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To add RAM or not to add RAM
- Thread starter macgeek77
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Add RAM. I've been meaning to add RAM but I wanted to see how much money I would have left before I went and bought another 512 stick. A gig of RAM in my iBook should be good.
yes more RAM is always good!
few things to remember though:
since you have a G5 you're going to want paired sticks of RAM.
so basically i'd say you have three options:
1. 1x1GB stick (leaves possible upgrade to 2GB if you desire later)
2. 2x512 sticks (fills both slots but gives you 1GB)
3. 2x1GB (maxes out your RAM, but costs more)
and remember the more RAM you have the smoother your machine will run with more apps open or with large files in PS or what have you.
few things to remember though:
since you have a G5 you're going to want paired sticks of RAM.
so basically i'd say you have three options:
1. 1x1GB stick (leaves possible upgrade to 2GB if you desire later)
2. 2x512 sticks (fills both slots but gives you 1GB)
3. 2x1GB (maxes out your RAM, but costs more)
and remember the more RAM you have the smoother your machine will run with more apps open or with large files in PS or what have you.
To the highest lever you can afford!
Seriously, is your 512 on two 256 chips? If yes, replace one with a gig chip.
Is your 512 on a single chip? In this case, add 512, or a gig, as your budget allows.
I just installed a Gig of RAM on my one year old iBook and, although not surprised at its newly gained speed, I can certainly feel it's there. No disk swapping means applications showing instantaneously when selected. This thing flyes through Photoshop heaven now... 
seriously, get 1GB on ONE chip -- that way you can add another chip in a year or so if you want more speed on Leopard
There's only one DDR2-533 PC4200 DIMM (NOT SO-DIMM) slot on that iMac. 1 GB more (512 MB + 1 GB) is probably the best option.
A G5 iMac doesn't actually require paired sticks of RAM and there was always a bit of debate as to whether there was really a practical real-life day to day benefit in getting paired RAM
I suspect the OP would be better off with an unmatched 1.5 GB of RAM as opposed to a paired 2x512
I work in photoshop a lot too (on my Dell peecee though) and noticed marked improvement when I doubled it's factory 1 gig RAM up to two gigs.
Whenever I get my mac desktop machine I've long been pining for, I'm afraid to get any less than two gigs RAM, though 3 gigs would be better (but a lot more expensive too).
Whenever I get my mac desktop machine I've long been pining for, I'm afraid to get any less than two gigs RAM, though 3 gigs would be better (but a lot more expensive too).