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Just bought 16GB RAM for my iMac...

Zealous

Zealous

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 1, 2010
27
0
Charleston, IL
First off - thanks for the interest! I do a lot of web design and play a lot of StarCraft2. I've come to the conclusion that 8GB of RAM just wasn't cutting it for my liking and decided to splurge and double it all at once to keep it all the same kind and size sticks.

The question is will the 16 GB of RAM really be that much more powerful?

Should I boot camp my system to get better results on StarCraft2 and access to Explorer for site checking (currently I have to get on my PC laptop)

What do you guys think? The RAM will be here on Friday.. I'm just so excited and want to know if it was worth it! lol. My iMac's specs are listed below.

(3.33GHz, 8GB [current] RAM, Intel Core 2 Duo, 21.5'' late 2009)
 
I don't know about the web design, but I don't think that it will change your gaming experience at all. Gaming really doesn't use a ton of memory, and more RAM isn't better unless it's being used.
 
Don't the applications, and a game is an application, need to be 64-bit to even take advantage of more than 2GB, which seems to be the limit for 32-bit applications?
 
simsaladimbamba said:
Does that mean 32-bit applications can take advantage of up to 3GB (more than 2GB) RAM or do you refer to Windows itself?
Click to expand...

Hmmm... I never thought of that. I was referring to Windows itself. However, after a half-ass Google attempt it seems that an application in itself can only take advantage of 2GB. Never knew this...
 
Zealous said:
First off - thanks for the interest! I do a lot of web design and play a lot of StarCraft2. I've come to the conclusion that 8GB of RAM just wasn't cutting it for my liking and decided to splurge and double it all at once to keep it all the same kind and size sticks.

The question is will the 16 GB of RAM really be that much more powerful?

Should I boot camp my system to get better results on StarCraft2 and access to Explorer for site checking (currently I have to get on my PC laptop)

What do you guys think? The RAM will be here on Friday.. I'm just so excited and want to know if it was worth it! lol. My iMac's specs are listed below.

(3.33GHz, 8GB [current] RAM, Intel Core 2 Duo, 21.5'' late 2009)
Click to expand...

I SOO think I played you lol in SC2
 
Probably won't see a whole lot of difference between 16GB and 8GB unless your doing something very out of the ordinary. By the way, try this RAM test me and some other people made up. It tests your RAM and processor to the MAX and pisses you off:

Select the finder, then hit Apple-Shift-A. Then press Apple-A then press Apple-O :p
 
mrsir2009 said:
Select the finder, then hit Apple-Shift-A. Then press Apple-A then press Apple-O :p
Click to expand...

I just did that, though it will only open the applications inside the Applications folder and not the applications inside the folders in the Application folder, and my 2.8 C2D with 4GB RAM made no fuzz and opened 46 applications without a hiccup, though having an SSD surely helps.
I still have 47% of my RAM free, but the heavy applications (MC, PS, C4D, AE) haven't opened yet.

Okay, opened those four too and I am down to 23% free RAM, but it still works.
 
Zealous said:
First off - thanks for the interest! I do a lot of web design and play a lot of StarCraft2. I've come to the conclusion that 8GB of RAM just wasn't cutting it for my liking and decided to splurge and double it all at once to keep it all the same kind and size sticks.

The question is will the 16 GB of RAM really be that much more powerful?
Click to expand...
Check your page outs to see if you need more RAM than you have. It is really down to how an individual uses his computer. The law of diminishing returns kicks in for almost everybody at some point!
 
More ram will help you preform better with multiple apps open like photoshop and dreamweaver, I'd recommend getting an SSD as well (but you'll need an external HDD to store your work, shouldn't be a problem as you have a desktop computer)
 
mrsir2009 said:
Probably won't see a whole lot of difference between 16GB and 8GB unless your doing something very out of the ordinary. By the way, try this RAM test me and some other people made up. It tests your RAM and processor to the MAX and pisses you off:

Select the finder, then hit Apple-Shift-A. Then press Apple-A then press Apple-O :p
Click to expand...

I just did that and it opened all of my folders that contain my apps... and my newest downloads that haven't been sorted yet. lol The test failed! :) I'm not pissed off.. but now i have to close like 15 finder windows. lol thanks man
 
Zealous said:
I just did that and it opened all of my folders that contain my apps... and my newest downloads that haven't been sorted yet. lol The test failed! :) I'm not pissed off.. but now i have to close like 15 finder windows. lol thanks man
Click to expand...

Did you press Cmd/Apple+Shift+A first to open a Finder window with the Applications folder?
If you did and you just have folders inside, you have "organised" your applications into folders I presume?

Ever heard of Alfred?
 
mrsir2009 said:
Oh, and to extend it press Apple-Shift-O, then Apple-A then Apple-O once your applications have all opened and your apps will party with your utilities!
Click to expand...

CMD/Apple+Shift+O opens the user's Document's folder, I think you are looking for CMD/Apple+Shift+U to open the Utilities folder.
 
My Follow-Up

I got the RAM! ...actually I got and installed the RAM a while ago now, but I've been running it to see if there was any noticeable difference. The sad truth is that no.. I didn't see any noticeable difference from the 8GB of RAM to the 16GB of RAM... but at least I can say that I have a iMac with 16GB of RAM and people will swoon! ><

StarCraft still runs around the same FPS as before.

I can run more of my Adobe Suite programs at once without any problems (which is a good thing)

As far as Gaming goes - I think that when/if I get the spare change I will just invest in building a old-school gaming PC for the sole purpose of SC2 (lol)

Thanks for all the posts! :)
 
I was unable to keep my 2010 iMac running stable with 16GB of G Skill DDR3-1333 RAM. Something definitely triggers the shutdowns, as I left it idle for about 10 days while on vacation and it stayed up the whole time. In normal use however, I would experience at least one shutdown a day. Taking out one of the 4GB G SKills and putting one of the original 2GB Hynix's in its place has been solid. It sucks that I have to do this, but 14GB is still pretty decent.
 
I added 8GB to my iMac and haven't used anymore than 1GB of it yet, always 7+ free.

SSD would be nice, but RAM was <$50.
 
Interesting thread.

2010 i3 4gb ram.

I have safari, xcode, itunes, and sometimes one more app open at a time. Should I got 4 to 8 or 4 to 12?
 
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