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Where are you purchasing your memory for Intel Imac

adam1185 said:
Does anyone know if these new iMacs are supposed to have matching RAM for best performance? I read about that with the G5's but haven't heard anything on the core duos.
Click to expand...
There is a note in the Apple Store that says "for optimum memory performance get two" but it is unsupported by any documentation in the technical specs published by Apple so far to indicate whether it supports Dual Channel or not. One would think this would be a selling feature,...
 
So am I better off using only a 1 gig stick than a 1 gig stick and a 512 stick?

Do you suggest I keep the 512 stick out of the Mac and only put in the 1 gig stick? I don't want to buy 2 1 gig sticks yet.
 
Jonnybluejeans...I dont see the memory we need at newegg....all I see is PC4200
 
powerbook911...

It doesn't seem like anyone can definitively say whether or not the current Intel Macs support Dual Channel or not, and based on the fact that it hasn't been clearly advertised, I'm thinking it won't make much of a difference whether you go for 2x512MB or 1x1GB.

I'd think the best thing to do would be to get the 1x1GB stick from Apple, try that out, and if you decide you'd like to get more, just order another 1GB from Crucial, DMS, etc. That's what I'm doing, and it seems to be a popular solution here.
 
The memory is currently out of stock at outpost. I ordered it like two days ago and just received an email telling me that.

Yeah hopefully the configuration would allow you to run the 512 stick it comes with plus the extra 1 GB for a total of 1.5 GB and not have to have identical sticks.

All this talk about upgrading the memory in the macbook pro though, I wonder how impossible Apple made it to upgrade yourself though... like replacing the hard drive in the old iBooks.
 
Can't be that hard...

Although I haven't seen any real documentation on this, I can't imagine upgrading the RAM in the MacBook Pro will be that hard. Based on the fact that the case design is nearly identical to the current generation PowerBook's, I'd say it's going to be nothing more than removing the panel from the base.
 
Matching RAM

adam1185 said:
Does anyone know if these new iMacs are supposed to have matching RAM for best performance? I read about that with the G5's but haven't heard anything on the core duos.
Click to expand...

Just asked that very same question to support this afternoon under iChat, and the support guy basically said you should match it for best performance i.e., if you plan to keep the 512 mg in one slot, match it with another 512 for best performance. I got the same answer from a support guy at Kingston
 
Kingston...

Has anyone here experienced problems with Kingston RAM? I haven't used it, and plan on getting mine elsewhere, but just wanted to ask to see others' opinions. Over on the macnn forums, I read about 5 people's posts that described problems with Kingston's RAM. Just curious to see if this was the general concensus or more of an isolated incident, as a potential heads up, as upgrading RAM seems to be a hot topic as of late.
 
Although I have yet to see technical document from Apple, the fact that (1) chipset (945GM) used on iMac supports dual channel operation and (2) if dual channel is not supported, would matching memory pair have any measurable performance impact?

In addition, it is worth noting that only "Learn More" memory page for iMac mentions such improvement and not MacBook Pro's.
 
adam1185 said:
Does anyone know if these new iMacs are supposed to have matching RAM for best performance? I read about that with the G5's but haven't heard anything on the core duos.
Click to expand...

Go to the Apple on-line store and then to the page where you get to select the options. Near where you can choose the RAM upgrade there is a link called "learn more" click that and a page comes up that says basically "yes" you want matched pairs of RAM for best performance.

Look for yourself on the Apple site. Don't go by what some guy like me says on some "rumor" site.

In other words having 2 x 512 is faster than 1 x 1024. I would suggest buying the system with 1 x 512 and then upgrading to 2 x 1024 and keeping the "left over" 512 stik as a spare.

I own a PC that can use the RAM in pairs. Yes it is faster on some benchmarks but not so much faster that you ca "feel" it at the keyboard. Tasks that work on data sets that don't cache do go slightly faster, Video editing and large DBMS servers come to mind.
 
ChrisA said:
Go to the Apple on-line store and then to the page where you get to select the options. Near where you can choose the RAM upgrade there is a link called "learn more" click that and a page comes up that says basically "yes" you want matched pairs of RAM for best performance.

