Maxing out memory on iMac (2011)

[dearlaserworks]

I am thinking of getting 2 more 4 GB sticks (currently $57) to go to 16 GB total, but would love to get 2 8 GB sticks for a total 24. However, that's another $123 in cost over the 4 GB sticks. I'm sure the 16 total would give me enough to get away from that near max I hit now, and I should just keep an eye on my activity and reboot more, however, I hate the idea of spending the $57 now only to want to get the bigger sticks 6-12 months down the line.

Maybe I'll just wait and better manage the RAM and go with the larger sticks in a few months when prices come down a bit more.

Does this help? 16GB (2x8GB) for $100.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006DI9PG8

 

[smphoto74]

The iMacs do in fact support a max of 32GB. Apple only lists what they offer to put in as the max, as they did with the white macbook previously. It had the same chipset and CPU as the 13" MBP, yet they only listed it as capable of 4GB, which was clearly an understatement.



Not really, that's about the going price for 16GB in 4x4GB format. Not to say you got a bad deal, but it's nothing especially great. 32GB is where it gets expensive because you need 8GB modules which are $500-600 apiece.

I have 24GB's of Ram in my 3.1 and 3.4 iMacs. The 8GB sticks x 2 for 16GB I got on Amazon for $109 so for $218 you can net yourself 32GB of Ram in your iMac. Prices on Ram has come way down. Why didn't I go with 32GB's because I ran brought 3 iMacs in 2 months, upgraded 1 to 16GB and the other 2 to 24GB each and now I'm broke for a couple of weeks at least. lol.

My iMacs can use up all of the 24GB of ram meaning I will have to get more. lol. (I'm video editing and doing PS and LR all at the same time).

----------

Does this help? 16GB (2x8GB) for $100.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006DI9PG8

That's what I used and it works great in all 2 of my iMacs. I also use the 2x4GB in one other iMac without any issues.

 

[Ragweedd]

Memory iMac

I picked up 2 8 gig memory modules on Amazon for $75. I had 2 4 gig modules previously instaled, bringing my iMac to 24 gigs. Lion does recognize 24 gigs. While I rarely use more tha 5 gigs normaly performance is noticeably better with Parallels and windows 7 is definitely happier with more RAM ( running in Parallels ). My iMac is a Core i7 late 2011.

 

[12dylan34]

Not really, that's about the going price for 16GB in 4x4GB format. Not to say you got a bad deal, but it's nothing especially great. 32GB is where it gets expensive because you need 8GB modules which are $500-600 apiece.

A single Crucial (which is good memory) 8 GB stick costs around $80...

http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=2D783D19A5CA7304

----------

I have 8gb ram and I already find it aplenty. What exactly would one need 16gb+ of ram for?

Having tons of demanding application like Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, Cinema 4D, etc. open at the same time requires a lot of RAM. And it is sometimes completely necessary to have them open at the same time, in case, for example, you need to update a Photoshop layer that's being used in After Effects. It's nice if you don't have to close all of your other programs for one to be usable.

 

[tommyarmour]

does this help? 16gb (2x8gb) for $100.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/b006di9pg8

good find!!!!

 

[Orlandoech]

I have 32gb in my iMac then I sold 16gb of it as
It wasn't needed. But 16gb is cheap now. Roughly $100-$120

 

[bengie]

32gb ram not working

Hi !

I just upgraded with 32GB kpr (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3 10600 1333MHz RAM Memory SODIMM my 2011 i5 3,1Ghz 27inch imac unfortunately its not working with it.
Im really pissedoff
The tipical gray screen appears wich says i have to restart the computer.
Any suggestion?
Thanks

slac

 

[Nightarchaon]

Hi !

I just upgraded with 32GB kpr (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3 10600 1333MHz RAM Memory SODIMM my 2011 i5 3,1Ghz 27inch imac unfortunately its not working with it.
Im really pissedoff
The tipical gray screen appears wich says i have to restart the computer.
Any suggestion?
Thanks

slac

Looks like you have two options.

