2020 iMac Benchmarks Surface Online [Updated]

Benchmarks from the new 2020 iMac have today been shared online by Mac Otakara.

The Geekbench benchmarks are from the newly-released 27-inch ‌iMac‌ with 3.0GHz Intel Core i5 processor and Radeon Pro 5300 graphics, compared to multiple specs of the previous 2019 ‌iMac‌.

The lowest spec 27-inch i5 ‌iMac‌ from 2020 performs about 20 percent better in multicore than the lowest spec 27-inch i5 ‌iMac‌ from 2019. Although the lowest spec 27-inch 2020 ‌iMac‌ has a Intel Core i5 3.1GHz processor, it seems to perform better than an equivalent Intel Core i5 3.7GHz model from 2019. This is likely thanks to new 10th-generation Intel Core processors, which Apple says offer up to 65 percent faster CPU performance.

The 3.1GHz ‌iMac‌ gave a Geekbench Single-Core Score of 1090 and a Multi-Core Score of 5688.

Graphics capability has been measured using Geekbench Compute benchmarks. Compared to the 3.0GHz Intel Core i5 2019 ‌iMac‌ with AMD Radeon Pro 570X graphics, the 2020 ‌iMac‌'s Radeon Pro 5300 performs about 40 percent better. The Radeon Pro 5300 does not surpass the performance of the 2019 ‌iMac‌ with AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 graphics, however. Apple states that the next-generation AMD Radeon Pro 5000 graphics deliver up to 55 percent faster performance than the previous generation.

GeekWebGuides reader Stefan tested the high-spec 2020 ‌iMac‌ with 3.8GHz 8-Core Processor with Turbo Boost up to 5.0GHz, giving a single-core score of 1141 and a multi-core score of 7006. This is approximately 36% higher than the equivalent chip from the previous generation.

Stefan also offered Blackmagic speed tests of the 3.8GHz ‌iMac‌'s SSD, giving write speeds of 1963.3 MB/s and read speeds of 2250.2 MB/s.

The new ‌iMac‌'s SSD is soldered to the motherboard and therefore is not user-replaceable, according to ifun.de. Previous iMacs have not been soldered in place, allowing for upgrade or replacement. Supposedly according to internally published technical information, the 2020 ‌iMac‌'s individual SSD modules are soldered directly onto the motherboard, similar to how storage in MacBooks have been soldered down for several years. As a result, the storage configuration at the point of purchase is fixed and cannot be changed afterwards.

New information regarding the new 27-inch ‌iMac‌'s redesigned microphone array has also emerged today. The new ‌iMac‌ apparently features two microphones installed in the lower area of the ‌iMac‌ behind the screen, as opposed to the single microphone on previous models. This allows the 2020 ‌iMac‌ to deliver what Apple calls "studio-quality audio."

The new 27-inch ‌iMac‌ was unveiled by Apple on Tuesday, with faster 10th-generation Intel Core processors, next-generation AMD graphics, up to 128GB of RAM, a higher-resolution 1080p front-facing FaceTime camera, a True Tone display with a nano-texture glass option, a T2 chip, higher fidelity speakers, and more.

Update 9:30 a.m.: A source with access to Apple's repair manuals tells GeekWebGuides that the SSD is in fact not soldered to the logic board but is connected to a proprietary Apple slot on the board.