New iMac. Which RAM? From where?

[Petoz]

I have just bought one of the brand new refreshed iMacs. I just went for the basic 2.4GHz 20" model. I would like to upgrade the RAM to either 2GB or 4GB. I have had a look, and am not entirely sure what RAM I need. I know it is different to the previous iMac, as the speed of the RAM has increased to 800MHz i think. And is PC2 6400?

I have looked on crucial, and used the system scanner, and it did not come up with anything. I am in the UK, and was wondering if anyone was also looking for new iMac RAM, and had found some. If so, could you please let me know.

Post website links on here if you know them. Any other help regarding the RAM in the new iMacs would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[psychofreak]

This has been recommended to me

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_11&products_id=103499

Just wait for someone else to chime in and confirm before you buy :)

[nineteentwelve]

I'm assuming it is using the same RAM from the previous iteration of the iMac. The best place to buy it, IMO, is from Crucial (http://crucial.com/uk/).

[Petoz]

I'm assuming it is using the same RAM from the previous iteration of the iMac. The best place to buy it, IMO, is from Crucial (http://crucial.com/uk/).

I looked on crucial. It uses faster RAM than the last gen iMac, so the RAM it takes me to when i fill in the options is wrong. Also, when i used the crucial system scanner, it didn't show up any results.

[Petoz]

This has been recommended to me

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_11&products_id=103499

Just wait for someone else to chime in and confirm before you buy :)

Looks good. I think that is the right stuff. But like you said, i'll wait to see what others think. Thanks though, I have saved the site.

[flopticalcube]

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT2KIT25664AC800

[Sun Baked]

Developer note...

iMac Computers (April 2008)

The iMac computers introduced in April 2008, based on the Intel Core 2 Duo microprocessor, provide two RAM slots that accommodate 200-pin DDR2 SDRAM SO-DIMMs up to 1.25” in height. The SO-DIMMs must be DDR2-800 (PC2-6400) compliant and must be unbuffered, unregistered, 8-byte, nonparity, and non-ECC.

The 2.4 GHz 20-inch iMac ships with one 1 GB, 800 MHz, SDRAM SO-DIMMs installed. The 2.66 GHz 20-inch iMac and 24-inch iMac ship with 2 x 1 GB, 800 MHz, SDRAM SO-DIMMs installed, for a total of 2 GB. The largest capacity SO-DIMM supported is 2 GB, for a total maximum of 4 GB.

Memory configure-to-order options are: two 1 GB DIMMs for a total of 2 GB or two 2 GB DIMMs for a total of 4 GB.

The memory controller supports 1 GB and 2 GB SO-DIMMs; other configurations are untested. Because the memory in the two slots is configured as a contiguous array of memory, when both SO-DIMMs are the same size and type, the interleaving function is able to improve performance.

The iMac supports a CAS latency of 5 or 6.

The width of each 800 MHz memory channel is 64 bits.

The maximum number of devices per SO-DIMM is 16. See Table 3 for device and DIMM configurations.

[Petoz]

Developer note...

In this it says it will support CAS Latency of 5 or 6. The RAM on this link:

This has been recommended to me

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_11&products_id=103499

Matches what is needed, but says the CAS Latency is 555-12. Does this mean it will not work?

[Hawkeye411]

Don't buy it from Apple. Expensive!!

[OddThomas]

OWC has it. http://eshop.macsales.com/.

4.0GB Upgrade - $117.99
Matched Pair 2.0GB x 2
Ships: Same Day

[rediffusion]

what should i do with two 1gb ram if i upgrade to 4gb? is there anywhere that does part exchange?

[ozziegn]

what should i do with two 1gb ram if i upgrade to 4gb? is there anywhere that does part exchange?

OWC has a $20 rebate program. they will give you $20 for your OEM Mac memory. there's an online form that you fill out.

[Petoz]

OWC has it. http://eshop.macsales.com/.

4.0GB Upgrade - $117.99
Matched Pair 2.0GB x 2
Ships: Same Day

Thanks, but that is in $. I am in the UK, so need them in £'s. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

[CanadaRAM]

This has been recommended to me

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_11&products_id=103499

Just wait for someone else to chime in and confirm before you buy :)

" (if you are a mac user, we suggest you check with Apple or your local Apple outlet) as we are unable to accept returns of the item for incompatibility."

