Upgrading 2009 Imac's RAM advice?

[ZebraTalent]

Hey everyone,

I did do a search for this, but couldn't find what I was looking for.
Basically I have a 3.06ghz imac with 2gb RAM. I was under the impression when I bought it last year that if I wanted to upgrade the RAM to 4gbs I would just buy another 2gb stick and whack it in the imac, but now thinking about it would it be better to buy two new 2gb sticks and replace the old 2gb stick with identical ones, or does it not matter?

Thanks

 

[Bennieboy©]

it wouldnt really matter, performance might be a little better with matching pairs but if you went out and bought a similar 2Gb stick it would work

 

[spinnerlys]

Basically you have to use MRoogle to search these forums. Then you would have found something.

I assume you have the 24" iMac, if so, you need to buy 2x2GB RAM sticks, as there are currently 2x1GB RAM sticks inside.

You can verify that via Applications / Utilities / System Profiler > Hardware > Memory.

 

[ZebraTalent]

Basically you have to use MRoogle to search these forums. Then you would have found something.

I assume you have the 24" iMac, if so, you need to buy 2x2GB RAM sticks, as there are currently 2x1GB RAM sticks inside.

You can verify that via Applications / Utilities / System Profiler > Hardware > Memory.

Ah yes sorry you assumed correct, and you were also right about the two 1gb sticks

Thanks alot for that I appreciate the quick and useful replies guys

 

[mystikjoe]

it's nice that the new imacs went to 4 slots instead of 2 saved me 350 bucks upgrading to 8gb!

 

[hisboyelroy]

So, if you have one of the new iMacs that came with the standard 4GB of RAM (2 2GB sticks in 2 of the 4 slots), can you add any amount of memory to the 2 empty slots? For example, could I put 1GB sticks in each of the remaining slots, or would I have to put 2GB sticks in each of the remaining open slots?

I've looked through the owner's manual and it seems to imply you have to put either 2GB sticks or 4GB sticks in the open slots.

Your iMac has four memory slots. Two are filled with at least a 2 GB memory module. You can install additional memory in the free slots or replace the memory in the filled slots with 2 GB or 4 GB memory modules, for up to 16 GB of memory.

Admittedly, I'm not an all that knowledgeable about this type of thing, but don't understand why you couldn't use a spare 1GB stick in the remaining slots if you don't have to have each of the four slots hold sticks of the same amount of memory. The manual seems to suggest a 2-2-4-4 configuration would work, why not a 1-1-2-2 configuration?

 

[definitive]

i think you'll need 2x2, because macs usually come with #x2 sticks, so your system might have 1x2 (unless you bought a single 2gig stick in the past, in which case another 2gig stick will be fine for 4gigs).