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third party ram vs apple ram????????????

bluedoggiant

bluedoggiant

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jul 13, 2007
2,656
100
MD & ATL,GA
SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS THREAD WHERE I ASK A NEW QUESTION, DO NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION BELOW THIS!!!


im getting the 2.8ghz c2e with 2 gigs of ram, im planning to take out the two 1 gig sticks, and replace them with two 2 gig stick for 4GB instead of 2GB, is there anything wrong with third party ram, is it safe, apple's 4 gigs is a $1000, crucial is $200, is it safe to use all crucial memory, or a mix, would i see any problems? is there a quality difference? i know about the imac problems and stuff
 
It's pretty much the same. If you buy from crucial they actually guarantee it to work with the imac anyway. I'm running 4gb of kingston ram, no issues. And the great thing is that people are prepared to pay a premium for the ram you take out of the imac on ebay, so you can cover a good portion of the money you spend :)
 
You will probably find a lot of useful information on our RAM Guides. :cool:

In general, only go with a vendor which guarantees Mac-compatibility and has an excellent warranty/return program. Apple charges a premium for their RAM, do not buy extra RAM from them ever!
 
MR Guide to RAM

Near the top of the window you will see a tab called "Guides", where most frequently asked questions are answered.

I recommend that you stick to a reputable seller who guarantees compatibilit5y with your model Mac, offers a lifetime warranty, and a no-cost (no shipping, no restocking) return if it doesn't work. Crucial is reliable, there are other recommendations in the Buying RAM Guide.

Edit: Eh - I got ~Sharded~. Fast fingers there, for someone from the Prairies... :)
 
Just out of interest if you are going to replace the two 1gb sticks of ram, why don't you just order the 2,8Ghz iMac with just 1gb stick? That's what I did when I ordered my 2,8 online. You'd save yourself enough money to buy at least a 2gb stick of Crucial ram.
 
Nordichund said:
Just out of interest if you are going to replace the two 1gb sticks of ram, why don't you just order the 2,8Ghz iMac with just 1gb stick? That's what I did when I ordered my 2,8 online. You'd save yourself enough money to buy at least a 2gb stick of Crucial ram.
Click to expand...

that wont work out, i need an even amount of RAM in each slot ;)
 
OtherWorldComputing has Apple Certified and lifetime warranty 4GB it for $157 right now. Plus for me if I sent my 2GB of ram in to them I get a 30$ rebate, which is good cause it's not worth much on eBay, I'd get at most maybe if I'm lucky $38-40... So 4GB of Micron ram for $127, you can't beat that.
 
I fail to see the point of buying an iMac with two Gigs of ram when you are going to be replacing both chips with different RAM anyway. And you don't need an even amount of RAM in each slot, especially not to start, you will once you get your two 2Gig chips.
 
True, but if you custom order you can get it with 1Gb (select the 2.4Ghz and upgrade the processor and HD to match the stock 2.8 config) saves about $50.
 
I would have done it but my Apple Store didn't have that on hand and I didn't want to wait, $50 isn't anything to me. And I know I won't be upgrading to 4GB of ram for a while, and 1GB just isn't enough, it's good to think outside the box sometimes.
 
Owc Ram

Bought 4Gb kit from OWC, installed month ago and works like a charm. Highly recommended, comes with lifetime warranty.
 
CanadaRAM said:
MR Guide to RAM

Near the top of the window you will see a tab called "Guides", where most frequently asked questions are answered.

I recommend that you stick to a reputable seller who guarantees compatibilit5y with your model Mac, offers a lifetime warranty, and a no-cost (no shipping, no restocking) return if it doesn't work. Crucial is reliable, there are other recommendations in the Buying RAM Guide.

Edit: Eh - I got ~Sharded~. Fast fingers there, for someone from the Prairies... :)
Click to expand...

I LOVE Canadaram

I bought 2gb for my 24"Imac....They are all the way in BC and Im in Ontario. I paid for it through Interac email money transfer and they shipped it out to me overnight and I received it the next day!! I believe it was a wed and i asked if i could get it by friday and the gentlemen said no problem.

I used to buy from oempcworld.com but canadaram is the way to go!!
 
CanadaRAM said:
Umm, no, as a matter of fact, you don't. The Core2Duo Macs work just fine with one module, or mismatched modules.
Click to expand...

i was planning on core 2 extreme;)

i know OWC tests them on imacs, how about crucial? crucial seems like the company i would trust more...MUCH MORE. is crucials RAM good? how does a 2X2GB stick from crucial compare with a 2X2GB stick from apple? any quality differences? pros? cons? anything i should know? is it risky replacing the RAM on a 24inch imac, C2E, with 2 gigs preinstalled? will i lose anything in doing so? will i void the warranty? what about the price difference of $200 to $1000
 
RAM from OWC and Crucial are both equally as good as Apple RAM. You will not void your warrantee as RAM is a "user installable part". Some people don't like Crucial because of their pricing practices. Depending when and what you look at on their site, the price for the same stick of RAM will change.

The Core2Extreme is just a juiced up Core2Duo and also does not require matched pairs of RAM. Only the Xeon processors do.
 
yippy said:
RAM from OWC and Crucial are both equally as good as Apple RAM. You will not void your warrantee as RAM is a "user installable part". Some people don't like Crucial because of their pricing practices. Depending when and what you look at on their site, the price for the same stick of RAM will change.

The Core2Extreme is just a juiced up Core2Duo and also does not require matched pairs of RAM. Only the Xeon processors do.
Click to expand...

and you are sure about that? apple states that for maximum stability, you need to have an equal amount of RAM in each slot
 
bluedoggiant said:
and you are sure about that? apple states that for maximum stability, you need to have an equal amount of RAM in each slot
Click to expand...

Actually that is only true for the Macbook because it has shared graphics. Even the older version of the iMac only supported 3gigs of ram so you had to go with a 1gig/2gig stick. Macbook Pro has to have matching slots filled because the ram is ECC registered.

The only matching you have to do is Mhz, CL rating and it has to be a 200pin so-dimm. I have a 1gig stick and a 2gig stick and my iMac runs great.
 
Positive. CanadaRAM will confirm this.

1. Apple lets you buy a Core2Extreme with only one RAM chip. They would not do this if it wouldn't work.

2. Apple does not say you need matched pairs for stability, they say for "maximum performance". Big difference. When RAM is installed in matched pairs in any iMac the memory can run in dual channel mode which is theoretically faster then running in single channel mode. However, the dual channel increase has been shown to be in the range of 0-0.5% increase in real world application. So essentially it doesn't matter.
 
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