Look for yourself on the Apple site. Don't go by what some guy like me says on some "rumor" site.

In other words having 2 x 512 is faster than 1 x 1024. I would suggest buying the system with 1 x 512 and then upgrading to 2 x 1024 and keeping the "left over" 512 stik as a spare.

I own a PC that can use the RAM in pairs. Yes it is faster on some benchmarks but not so much faster that you ca "feel" it at the keyboard. Tasks that work on data sets that don't cache do go slightly faster, Video editing and large DBMS servers come to mind.
Click to expand...

What about having a 1 gig stick and a 512 stick? That would slow it down too? That doesn't count as pairs? Many thanks.
 
T-Stex said:
It doesn't seem like anyone can definitively say whether or not the current Intel Macs support Dual Channel or not, and based on the fact that it hasn't been clearly advertised,
Click to expand...

Go to the apple web site, the place where you can select a memory upgrade for the Intel iMac, click the "learn more" link. It answers your question.

(It wil say to use two sticks "for best performance")
 
powerbook911 said:
What about having a 1 gig stick and a 512 stick? That would slow it down too? That doesn't count as pairs? Many thanks.
Click to expand...

No, that's not a pair. Only identical chips (in terms of spec, including capacity) count as a pair.
 
nutmac said:
No, that's not a pair. Only identical chips (in terms of spec, including capacity) count as a pair.
Click to expand...

So again, what would you do:

Run 1.5 GB as (1 gig stick and 512 stick)

or

2x512 sticks.

I cannot afford 2x1GB sticks. :)
 
johnnybluejeans said:
Run 1.5Gb, the mismatched sizes really doesn't make a difference.
Click to expand...

To get best performance (dual channel vs single channel memory access), you need to match sizes. In real world, however, dual channel access do not necessarily translate into significant performance increase... could be more like 10% or so.

Also, to get dual channel, you need to match a couple of other things and not just their size. RAM speed on both modules must be identical as well as chip configuration (e.g., 8x64 MB dual sided). So if you are ordering iMac from Apple BTO with 1 GB and ordering 2nd 1 GB module elsewhere, you need to be sure that they are the same.
 
nutmac said:
To get best performance (dual channel vs single channel memory access), you need to match sizes. In real world, however, dual channel access do not necessarily translate into significant performance increase... could be more like 10% or so.

Also, to get dual channel, you need to match a couple of other things and not just their size. RAM speed on both modules must be identical as well as chip configuration (e.g., 8x64 MB dual sided). So if you are ordering iMac from Apple BTO with 1 GB and ordering 2nd 1 GB module elsewhere, you need to be sure that they are the same.
Click to expand...


Yeah that was one of my concerns, how could I guarantee 2 pieces identical. In the end decided just to max it out with apple.

Dont by Kingston Ram, they tend to be crap for compatability...
 
Email from outpost:

Dear E :

Thank you for your order xxxxxxx.

Please note that the item(s) listed below have been removed from
your order per your request to Customer Service, or because the
item is no longer available.

I ordered the memory 11 days ago and now they tell me they arnt getting anymore!?

OK so wheres the cheapest/best place everyone else is ordering from? Ive still got 21 days till the macbook arives, would you consider waiting for a better price?
 
http://www.datamem.com/

That's where I got mine, but it was about $22 cheaper when I bought it and took over a week to get here (actually it just came in today) because their supplier had not sent any stock yet. It seems like they have it on site now though.
 
Nutmac has (on another thread) posted Apple documents that state unambiguously that Dual Channel is supported on both the iMac Core Duo and the MacBook Pro. Still, 1.5 Gb total memory (unmatched) trumps 1 Gb total memory (matched), so go for the 1 Gb SODIMM upgrade now, and add a second 1 Gb later as you can afford it.
 
I have converted from crucial to ramjet! One of the few companies left that actually answer there phone will Hello this is... Also when trying to order ram for my iBook crucial had no clue what I should use and had the highest price.

I made one phone call to ramjet - they told me exactly what I needed for both my intel iMac & iBook - shipped both out same day and I'm happy as a peach :)
 
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