In desperate need of help with my late 2012 iMac.

[streetfoldsfive]

So I have a late 2012 27" iMac. It has 8GB of RAM, a 2GB Graphics card, the i7, and a fusion drive. While it used to perform pretty well it has been letting me down lately. Boot times are pretty lengthy, and once it boots up it takes awhile to be usable. It also slows down when using Audacity, Gimp, Garage Band, or iMovie. Is there anyway to find the cause of these issues?

I was considering buying more RAM, would that help any of my issues? Can I buy 8GB more to make it 16 or should I buy a 16GB set. Thanks!

 

[bent christian]

Check the RAM pressure and how much is being used before considering buying more.

 

[MadDane]

So I have a late 2012 27" iMac. It has 8GB of RAM, a 2GB Graphics card, the i7, and a fusion drive. While it used to perform pretty well it has been letting me down lately. Boot times are pretty lengthy, and once it boots up it takes awhile to be usable. It also slows down when using Audacity, Gimp, Garage Band, or iMovie. Is there anyway to find the cause of these issues?

I was considering buying more RAM, would that help any of my issues? Can I buy 8GB more to make it 16 or should I buy a 16GB set. Thanks!

It sounds very similar to what my parents experienced with their late 2012 iMac with Fusion Drive. It turned out the HDD was dying. Is it the 1TB Fusion Drive you have in your machine? I exchanged the HDD with a 1TB SSD and it is flying now with 8GB RAM for their usage.

Another thing you could try is to format your Mac and reinstall everything. It might work if the issue is just something with the OS. The issue does not sound related to RAM from what I understand.

 

[streetfoldsfive]

It sounds very similar to what my parents experienced with their late 2012 iMac with Fusion Drive. It turned out the HDD was dying. Is it the 1TB Fusion Drive you have in your machine? I exchanged the HDD with a 1TB SSD and it is flying now with 8GB RAM for their usage.

Another thing you could try is to format your Mac and reinstall everything. It might work if the issue is just something with the OS. The issue does not sound related to RAM from what I understand.

I hope it isn't the harddrive as my apple care just ran out Anyway to tell? The tests all came back fine.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Slow boto times are usually a sign of a slow harddrive. Is your fusion drive almost full?

 

[MadDane]

I hope it isn't the harddrive as my apple care just ran out Anyway to tell? The tests all came back fine.

I haven't tried anything other than the Apple Hardware Test (I think that is still what it is called). But you could reinstall the OS and your applications and data and see if the problem persists. But it is also relevant what Train Esh Kelch suggested. How much space do you have left?

I have been lucky in the past with Apple fixing a broken iPhone past the warranty expired. Worst-case scenario you could try to call them or take it in and ask what they say. You might be lucky that they will look at it for you with no charge.

 

[maflynn]

See if the drive is full, and also check the SMART status to see if there's any flags being thrown.