Graphical Glitches Plaguing Some 2020 iMac Owners With Radeon Pro 5700 XT GPU

Apple in August refreshed the 2020 iMac lineup with a new 27-inch model that's equipped with 10th-generation Intel processors, more RAM, more SSD settings, and faster AMD GPUs.

imac 27 inch
Unfortunately, some new Mac owners have been running into problems with their machines and have been reporting ongoing glitching with the graphics. There's a 57-page thread on the MacRumors forums filled with complaints dating back to August, suggesting this is a problem that's been impacting ‌iMac‌ owners since the new Macs came out.


Based on a poll, a good number of ‌iMac‌ owners who have the higher-end 5700XT GPU are seeing a white horizontal line flicker across the display on occasion, but the problem does not seem to impact all users. MacRumors reader torifile describes the issue:

I got my 2020 iMac Thursday night. It's as fast as expected and gorgeous. Last night I thought I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a horizontal white line flash mid-way up the screen. It was really fleeting and I thought I was just seeing things. This morning, I saw the same thing. The computer isn't running hot or anything. iStat Menus has all the cores untaxed. I recall having this same problem with my MBP 13" (2019) with an earlier version of macOS (I can't remember if it was a late Mojave build or an early Catalina) and it was cleared up with a software update.

The white line described by those affected appears to flash across the screen at random intervals throughout the day, and there are some other seemingly related graphical issues that ‌iMac‌ owners have run into. Some users have reported being able to remedy the problem by choosing a scaled resolution other than the default, but that's not an ideal longterm solution.

It's not clear if the issue that ‌iMac‌ owners are experiencing is hardware or software based, but Apple has not yet implemented a fix for the problem.

Related Roundup: iMac
Buyer's Guide: iMac (Neutral)
Related Forum: iMac

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Production Will Reportedly Begin Ramping Up in October

Tuesday July 23, 2024 2:00 pm PDT by
Following nearly two years of rumors about a fourth-generation iPhone SE, The Information today reported that Apple suppliers are finally planning to begin ramping up mass production of the device in October of this year. If accurate, that timeframe would mean that the next iPhone SE would not be announced alongside the iPhone 16 series in September, as expected. Instead, the report...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature

iPhone 17 Lineup Specs Detail Display Upgrade and New High-End Model

Monday July 22, 2024 4:33 am PDT by
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Kuo: Ultra-Thin iPhone 17 to Feature A19 Chip, Single Rear Camera, Semi-Titanium Frame, and More

Wednesday July 24, 2024 9:06 am PDT by
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today shared alleged specifications for a new ultra-thin iPhone 17 model rumored to launch next year. Kuo expects the device to be equipped with a 6.6-inch display with a current-size Dynamic Island, a standard A19 chip rather than an A19 Pro chip, a single rear camera, and an Apple-designed 5G chip. He also expects the device to have a...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Less Than Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Thursday July 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
icloud private relay outage

iCloud Private Relay Experiencing Outage

Thursday July 25, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
Apple’s iCloud Private Relay service is down for some users, according to Apple’s System Status page. Apple says that the iCloud Private Relay service may be slow or unavailable. The outage started at 2:34 p.m. Eastern Time, but it does not appear to be affecting all iCloud users. Some impacted users are unable to browse the web without turning iCloud Private Relay off, while others are...

Top Rated Comments

AAPLGeek Avatar
50 months ago
Apple has already addressed this by updating the product page



Attachment Image
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
b656 Avatar
50 months ago
if only nVidia and Apple were friends...
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dinobear Avatar
50 months ago
How is this not apple's fault? They decided on the hardware, wrote the software, and built the machine. They are responsible for what is delivered as a final product.

If they can't figure out how to make existing architectures work in a form factor thats been around for 10 years, goodluck on thier new endevors ?

I love apple dont get me wrong, but they''re not perfect and they should be held accountable for thier mistakes.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Grohowiak Avatar
50 months ago
I wish MR would write a big piece on the 16" GPU issues.
Unless there was one but I don't recall.
Ultimately AMD drivers / hardware sucks lately.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
teagls Avatar
50 months ago

Good question, apparently it’s Apple? Based on what they say on their site.

But surely AMD give them a tonne of base code to work from.
It's Apple's fault. At the end of the day Apple is solely responsible for the development and release of it's drivers. AMD provides assistance, but Apple controls the whole thing.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AZREOSpecialist Avatar
50 months ago
Thank you Macrumors for writing about this!
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)