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Mac Mini with 16GB Memory - Any thoughts/experiences?

S

silverjam

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 25, 2012
121
2
I have heard a Mac Mini can handle 16GB Ram but I was wondering if anyone has tried it and what their thoughts are on brands, prices, deals and also if the 16GB was worth it? Is there really a difference between the el-cheapo on eBay and high-end Crucial or Kingston?

I am thinking of upping my 8GB in my Mac Mini Server 2Ghz Quad Core i7 w/ OCZ Agility III SSD to the 16GB chips. Anyone had any experience with the 16GB upgrade?

Also does anyone know what the dedicated memory is on the Intel HD Graphics 3000 when you have 16GB? I know the GPU memory is 512 MB when you have 8GB Ram but I am guessing that is maxed out and will still be 512 MB even with 16GB Ram?

Silver
 
Hey mate I Have a 2011 Mac Mini with 16GB and it is amazingly quick. I upgraded from 8gb too. I bought no name ram (TEAM) as I got it super cheap from work. I have never had any issues, and would compare it to Crucial quality as I have Crucial in my MBP.

:) hope that helps
 
To be honest, unless you know already that you need more than 8GB of ram, then you probably don't.

I upgraded from 8GB 1333MHz ram to 16GB of 1600MHz and I cannot tell the difference. I suspect you'd be wasting your money.
 
silverjam said:
Also does anyone know what the dedicated memory is on the Intel HD Graphics 3000 when you have 16GB? I know the GPU memory is 512 MB when you have 8GB Ram but I am guessing that is maxed out and will still be 512 MB even with 16GB Ram?

Silver
Click to expand...

What do you do with your Mac Mini that would necessitate more than 8GB of RAM? I am always running a virtual Machine on my Mac Mini and never need more than 8GB of RAM (I usually allot 2-3GB to the Virtual Machine depending on the OS). The remaining 4.5-5.5GB is plenty for Lion, Web browser, SQL client, iTunes, etc. I keep thinking I should upgrade because I can, but then I think I might as well wait until the 2012's since I really don't need 16GB....

And no, the max video RAM allocated for the HD3000 is 512mb. Once you hit 8GB, it won't allocate any additional if you go above 8GB of RAM (i.e. 12, 16, etc.).
 
paulrbeers said:
What do you do with your Mac Mini that would necessitate more than 8GB of RAM? I am always running a virtual Machine on my Mac Mini and never need more than 8GB of RAM (I usually allot 2-3GB to the Virtual Machine depending on the OS). The remaining 4.5-5.5GB is plenty for Lion, Web browser, SQL client, iTunes, etc. I keep thinking I should upgrade because I can, but then I think I might as well wait until the 2012's since I really don't need 16GB....

And no, the max video RAM allocated for the HD3000 is 512mb. Once you hit 8GB, it won't allocate any additional if you go above 8GB of RAM (i.e. 12, 16, etc.).
Click to expand...

I agree with @paulrbeers, but if you got this for very cheap value (or inexpensive, like New York Times said about new MBP with Retina) its valid, because when the RAM bus of 1600Mhz became obsolete, you would pay a high value.
 
Chippy99 said:
To be honest, unless you know already that you need more than 8GB of ram, then you probably don't.

I upgraded from 8GB 1333MHz ram to 16GB of 1600MHz and I cannot tell the difference. I suspect you'd be wasting your money.
Click to expand...
Are you sure you can upgrade from 1333MHz to 1600MHz RAM wise?
 
Liquinn said:
Are you sure you can upgrade from 1333MHz to 1600MHz RAM wise?
Click to expand...

Yup. Sandybridge chipsets auto configure the ram speed :)
w9h442.png
 
Last edited:
I went from 4 to 8gb and then 8 to 16gb. I also had an ssd installed. For the people who said that they don't notice any improvement, that's not the same case for me. Just depends on how you use your Mac.
 
Liquinn said:
What do you mean auto configures the ram speed?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I mean it auto configures the speed ;-)

(As opposed to going into the bios and set the speed yourself.)

You put faster ram in, it runs faster. Put slower ram in, it runs slower.
 
Any recommendations what memory to buy? I have tried corsair and was bad didn't pass memtest.

Same problem with Kingston hyperx.

2/2 memory was bad and I had to return it to amazon.
 
I bought this stuff:

f05d44.jpg


CMXS16GX3M2A1600C10

£95 quid from the BT shop if you are in the UK.

