32GB Ram Upgrade / 27" 5K 2019

[Ot51]

Hello,

I purchased a 27" 5K iMac this last week with the standard 8GB of Ram.

I have a 32 GB Ram kit to install. My question is, does the 8GB need to be removed?

It was my understanding when upgrading Ram it would be in order as 8, 16, 32, 64 and so forth.

I have read some folks are leaving the 8GB, adding 32GB and using 40.

Being this is a new Mac arriving next week I dont want to make any error and would also ask, should the upgrade (32GB) be installed prior to turning on the Mac for the first time?

Thank You greatly

 

[Riwam]

Hello,


It was my understanding when upgrading Ram it would be in order as 8, 16, 32, 64 and so forth.

Who told you that RAM must follow that order?
I cannot speak about your specific computer but my old Macbook 4.1 was delivered by Apple with 2 sticks of 1 GB RAM each back in 2008.
I upgraded it to 6 GB, (4+2).
AFAIK motherboards can be a reason to limit the quantity of RAM, for instance that old computer of mine did not accept 4+4 GB RAM.
Besides that hardware related limit specific to a computer model, I believe that more RAM, if accepted by the computer, is always better, provided that the added RAM is of the same type and not a slower one.
However some computers work slightly better with for instance 3 sticks (3 channels) instead of 4 depending on the architecture on which they are built but the improvements are almost not noticeable.

 

[Ot51]

Thank you. Appreciate your taking the time to reply. 👍

 

[Riwam]

You are most warmly welcome. As I see it, to help each other is the main purpose of this forum.
In any case if you have one day a problem with your new computer (which I hope never happens!) better bring your computer to AppleService with the original 8 GB RAM as bought. Although Apple does not build RAM, I heard Apple technicians argue that user bought RAM was not “entirely according to Apple’s specifications” which of course is nonsense if you buy RAM of the same type.
Another ”urban legend” in my humble opinion, but better not to give the technicians any pretext to put in doubt a legitimate claim of repair under warranty...