RAM - iMac 24"

[punkywhitething]

Hello, this is officially my first post on the forums so I'm glad to be here.

This is concerning the RAM for an iMac 24" I will shortly receive. Since this is a special arrangement I didn't have much leeway in regards to upgrades, except I managed to pick up a model with the 7600 video card.

Anyway, referring back to the topic at hand, I would ideally like to upgrade to the maximum amount (3GIG approx.) of RAM. I realize that they've installed two separate 512 chips, which is troublesome. So, this is my question. If I were to sell these 512 chips, probably on something like Ebay (so annoying), and buy from an external company (like CRUCIAL) a 1GB kit, and also a 2GB kit, I would be right in assuming I have the maximum amount of RAM allocated?

Thank you to anyone who lends an insight. Appreciated.

 

[netdog]

As long as the kits are single SIMMS (1x1GB and 1x2GB), then yes. If you don't absolutely need 3GB right now, then you might get 2x1GB and wait for the price of the 2GB SIMMS to fall. They are still very expensive. They won't be for too much longer in my opinion. You could even get 1x1GB and wait, giving you 1.5GB for the time being.

FWIW, I have a 2-footer with 2GB and run lots of apps at the same time along with almost always having XP running under Parallels with no RAM headroom problems. She runs like a charm.

 

[punkywhitething]

Sorry, I'm a little confused. The iMac has 3 RAM slots or 2? Assuming there's 3 slots, 2 of which are taken up with the existing 512 slots, making 1GB, if I add another 1x1GB single chip (1GB) I'd have 2GB? Right?

 

[skunk]

Sorry, I'm a little confused. The iMac has 3 RAM slots or 2? Assuming there's 3 slots, 2 of which are taken up with the existing 512 slots, making 1GB, if I add another 1x1GB single chip (1GB) I'd have 2GB? Right?

There are only 2. The most you can use is 2GB + 1GB, due to some limitation or other of the chipset.

 

[CanadaRAM]

The word 'kit' in the RAM industry usually denotes a pair of RAM modules sold as a kit under one part number.

So you would not want a kit of 1 Gb and a kit of 2 Gb because that would probably be 4 pieces in all.

The iMac Intel C2D has 2 RAM sockets, to upgrade, you will have to remove one or both of your existing 512 Mb modules. You can go to 3 Gb total with a single 1 Gb module and a single 2 Gb module.

Thanks,
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com

 

[punkywhitething]

Right, I understand. Thank you.

The only external supplier that I know of is CRUCIAL (UK) for RAM purchases. They don't seem to supply a 1GB/2GB modules alone, but kits. Any recommendations for other suppliers (other than Apple themselves of course)? I haven't personally searched on this so I'll have a look around.

Edit: Ah right, forget this, according to another thread, Apple seem to be the only company distributing the 2GIG chip. I'll consider upgrading later.

Thanks for the clarification.