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How much RAM is too much RAM?

O

orangejedi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 12, 2008
23
0
Hi, i have an iMac G5 (2.0ghz), with 1gb of memory. The iMac is running leopard, which i can't help but notice is running much slower than tiger. Is this just because the processor is too slow (among PPCs, i think it's still pretty formidable...), or would adding, say, a gigabyte of RAM help? I'm not sure at which point adding more RAM is useless due to the general speed of the rest of the computer.
Would appreciate advice,
thanks
 
I am going to echo the other users and say their is no such thing. You will see diminishing returns as you add more but it will never negatively affect your system performance because ram is not the bottle neck of your system
 
Lexoticstylez02 said:
Put the max RAM in that baby, RAM isn't that expensive these days. I recently bought 4GB for my iMac and it was only $67 from Crucial.
Click to expand...

Ha! Just did the same last night at $67 exactly with Crucial too, only except for my MBP. :D
 
Haha, really couldn't have said it better. I wish I could put more than 2 gbs in my mbp, but it only supports 2 slots. :-(
 
Add the extra 1GB!

orangejedi said:
Hi, i have an iMac G5 (2.0ghz), with 1gb of memory. The iMac is running leopard, which i can't help but notice is running much slower than tiger. Is this just because the processor is too slow (among PPCs, i think it's still pretty formidable...), or would adding, say, a gigabyte of RAM help? I'm not sure at which point adding more RAM is useless due to the general speed of the rest of the computer.
Would appreciate advice,
thanks
Click to expand...

I have the same system as you, and things definitely got better with the
extra 1GB (unfortunately, 2GB is the max on our systems).

Once I started running the 2GB environment, I started running more
programs. ;^) What I have found is that normal Leopard things (like
Dashboard, Spaces, etc.) when coupled with Word, Mail and Firefox started
to make my fans run more. Or, just running EyeTV with no other apps
would do the same thing. So while the extra RAM is helpful, it doesn't
seem to help in overall processing - after all, it's only 2GB shared among a
big OS and a bunch of apps, so there will be virtual memory hits. My guess
is that all the switching between apps (or video things with EyeTV) makes
the G5 work fairly hard.

When I reduce the number of apps, the fan does calm down after 5 minutes
or so, but it gets up to about 4400RPM and the temp to 145-150F.

So yes, get the extra 1GB, but watch your app mix, and you'll be quite a
bit happier.

Hope this helps . . .
 
thanks

Thanks for your advice, everyone!
I think i will upgrade to 2gb, especially if i can do it for less than $100!

so hey, you just may see some old imac ram on ebay soon!
 
Raptura said:
How much RAM is too much RAM?
This is off topic a bit.
But, if you're buying a Mac Pro 32GB is too much RAM. $10 000 dollars and a bit power drainer.
Click to expand...

You can actually get 32 gigs of ram for $1500-1800 from OWC. And, for the 2006 Mac Pro, 16 gigs of ram sets you back $450.

It's still overkill but you can never have too much ram, it's only beneficial to the user.
 
FF_productions said:
You can actually get 32 gigs of ram for $1500-1800 from OWC. And, for the 2006 Mac Pro, 16 gigs of ram sets you back $450.

It's still overkill but you can never have too much ram, it's only beneficial to the user.
Click to expand...

yes you can have too much ram. there is a point of diminsihing returns

if your usage doesnt create any page out with 2 gigs of ram, why on earth do you need 10 gigs?

at that point, its just wasting money

get more ram when your usage requires it
 
ZiggyPastorius said:
1 Terabyte.
Click to expand...

16TB

Apple-website said:
accommodate the enormous amounts of memory being added to advanced hardware, Snow Leopard extends the 64-bit technology in Mac OS X to support breakthrough amounts of RAM — up to a theoretical 16TB, or 500 times more than what is possible today. More RAM makes applications run faster, because more of their data can be kept in the very fast physical RAM instead of on the much slower hard disk.
Click to expand...
 
Well i know that, physically, too much ram won't hurt the system; my question was basically at what point it would make little or no difference to add more. i guess since the G5 ALS only supports 2gb anyway, it appearently would be a good idea to max it out.
 
2 or 2.5gb depending on which you have. With that little amount supported, max it out. Leopard averages 1.4GB of used ram doing normal web browsing and movie watching on mine.

512mb was okay for the day but it doesn't cut it anymore.
 
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