I have an iMac with 4GB RAM, an ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro with 256 MB and a 1,000GB HD (2nd upgrade from the original). Believe it or not, this was considered near state-of-the-art when I bought it 9 years ago. I’ve topped out at OS running El Capitan 10.12.6; the hardware won’t allow me to upgrade beyond that, Apple says. I only have room for a 24" screen in my cabinet/desk.
But SU and my 200MB model is stressing it to the breaking point, even with most items turned off in layers. It’s OK for zoomed in work, but zoom out to see the whole thing, and you could toast bread while waiting. At some point, I’ll want to animate a tour of my model too, as well as use layout perhaps (have to see how that plays on other computers).
I would LIKE this model to become the complete building, but that would mean a 4-6GB model. Even if I turned most layers off, is there any configuration of iMac that will realistically perform decently with that kind of model? I guess I’ll need flashdrive or some other high speed drive too.
OK, I want to get another iMac that I can also use for everything else, basically MS Office and Internet. Nothing else requires an upgrade.
Assuming money is no object - as long as it’s not a custom job into the 5 figures - but also assuming I don’t want to buy more than SU can use, or be anticipated to use in the next 5 years (I like to buy state-of-the-art every 5-10 years and then not have to worry about it again for that long), what do you recommend?