I would agree with you. My issue is Monterrey with XCode 13.2 those two combined changed everything. Previous version of Xcode 13.1 and previous version BigSur did not have this issue. I understand that I5 processor and i7 with 8GB or 16GB run other programs but my 2017 IMac was a quad-core. I am certain you had no more power than quad core either. The latest iMac I brought in for testing ran Monterrey and Xcode 13.2 easy, smooth, fast no issues no lag time no TIMEOUT. I can't be certain if it was lack of memory, lack of video I do feel like the new 6 core and 8 core had something to do with the performance. If you want to continue on a cheaper route I would downgrade OS to bigSur and downgrade to Xcode 13.1 and add more RAM to your iMac all that can be done just tedious and come back with your results. I just upgraded 2017 model iMac to 32GB of RAM and will test it and post my results. Hope this helps.