Single CPU 4,1 or 5,1 and Dual 5,1. Dual CPU 4,1 is a more challenging case.

Good to hear Markus. I'm off now to look for a 5,1. I suppose my older 2007 MacPro is not worth upgrading.

... and there goes another one. Awesome!

Kudos to Sir Markus the Great. Many owe their new-fangled performance figures to his initiative and generosity, IMHO.

Again, wuddun, matey.