Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Sorry to repeat but need a quick answer... 17" iMac memory?

D

D ROCK

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 6, 2007
123
0
I know I should be able to search for the answer but if nobody objects I would like to know what is the latest cheapest(or best value) ram for the latest 17" iMac?
I ordered a 2gig and a 1 gig stick of kingmax PC5300 DDR2 667MHz 240-pin Unbuffered DIMM .... only to realize that once they showed up in my mailbox they are NOT the correct chips!
they are WAY to big. apparently I need PC2-5300:)
yup such a small error but costly!
I will try to return but I want to get it correct this time as now I am in a real hurry for this RAM... big project deadline looming!
thanks for the info.
I am in Canada but would appreciate any correct info for 3 gigs of RAM
 
D ROCK said:
I know I should be able to search for the answer but if nobody objects I would like to know what is the latest cheapest(or best value) ram for the latest 17" iMac?
I ordered a 2gig and a 1 gig stick of kingmax PC5300 DDR2 667MHz 240-pin Unbuffered DIMM .... only to realize that once they showed up in my mailbox they are NOT the correct chips!
they are WAY to big. apparently I need PC2-5300:)
yup such a small error but costly!
I will try to return but I want to get it correct this time as now I am in a real hurry for this RAM... big project deadline looming!
thanks for the info.
I am in Canada but would appreciate any correct info for 3 gigs of RAM
Click to expand...

The mistake wasn't going for PC5300 RAM, the mistake was getting 240-pin ram. You need 200-pin RAM, commonly known as SODIMM or SO-DIMM RAM.

Check out this site.

Single 2GB chip - $199 Canadians. Single 1GB chip $66 Canadians. BTW is your Mac a Core 2 Duo or Core Duo model. If its the latter then I believe you can only go to 2GB max at this point which you can do for $121 Canadians.
 
core 2 duo I just bought it from the Apple Store two weeks ago but figured I could upgrade the RAM myself as I have done with my previous 7 macs... this is the first time I have screwed this up!
hahahaaa


thanks for the quick reply.
is it the same as laptop RAM?
 
does it matter if I get two different brands of Ram from that site or should I go with both the Certified chips? 1 gig at 99$ and 2 gig at 299$
or if it doesn't matter then I should just go with the cheaper one at 66$?
 
flopticalcube said:
Matched pairs of RAM are best. Failing that, two of the same brand. Personally I would go for 2X1GB. You wouldn't really get your money's worth from a 2GB stick as the performance wouldn't improve that much.
Click to expand...

Agreed, 3GB isn't worth it right now imo. Well, not for an iMac at least. The 2GB chips are really expensive right now compared to the 1GB sticks. Personally, I'd go for the 2x1GB option.
However, although 3GB would perform slightly slower under some circumstances than matched RAM would, the biggest performance drop of unmatched RAM always hits integrated graphics chips like the GMA950. Since the iMac has dedicated graphics, this doesn't count and so the overall performance drop is minimal. Were this a MacBook, I'd strongly recommend 2gb instead of 3 for performance's sake.

Edit: To the OP, named brands and certified chips basically have the advantage of being supposedly guaranteed to work. However, peronally, I'd go for the Corsair memory there. Its got a lifetime warranty so there's nothing to worry about.
 
Thanks so much everybody!
I upgraded to 3 gig since I found a kit that came specifically for my iMac but it was not from Apple.
it was cheaper than the 2 gig kit I found elsewhere.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back