Should I really upgrade the GPU on the iMac?

I'm going all out for the top of the line 27 inch iMac, and there is an option to either get the AMD Radeon HD 6970M 1GB GDDR5 or I can get the AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5 [Add $100.00].

By no means am I a gamer, much less a PC gamer, I do, however, do video editing for a YouTube channel, I would use iMovie or Final Cut Express 4.

My question is, would this be a worthwhile upgrade or should I just pocket the $100?

asked Jul 20 '11 at 21:12

PizzaFootbal
1●3●3●5

7 Answers:

oldest newest most voted

I would say go for it, as its only an extra $100 and it would probably prolong the life of your iMac a little longer. Even if you don't need the extra memory now, you MIGHT need it later :) When you are spending that much already on a new computer, an extra $100 is not a lot of money... :)

EDIT: Just don't buy extra ram via the Apple store, stick with the 4GB standard... Buy that elsewhere like Kingston or Crucials website for less than half the price of what Apple charges :)

answered Jul 20 '11 at 21:28

Lee Wood
2.4k●28●39●69

edited Jul 21 '11 at 09:41

A lot is two separate words. I would just edit it, but then you might never learn.

(Jul 21 '11 at 01:07) catchatyou

Sorry, my english isn't what it used to be!

(Jul 21 '11 at 09:41) Lee Wood

0	With video editing, you need more CPU than GPU. Unless you are doing something like after affects or motion, GPU is not needed as much. answered Jul 20 '11 at 21:15 kevin ♦♦ 35.7k●160●316●588 edited Jul 20 '11 at 21:37

0	For that use, no the extra graphics memory won't help you. answered Jul 20 '11 at 21:17 Peter Murphy 2.3k●26●37●57

0	Personally, I would upgrade the GPU, just because I would like a beast of a machine five years down the road. $100 isn't that much of a price to pay if you are serious about keeping your hardware up to date. answered Jul 21 '11 at 01:08 catchatyou 20.7k●89●165●383

Im sorry, but everyone here is just expressing opinion based on nothing. The real performance difference is nihil.(crunching power is almost the same) Check the benchmarks. Save the 100 and use it upgrade your gpu later. The 1gb version is a very decent card, and more then good enough for what you need it for now.

+1 for Kevin's comment. You will benefit more from upgrading cpu, thats where you "bottleneck" lies now.

answered Jul 21 '11 at 04:48

EmbraceAllTech
281●1●4●9

edited Jul 21 '11 at 04:49

You don't need to. I am a visual effects artist/compositor and I work with a whole range of software. I have the original 27" 2.8GHZ Quad Core i7 iMac with a 512mb HD4850 and that is plenty. GPU are constantly over rated. Get yourself some good RAM (12GB+), I have 16GB myself all purchased form Crucial (Apple is expensive for RAM). Y

answered Jul 21 '11 at 09:18

Fish
7.3k●109●144●215

0	That extra 1GB of vram will only benefit you for playing games across multiple screens, aka Eyefinity. answered Jul 21 '11 at 09:55 Billy Aoki 3.7k●27●37●78

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