Bad sign. If it doesn't work, and you're stuck with it. Not the type of confidence you're looking for in your reseller.

[rediffusion]

OWC has a $20 rebate program. they will give you $20 for your OEM Mac memory. there's an online form that you fill out.

Can somebody point me in the right direction to this? I can't see it on their site.

thanks
R

[psychofreak]

" (if you are a mac user, we suggest you check with Apple or your local Apple outlet) as we are unable to accept returns of the item for incompatibility."

Bad sign. If it doesn't work, and you're stuck with it. Not the type of confidence you're looking for in your reseller.
I recommended it because in another thread I was recommended 7DS (and that recommendation backed up) for my MB, people seem to have had good experiences. Is that the right type of RAM?

[CanadaRAM]

It's nominally the right specification, but if the seller isn't prepared to stand behind it, no ways am I going to say 'it's the right RAM'

[I am Sampson]

I'd go crucial personally. flopticalcube's link is what you want, you get to that page simply by ignoring the auto detect system feature, and selecting the imac 3.06Ghz as your system.
However that 7day place is shockingly cheap compared to crucial, but perhaps too much so...

[hfthomp]

Newegg.com is the best place. Cheap prices and crazy fast shipping. I upgraded my iMac to 4gb for $65+shipping.

[I am Sampson]

Newegg.com is the best place. Cheap prices and crazy fast shipping. I upgraded my iMac to 4gb for $65+shipping.

Good for some, but not the OP, he said he's in the UK.

[imac123]

the new iMacs are apparently capable of running RAM at 800MHz, but is this really true?

I beleive what would limit it to 667Mhz is the type of chipset in the iMac, and I've read so many different things about santa rosa vs montevista or whatever they are called that i ended up confused about what the new specs really are :confused:

[I am Sampson]

i ended up confused about what the new specs really are :confused:
iMac specs (http://www.apple.com/imac/specs/) note the 800Mhz ram.

[Petoz]

Thanks for all the help. Would the 667Mhz PC2-5300 RAM work in the brand new iMacs as well? Or is it just the faster RAM that will work? I ask, as I am not a heavy user, and do not think I would notice any difference. Any ideas? Or recommendations? Thanks.

[I am Sampson]

I expect it would work, but am only guessing, however I'd strongly recommend against it, it probably would make quite a big performance drop and I can't see you saving very much money at all doing that.

[Petoz]

That makes sense. OK, another question. As my iMac only has 1GB RAM at the moment, will adding another 1GB be really noticeable, and speed it up alot? Or would you recommend going for 4GB. Considering, 1GB is only £14.09, and 4GB will cost £70.49.

I am not sure which would be best. Just the 1GB extra, and saving money, or losing 1GB in my machine, and adding 4GB for the cost above. Any recommendations or opinions?

[I am Sampson]

Depends on what you use it for really. I've heard that 2Gb is a good "sweet spot" for generally usage and 4Gb isnt noticeable to alot of people who don't deal with intensive programs/lots of programs (i.e. very large photoshop files, rendering, encoding etc) for general email, websurfing ilife, I don't think you'd see a really big difference between 2Gb and 4Gb. But then, I am once again guessing/basing on previous threads I've read. I've actually never used a mac with more than 1Gb myself, so I wouldn't take my advice as having a great deal of weight!

[CanadaRAM]

the new iMacs are apparently capable of running RAM at 800MHz, but is this really true?

I beleive what would limit it to 667Mhz is the type of chipset in the iMac, and I've read so many different things about santa rosa vs montevista or whatever they are called that i ended up confused about what the new specs really are :confused:

MacRumors Guides: Hardware: Understanding Intel Mac RAM (http://guides.macrumors.com/Understanding_Intel_Mac_RAM)

[denisb1]

That makes sense. OK, another question. As my iMac only has 1GB RAM at the moment, will adding another 1GB be really noticeable, and speed it up alot? Or would you recommend going for 4GB. Considering, 1GB is only £14.09, and 4GB will cost £70.49.

