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RAM Upgrade Questions - iMac 2.93 Ghz i7

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dwarnecke11

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 29, 2009
354
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RAM prices have come down a bit lately and I'm considering adding another 4 GB to my iMac's stock 4 GB configuration. I understand that the best way of doing this is adding 2 x 2GB sticks. Here is a kit on Crucial's site:

http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=FC4829C3A5CA7304

My concern stems from the posts on this forum and others related to random shutdowns experienced after upgrading RAM on iMacs. Will this be a problem for my case? It seems most reports involved iMacs upgraded to 12 or 16 GB of RAM. Any ideas?
 
I would add 8 gigs myself.

I have seen very few posts with ram upgrades and the issues you mention -- I would assume those issues are with people who buy crappy ram.
 
I've only heard it with 16gb, and even that's probably a rare and isolated case.
Ram upgrades are pretty fool-proof, and the computer will except a lot of different types of ram, even if they're different speed. You should be fine.
 
Do you really need more memmory? Are you using up all your available memmory? If not then you aren't going to see a performance boost. You're probably better off buying an SSD since the prices have come down and the performance boost is very nice indeed. An SSD is probably the best upgrade you can do to an imac.
 
infidel69 said:
Do you really need more memmory? Are you using up all your available memmory? If not then you aren't going to see a performance boost. You're probably better off buying an SSD since the prices have come down and the performance boost is very nice indeed. An SSD is probably the best upgrade you can do to an imac.
Click to expand...

I do, I've gotten down to ~50 MB free according to iStat. Having another 4 GB of RAM for $50 sounds like a deal to me. I can't afford an SSD at this time.
 
Buy 8gb. If in the event you want/need more, you will not have to re-buy those slots.
 
Yeah just add $30 to that $50 you want to spend and get 8GB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...00414 600000401&IsNodeId=1&name=8GB (2 x 4GB)

I had 16GB in my iMac before I sold it and not only is it amazing for that (resale value) I did notice quite an improvement in performance going from 12GB to 16GB. It was rather strange and potentially placebo-influenced but I was happy with the purchase nonetheless. I also had a SSD in it which is another addition I would recommend (it's quite easy).
 
I wouldn't be against adding 8 instead of 4, but shouldn't RAM be installed in matching pairs for the best stability/performance? You can't even configure the iMac with 12 GB from the Apple website. Not saying it can't be done, Im just wondering if its advised against for performance reasons.
 
I guess there is a speed improvement from putting them in matching sets but for me it wasn't a problem putting 12GB. I had some extra 2GB chips lying around so I just put them in there is the only reason I had 12GB.
 
dwarnecke11 said:
I wouldn't be against adding 8 instead of 4, but shouldn't RAM be installed in matching pairs for the best stability/performance? You can't even configure the iMac with 12 GB from the Apple website. Not saying it can't be done, Im just wondering if its advised against for performance reasons.
Click to expand...

No, there is no need for matched pairs.

A long time ago it helped, but even then more ram > less ram matched.

Everyone has said "go with 8", its good advice.
 
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