Learn the lesson that apple say 16gb is the MAX for a reason, and get yourself 4x4gb sticks.

Or,

Keep trying different brands of 8gb sticks until your lucky and hit on a combination that work. or until you fry your iMac

you ignore the manual, your takes your chances, i saw this in 08 with the old style macbook pros, some would take 6gb, others 4gb, no way of knowing until you tried, seems there was subtle differences to the hardware, even though the models were supposedly identical.

 

[bengie]

Looks like you have two options.

Learn the lesson that apple say 16gb is the MAX for a reason, and get yourself 4x4gb sticks.

Or,

Keep trying different brands of 8gb sticks until your lucky and hit on a combination that work. or until you fry your iMac

you ignore the manual, your takes your chances, i saw this in 08 with the old style macbook pros, some would take 6gb, others 4gb, no way of knowing until you tried, seems there was subtle differences to the hardware, even though the models were supposedly identical.

i have an app. called mactracker wich says that this relase can handle 32gb-s of ram and owc http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/iMac also has an offer for 32gb-s of ram

 

[talmy]

i have an app. called mactracker wich says that this relase can handle 32gb-s of ram and owc http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/iMac also has an offer for 32gb-s of ram

But where did you get the RAM? Is it RAM that has been verified to work in the iMac?

 

[MattZani]

What does an iMac come with stock? 2x2Gb sticks? 1x4Gb?

 

[Lancer]

What does an iMac come with stock? 2x2Gb sticks? 1x4Gb?

Currently the 2011 iMac has 4 slots, it uses 2x 2Gb so 2 slots are free. Also IF you upgrade the RAM from Apple it's nice to know they put in 2x 4Gb, so 2 slots are still left free.

Now a couple of questions, some suggested here that you need all 4 slots in use to make full use of all the core on the quad core iMac's, how does this work? If it's true.

BTW I'm hoping the 2012 iMac update includes more RAM, at least on the 27" models should have 8Gb IMO and officially support 32Gb total. I'm looking at running 16Gb at some point.

 

[philipma1957]

Hi !

I just upgraded with 32GB kpr (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3 10600 1333MHz RAM Memory SODIMM my 2011 i5 3,1Ghz 27inch imac unfortunately its not working with it.
Im really pissedoff
The tipical gray screen appears wich says i have to restart the computer.
Any suggestion?
Thanks

slac

not to be rude but the advice that has been given to you is pretty much worthless.



2011 machines will use 4 sticks of 8gb ram.


you may have 1 bad stick. or 2 bad sticks or even 3 bad sticks of ram.

worse you may have 1 bad slot. but if all the slots are good and all the sticks are good the machine will run 32gb ram.





do this procedure to find out if you have a bad stick.


use 1 stick in 1 slot boot machine see what happens.


if it works .


download this program it is free and it is for testing ram.



http://www.kelleycomputing.net:16080/rember/

________________________________________________________

pick all ram to be tested and do 2 passes. takes a long time

_________________________________________________________


if the stick passes put it aside pick the next stick and use it in the same slot. repeat .

if it passes do the third stick. if it passes do the fourth stick.

if all four sticks pass in the first slot. pick any 2 sticks and do the 1st and second slot.

I have put hundreds of sticks in hundreds of machines.

The method above will be helpful if you have a bad stick. Or 2 bad sticks.



I am hoping that you just have 1 bad stick and you can use 3 at 8gb total 24gb.

 

[TVreporter]

Just a quick question about installing memory - I have 2 2G and 2 4GB... they are showing up opposite diagonally in the About This Mac Memory. Is that OK? It says all memory slots are currently in use.

 

[bengie]

not to be rude but the advice that has been given to you is pretty much worthless.