I am not sure which would be best. Just the 1GB extra, and saving money, or losing 1GB in my machine, and adding 4GB for the cost above. Any recommendations or opinions?

I must have 500 posts on the new Imac and some techies have experimented with different amounts of ram VS speed and have come to the conclusion that there is a speed increase up to 3GB but not that much from 3 to 4GB. Conclusion get 4GB Ram. Crucial has the correct ram. Don't forget, you get what you pay for.:cool:

[akidd]

Depends on what you use it for really. I've heard that 2Gb is a good "sweet spot" for generally usage and 4Gb isnt noticeable to alot of people who don't deal with intensive programs/lots of programs (i.e. very large photoshop files, rendering, encoding etc) for general email, websurfing ilife, I don't think you'd see a really big difference between 2Gb and 4Gb. But then, I am once again guessing/basing on previous threads I've read. I've actually never used a mac with more than 1Gb myself, so I wouldn't take my advice as having a great deal of weight!

My advice is to get it from Crucial. My iBook G3 (now grlf's) and iBook G4 have Crucial momorary and both work a treat. I'm a journalist and I Photoshop, Quark, FTP etc, ect (basically run the magazine) on the G4, all with no probem. On Friday I'll be putting Crucial memory into an eMac I bought for when I don't want to take the iB into the offfice and expect this to have the same effect. As a company are going to buy a new iMac (probably the 24in 3.06) and get Crucial 4Gb memory for it.

I seem to rember that Apple says OSX needs 2Gb to run properly. I'd get the other 1Gb (it'll be cheap) and see if you need any more as you go along. At that point you'll discover everyone else has upgraded to the 4Gb and no-one wants the 1Gb sticks in terms of value.

Surely there must be computers we can give these to, rather than chucking them. Eg, someone send one to this tread's starter. But generally, couldn't we as a user community have some sort of project where unwanted 1Gb sticks went to a charity/charities, regardless of where in the world?

[luffx]

You can use 800MHz RAM & take advantage of it.

It's too bad that the FSB is 1066, but the memory controller is limited to 800MHz. It's rather lame.

[Petoz]

I have had another thought. Could I add a 2GB stick of RAM to the iMac, so it has a total of 3GB? Do the new iMacs allow mixed RAM? I know the previous ones did, but am not sure about the ones released on monday.

This would be easier, as I could buy a 2GB stick, and use the 3GB total until I can afford the further 2GB to make it 4GB.

[neilkachu]

Hi,

Yes you can put 3Gb in if you like. Both slots dont need to be filled or the same size.

FYI crucial now have the new iMac's RAM listed in their system, £70.49 for 4Gb.

link (http://crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=iMac%202.4GHz%20Intel%20Core%202%20Duo%20%2820-inch%29%20MB323LL/A)


Happy shopping.

[rjp]

Developer note...

Where did you get this informative developer's quote?

I'd like to see the same for the most recent MBP memory.

I am wondering if it can use CL4 RAM.

Thanks
Rich

[cherry su]

DDR2-800 SO-DIMM from Newegg.com

[CanadaRAM]

I have had another thought. Could I add a 2GB stick of RAM to the iMac, so it has a total of 3GB? Do the new iMacs allow mixed RAM? I know the previous ones did, but am not sure about the ones released on monday.

This would be easier, as I could buy a 2GB stick, and use the 3GB total until I can afford the further 2GB to make it 4GB.

Don't want to be a bug on this, but the answer is in the Guides link already posted. We don't write and maintain the Guides just for our own amusement... it would be encouraging to think that people used them, sometimes.

MacRumors Guides: Hardware: Understanding Intel Mac RAM
(http://guides.macrumors.com/Understanding_Intel_Mac_RAM)
"All Intel Core Macs will run with mismatched RAM, and will run in dual-channel mode. Core 2 Duo Macs can run a 3 GB configuration (1 GB + 2 GB), which on average can be faster than a 2 GB matched pair if you are multitasking or using heavy programs like Photoshop, digital audio and digital video production that can benefit from the extra 1 GB. In general, more RAM trumps matched RAM. For more information, see Matched RAM on Intel Macs."