iMac vs Mac Pro

Hi everyone,

I’ve been making big upgrades lately n seems my old iMac can’t handle my projects in Cubase7. With that said , I’m going to buy a new computer in approx 1 month. I need to be able to handle at least 40 tracks all mixed with audio , instrument and midi. I do my own mixing so each track needs atleast 4 plug ins x 40 tracks = 160 plug ins in a single project. I also rewire in Reason and Ableton live so I cant have any hiccups.

My dilemma is deciding between the Mac Pro vs iMac. It seems I can get more of a machine from the iMac than the Mac Pro. The iMac only supports Quad Core but turbo boost from 3.4ghz up to 3.9ghz and I can get 32gb ram for 3k.

Now for same cost ill be able to get a quad core Mac Pro only with 3.2 ghz and no turbo boost. This unit would only come with 8gb ram and no screen. If I want to match the power of the iMac, it will cost around 4k and this still doesn’t include a screen. They also offer the Mac Pro With 6 cores but the clock speed is now reduced to 2.6ghz range.

My question is faster clock speed better or is more cores with less clock speed better?

Does anyone know what the better machine will be or have any experience with either machine near these specs?

mac pro is very old tech and dog slow at this point
the imac is newer and faster

neither are best for cubase buy a windows system, get faster performance for less money

I appreciate your reply JCschild and do agree that the iMac would be the better option. im more looking to hear from someone that is currently operating Cubase7 off the Mac models im speaking off. And also wondering which between Core or Clock speed is the better item?

Im well aware of Windows being more affordable but money is no issue and rather invest into something that will last. Ive had my share of Windows computers in the past which were all perfect examples of “You get what you pay for.”

well then it seems you never bought the “right” windows systems and did get what you paid for…

that said a well built for audio system is still less than apple, far faster and newer.

as i said the imac is faster. its a 3770 Ivy Bridge fairly new but budget processor
the macpro is a much older processor like a 960

it takes a 6 core 3.33GHz 980 to match the 3700 in the imac.

The 5k I Mac with the i7 4 g turbo to 4.4 with 32 gig mem 4 gig vid is out performing the start of the range pro…
Do a serch on gee bench mark for Mac