2011 machines will use 4 sticks of 8gb ram.


you may have 1 bad stick. or 2 bad sticks or even 3 bad sticks of ram.

worse you may have 1 bad slot. but if all the slots are good and all the sticks are good the machine will run 32gb ram.





do this procedure to find out if you have a bad stick.


use 1 stick in 1 slot boot machine see what happens.


if it works .


download this program it is free and it is for testing ram.



http://www.kelleycomputing.net:16080/rember/

________________________________________________________

pick all ram to be tested and do 2 passes. takes a long time

_________________________________________________________


if the stick passes put it aside pick the next stick and use it in the same slot. repeat .

if it passes do the third stick. if it passes do the fourth stick.

if all four sticks pass in the first slot. pick any 2 sticks and do the 1st and second slot.

I have put hundreds of sticks in hundreds of machines.

The method above will be helpful if you have a bad stick. Or 2 bad sticks.



I am hoping that you just have 1 bad stick and you can use 3 at 8gb total 24gb.

thanks for your answer.
I alredy sent it back.
Of course i dont want to fry my mac. i bought 32gb of ram because i read that it can handle it.
And its quite funny that a 64 bit system cannot handle 32 gb ram...anyway
if just 16 gb than its just 16gb.
Im gona try the 32gb of owc-s ram hopfully it will be fine.
What do you think ?
thanks

----------

But where did you get the RAM? Is it RAM that has been verified to work in the iMac?

its form ebay.
i read the info and it said its compatible with apple

 

[kennyap]

thanks for your answer.
I alredy sent it back.
Of course i dont want to fry my mac. i bought 32gb of ram because i read that it can handle it.
And its quite funny that a 64 bit system cannot handle 32 gb ram...anyway
if just 16 gb than its just 16gb.
Im gona try the 32gb of owc-s ram hopfully it will be fine.
What do you think ?
thanks
----------

its form ebay.
i read the info and it said its compatible with apple

I bought my 32gb from OWC just to be sure, but I hear Crucial is pretty reliable also (and cheaper).

 

[kaldezar]

Me Too!

I just booted up my refurbished stock iMac 27" i5 2.7 that came today and it has 8 gigs of memory using two 4 gig DIMMs. I'm glad I didn't order memory before I got it. That would have been an extra $200 from the Apple Store.

My refurbished Macbook Pro came with more memory and a larger HD than advertised.

Lucked out again!

Just got my refurb iMac i7 3.4ghz, came with 8mb memory and 2gb video card memory which was double what I ordered but only the standard 1TB drive, very , very pleased especially as I use Aperture a lot.....this will make my photographic editing a whole lot easier!http://cdn.macrumors.com/vb/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

[cdavies12]

I bought my 32gb from OWC just to be sure, but I hear Crucial is pretty reliable also (and cheaper).

did that work fine the upgrade from owc and can you tell me the specs of the iMac that you upgraded as well please

 

[MrTravisHiggins]

maxing out memory

I have a 21.5" mid 2011 iMac, i have all four slots filled with 8gb 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM PC3-10600 204-pin, maxed 32GB

it's been working fine for months now.
so make sure all the specs are the same and go for it

 

[ControlALTDelete]

If you're going to max it out, max it out. That's 32 GB, with a three followed by a two!

On a proper, maxed out iMac, the ponies which frolic hither and fro will have green pastures that never end and always have a bounty of delicious grass to feed. Rainbows smile and unicorns giggle.

You response is the second best I ever heard to a question. My favourite was when this old man answered the question of his 5 year old great grand son “What is a volcano, Great Grandfather? He said ‘Timmy, that’s when the mountain F—rts! You feel better afterwards ; same with the mountain ⛰!!!” The whole Restaurant erupted in cheers yet the mother was not amuse!!!

My understanding is the Sandy Bridge Chip Set coupled with the i5 QuadCore 2400S CPU w-I-l-l support up to 32gb ddr3 1333mhz 10600 CL9 non registered, non ECC 204 unstacked RAM because it is a TRUE 64bit System. So yes, to frolic with the virgins and the unicorns you need 32GB RAM In 2018 (and I don’t mean that wretched McCartney LP!!!)