01-30-2010, 06:09 PM

I own a 21.5 iMac with 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, and it is simply too slow for my needs (my first mac btw),

Is there any way to upgrade the processor through apple or a private technician?

Is there any free benchmark with reference to the "right" scores that my machine should bring up? (just to see if there's anything wrong with it)

01-30-2010, 06:28 PM

No, the iMacs CPU is not upgradable.

What are you doing on the iMac that the C2d 3.06Ghz CPU is not fast enough?

01-30-2010, 06:32 PM

Originally Posted by dtravis7

What are you doing on the iMac that the C2d 3.06Ghz CPU is not fast enough?

That's a very good question. A C2D 3.06 is a pretty solid processor which should suit the needs of at least 90% of computer users. For those it doesn't, they should probably be considering a Mac Pro or perhaps the quad-core i5 2.66 iMac (depending on your needs). What is it that you're doing with this machine?

01-30-2010, 06:36 PM

Well, that suck... I have it for only 2 weeks...
I produce music, and since it's my first mac I decided to make a safe buy for the possibility of going back to pc (was thinking of the i5/7). But still, compering to other macs I have worked with, it's not as fast as I think it should be, so I'm looking for a benchmark to compare my mac to others... A link would be good.

01-30-2010, 06:40 PM

Originally Posted by dcg234

But still, compering to other macs I have worked with...

What Macs were those though? There are more powerful Macs. What are the rest of your specs? What software are you using? What does a "daily setup" consist of (software and usage)?

01-30-2010, 07:14 PM

There is XBench. It's one of the few benchmarking utilities for OSX. I really do not trust it but many use it.

01-30-2010, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by vansmith

What Macs were those though? There are more powerful Macs. What are the rest of your specs? What software are you using? What does a "daily setup" consist of (software and usage)?

These were mac books I was playing with. It's hard to make an objective assumption, since the soft setup is different, so my subjective feeling is that the imac is not as fast.

It's the simplest iMac- 4GB memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M. I use logic 9 and some additional AU plugins. I also use a lot of Microsoft word documents, and some other softs such as VLC, Zipeg, Toast, Wiretap...

The computer reaches it's limits while working with Logic...

01-30-2010, 07:45 PM

That iMac is easily better than a MacBook. Comparing your iMac to the current MacBook, it is 800mhz faster, has twice as much memory and twice as much storage. Were you perhaps using a MacBook Pro? Even if you were using the best MBP, you still have more processing power, just as much memory and just as much storage. In that instance, it definitely won't be slower (although it may not seem much faster).

01-30-2010, 08:44 PM

So what is wrong?

I was trying to open the same logic project (using only processing tools without samples which means it would not use the hard drive or the RAM memory at all) and after reset I was able to play 19 channels while a white mac book with 2.4ghz core 2 duo and 4 ram was able to open 18.

Is that make sense that I have only %5 more on processing power?

Anyways, it's not as strong as I need it to be, and if there is no way to upgrade then craigslist is my only option....

01-30-2010, 10:15 PM

I don't pretend to know anything about Logic so I can't speak to the lack of "ability" you are seeing with it on your new machine. This is perhaps an issue with Logic and not your machine. As such, I will defer an answer for this to someone more knowledgeable with Logic. That said, you might want to consider contacting Apple or looking around the Apple discussion boards.

01-31-2010, 09:52 PM

OK- the benchmark Xbench looked ok, but logic gets the system overload warning even in the sample project that came with the logic - "the numbers game". /: That is after a restart and with no other additional plugins loaded into logic.

Where can I find forums that cover my issues?

01-31-2010, 10:08 PM

If you're overloading that iMac, I doubt anything but an 8 core MacPro Xeon would meet your requirements and then only maybe (and at a MUCH higher price point too).

02-01-2010, 12:19 AM

What I know about Logic is how to spell it, but has anybody asked the question "what else do you have running (on the iMac) while you're conducting this 'same logic project'?"

Further, what is this 'logic project", so that we might try to replicate with our resources what you're experiencing?

02-01-2010, 03:08 PM

I am seriously thinking something is wrong with the hardware or software...

This Logic Project I was talking about comes with the Logic 9 as a demo project.... so everyone should have it, and if it crashes Logic on a brand new iMac with a fresh install of OSX and after a restart (nothing else is running) - then something is wrong.

I'm not at home at the support hours of the apple's phone service, so if anyone know of any forum that can help it would be nice.

02-09-2010, 01:21 AM

From some weird reason the imac works fine right now... 5 times faster then before. I wonder what was that about...