Mixing 667 ram with 888 ram

[vega07]

Is this a good idea? I have a stick of 512 MB of DD2 667 RAM laying around and I'd like to put it in my brand new low-end iMac.

 

[dukebound85]

i think the 800 stick will just run at 667

dont know for sure

 

[tersono]

It is likely that you'll have problems - it's possible that the machine may not even boot.

 

[Muncher]

Don't. Everything could run fine @667Mhz, or your machine will try to overclock the ram to 800Mhz (not good ).

 

[kiwi031]

Is this a good idea? I have a stick of 512 MB of DD2 667 RAM laying around and I'd like to put it in my brand new low-end iMac.

Not a good idea man, I can't tell you exactly what your machine will do (some don't boot, some boot but OS doesn't start, in some, the RAM will just fall back to 667,etc) but overall its not suggested. Plus, for the gain of only 512mb, I seriously don't think its a good bet.

Get a 1GB module of DDR2-800 from an online dealer, these chips aren't that expensive and you'll get a lot more out of your iMac than with the 1Gb. I have the 2.0Ghz Alu iMac, and I keep track my RAM usage using Activity Monitor. The 1GB it came with leaves it severely under powered, and using HDD space instead, decreasing your overall perfomance. I put in another 1GB module I had lying around, so now I have 2GB, and the machine regulary uses about 1.2-1.5GB of that, so I'm perfectly sorted.