Memory Upgrade - Late 2015 Retina iMac

[jazzer15]

I'm looking to buy either another 8GB or 16GB of RAM to add to the 8GB my iMac came with and am a little unclear on specs.

I have seen posts about people completely replacing the stock RAM and putting faster memory in the computer. I have also seen posts about buying CL11 RAM rather than CL13.

I was just going to purchase RAM from OWC as I know they are reputable, although I know they tend to be a little higher priced (I believe their RAM is CL11 and 1866 mhz). Crucial is a little less expensive, but is CL 13 rather than CL11.

I know the benchmarks show that faster RAM and lower latency make the machine faster, but in day-to-day use is the difference noticeable? Is the OWC RAM a good bet?

 

[Hampden]

Interested in this same question as well...are there any performance gains to be had by getting different RAM? What's the rule of thumb on compatibility besides DDR3?

 

[dimme]

I just went to OWC to get my ram. I figure these guys know what they are doing, and they never let me down

 

[blurfonz04]

I just upgraded my Ram today Add on to my 8 GB... Now its 24 GB. from OWC as well!

 

[jazzer15]

I just upgraded my Ram today Add on to my 8 GB... Now its 24 GB. from OWC as well!

Can I ask what you are doing with the computer and why you decided on a total of 24GB as opposed to 16? I am leaning toward 24 myself, if only because I don't want to have to think about it again down the road, but I imagine a total of 16 would be plenty.

 

[tuna]

Bump. Came here to ask the same question. Want to upgrade colleague's Late 2015 iMac 5K from 8GB to 24GB. I can find the spec of the required RAM online (204 pin PC3-14900 DDR3) but I have learned my lesson buying ram that ostensibly matched specs but hadn't been tested with Macs. Since I had that lesson, I've only bought RAM listed on Newegg as "Mac RAM".

However Newegg doesn't have any RAM to that spec in their "Mac RAM" category, and in fact reading through the reviews of the PC3-14900 204 pin RAM available on Newegg, none of them have significant reviews from Mac users and few have many reviews at all. Seems to be an as-yet unpopular variety of RAM overall for the computer industry. Most of the reviewers appear to be people rocking specialty high end PC laptops, very few mentions of iMacs.

I know OWC offers but I have always prided myself on staying away from OWC. I have been buying PC components for a long time and my memory goes back to old OWC full page ads in computer magazines, advertising prices around double of what you could get comparable equipment for. Maybe they've changed but in my mind OWC is synonymous with ripoff prices.

If anyone finds any non-OWC options that have been thoroughly vetted for the 2015 retina iMac, let us know!

 

[MBHockey]

Bump. Came here to ask the same question. Want to upgrade colleague's Late 2015 iMac 5K from 8GB to 24GB. I can find the spec of the required RAM online (204 pin PC3-14900 DDR3) but I have learned my lesson buying ram that ostensibly matched specs but hadn't been tested with Macs. Since I had that lesson, I've only bought RAM listed on Newegg as "Mac RAM".

However Newegg doesn't have any RAM to that spec in their "Mac RAM" category, and in fact reading through the reviews of the PC3-14900 204 pin RAM available on Newegg, none of them have significant reviews from Mac users and few have many reviews at all. Seems to be an as-yet unpopular variety of RAM overall for the computer industry. Most of the reviewers appear to be people rocking specialty high end PC laptops, very few mentions of iMacs.

I know OWC offers but I have always prided myself on staying away from OWC. I have been buying PC components for a long time and my memory goes back to old OWC full page ads in computer magazines, advertising prices around double of what you could get comparable equipment for. Maybe they've changed but in my mind OWC is synonymous with ripoff prices.

If anyone finds any non-OWC options that have been thoroughly vetted for the 2015 retina iMac, let us know!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/cr/B00NTQ0GOM/ref=mw_dp_cr

Lots of people (including myself) on this board are using this ram with no problems