Has anyone tried 1600mhz memory in the new iMacs?

[sth]

I know the new iMacs only support DDR3@1333mhz officially but has anyone tried installing 1600mhz modules?

 

[Icy1007]

1600MHz modules should work as they work in the 2011 MacBook Pros which also have SandyBridge Processors. Though from what I've seen, they don't improve performance by much.

 

[sth]

Sure, the performance difference shouldn't be much, but given the fact that I can get 1600mhz modules for about the same price as 1333mhz ones, I'm thinking about going for the faster modules.

 

[seasurfer]

Can anyone here confirm that the 1600Mhz be used? I intend to buy it too.

 

[Benz63amg]

they CAN be used but the imac wont be using the extra speed as its not set to be using that speed, it uses 1333mhz

 

[Icy1007]

they CAN be used but the imac wont be using the extra speed as its not set to be using that speed, it uses 1333mhz

I'm almost 100% sure that the iMac would use them at 1600MHz. If you put 1600MHz DDR3 RAM into a 2011 MBP, it will run them at 1600MHz. So, I'm pretty sure the iMac will as well.

 

[Benz63amg]

how are u so sure when no one has tried? i mean it might but who knows..

 

[Codpeace]

For real, guys: no human would ever -- could ever -- notice the difference in use (i.e. not endlessly benchmarking for fun and excitement) even if there is a difference. Which would be surprising in itself...

 

[tsugaru]

For real, guys: no human would ever -- could ever -- notice the difference in use (i.e. not endlessly benchmarking for fun and excitement) even if there is a difference. Which would be surprising in itself...

No but there's still a slight boost. No different than myself using 1333MHz RAM in my 2009 iMac.

Anyways, back to the original post:

Core i7 2600
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52213

Intel says it will only use 1333MHz or 1066MHz RAM. You sure 1600MHz RAM will work properly in there (properly as in run at the full 1600MHz?)

 

[sth]

For real, guys: no human would ever -- could ever -- notice the difference in use (i.e. not endlessly benchmarking for fun and excitement) even if there is a difference. Which would be surprising in itself...

In daily usage, I agree: There is no way anyone could notice a difference.

But for stuff like video encoding, rendering etc., every second you can cut from the time it takes to do those tasks is good.

And since 1600mhz memory comes at about the same price as 1333mhz memory: Why not give it a try?

 

[Benz63amg]

No but there's still a slight boost. No different than myself using 1333MHz RAM in my 2009 iMac.

Anyways, back to the original post:

Core i7 2600
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52213

Intel says it will only use 1333MHz or 1066MHz RAM. You sure 1600MHz RAM will work properly in there (properly as in run at the full 1600MHz?)

i doubt it, intel doesnt officialy support so why are u looking for trouble?

 

[Codpeace]

In daily usage, I agree: There is no way anyone could notice a difference.

But for stuff like video encoding, rendering etc., every second you can cut from the time it takes to do those tasks is good.

And since 1600mhz memory comes at about the same price as 1333mhz memory: Why not give it a try?

That's a fair set of points, and I yield. After all, I will probably buy the i7 just to feel like I am getting/using the best and fastest -- and for what I do with computers, there is no way I would ever -- could ever -- notice a difference in its performance over an i5...!

 

[Sunday Ironfoot]

I'd put good money on that it won't run at 1600MHz, but will instead just down clock it to 1333MHz. But if it's the same price, then go for it, at least give it a try. It might even come in useful for a future upgrade when 1600MHz is supported

 

[Icy1007]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

For real, guys: no human would ever -- could ever -- notice the difference in use (i.e. not endlessly benchmarking for fun and excitement) even if there is a difference. Which would be surprising in itself...

No but there's still a slight boost. No different than myself using 1333MHz RAM in my 2009 iMac.

Anyways, back to the original post:

Core i7 2600
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52213

Intel says it will only use 1333MHz or 1066MHz RAM. You sure 1600MHz RAM will work properly in there (properly as in run at the full 1600MHz?)

Hmm, guess I'm wrong. I figured since the sandybridge mobile processors supported 1600MHz RAM the desktop models would also.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=50067

 

[sth]

WTF...!? The mobile CPUs support faster memory than the desktop versions?
How does that add up, Intel?