(Sorry for the size of the photo)
 
16 Gigs from G-Skill. Cheap. Got it but, really not needed for my needs on a MacMini 2011.
 

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Beware the Thunderbolt

silverjam said:
I have heard a Mac Mini can handle 16GB Ram but I was wondering if anyone has tried it and what their thoughts are on brands, prices, deals and also if the 16GB was worth it? Is there really a difference between the el-cheapo on eBay and high-end Crucial or Kingston?

I am thinking of upping my 8GB in my Mac Mini Server 2Ghz Quad Core i7 w/ OCZ Agility III SSD to the 16GB chips. Anyone had any experience with the 16GB upgrade?

Also does anyone know what the dedicated memory is on the Intel HD Graphics 3000 when you have 16GB? I know the GPU memory is 512 MB when you have 8GB Ram but I am guessing that is maxed out and will still be 512 MB even with 16GB Ram?

Silver
Click to expand...

On my 2011 mini server, I"m running the Thunderbolt display plus a 24-inch IPS HP display on the HDMI port. 16 GB of RAM induced the dreaded Thunderbolt display flicker, which was not improved by firmware updates to the display and Thunderbolt itself. Neither did swapping out the memoir from Corsair (a known defect in 8 GB chips) with Crucial. My solution was to drop the mini's RAM down to 12 GB. She runs beautifully, plus I can now upgrade my MBP to the same amount of RAM with the extra 8 GB chip.

You can search on Thunderbolt display flicker and discover a lot of people out there with the same problem. The mini + T-bolt display + 16 GB seems to be a bad combo. Other monitors, I'm not so sure - probably just fine though.
 
Hmmmm, thanks that's interesting. I had more or less ruled out the TB display as my next monitor on the grounds of price and lack of inputs. This doesn't help its cause either. I could probably downgrade to 8GB and not miss it, but that would seem rather backwards. I shall probably just get a Samsung monitor instead.
 
silverjam said:
I have heard a Mac Mini can handle 16GB Ram but I was wondering if anyone has tried it and what their thoughts are on brands, prices, deals and also if the 16GB was worth it? Is there really a difference between the el-cheapo on eBay and high-end Crucial or Kingston?
Click to expand...

I just set up a Mac Mini Server for my business, new out of the box. Fry's Electronics is selling 16GB of Crucial RAM (2 x 8GB) in a kit suitable for the Mini for $108. It runs fantastic. Installation took under a minute, obviously. Given the cost involved I wouldn't think twice about it -- just max out your RAM right away.
 
Mike Valmike said:
I just set up a Mac Mini Server for my business, new out of the box. Fry's Electronics is selling 16GB of Crucial RAM (2 x 8GB) in a kit suitable for the Mini for $108. It runs fantastic. Installation took under a minute, obviously. Given the cost involved I wouldn't think twice about it -- just max out your RAM right away.
Click to expand...

... other than the post 2 above yours! I'd think twice about that!
 
I have 16 GB in my 2011 mini and constantly find myself using over 8 GB. This is from running multiple Tecplot apps at once. Lots of data crunching. And various other things all at once. I would only recommend 16 GB if you open a lot of apps simultaneously.

Also I'm currently running dual 24" Samsung monitors flawlessly.

I'm a happy camper.
 
Just upgraded my Mini over the weekend to 16GB. Amazon had a Corsair kit for $92. First thing I did was use my new MSDN license to download Windows Server 2008 x64 and install that with Sharepoint Server 2010 for certification training. All in a Parallels VM. Runs like a charm, especially with my OWC SSD. :0
 
I went from 2gb to 16 on mine and it makes a world of difference. Have yet to see a beachball at all and everything is blazing fast. OSX is pretty thirsty when it comes to ram though, even if its not actually using all of it, it will allocate more than it needs

20120615-teyjud4acsjytqx21ta93jtktd.jpg
 
I bought a Mac Mini yesterday as I sold my MBP the same day. I'm basically using it now as a temp replacement until the rumored Mac Mini's are announced. Since I have a 45 day return window, I figured I'd be covered.

So, keeping in mind that I will be upgrading to the new Mini if/when it comes out should I invest in the 1600mhz RAM now?

I'm running 4GB and while it's miles better than the stock 2GB, I really could use more. (Happened to have some spare RAM lying around.)

Thanks!
 
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