Adding RAM...

[kjs862]

I just got myself a G5 duel 1.8 GHZ with 512 RAM and I'm looking to upgrade the RAM. If I order 2GB of RAM off the apple website the are charging $1300. If I order 2GB of RAM from www.crucial.com it is $860. Is there any difference in the RAM i'm thinking they should be with that much of a price difference, but if you look at the apple website the RAM is under third party products. Please leave your insight. Thank you.

Ken

[bankshot]

RAM is always overpriced at the Apple Store. Crucial has a great reputation for having high quality memory at reasonable prices. You can't go wrong with them.

By the way, if you're not planning on maxing out the memory right away, you're MUCH better off getting 4 sticks of 512 MB memory instead of 2 sticks of 1 GB. Save yourself about $500! :cool:

[Opteron]

Actually the RAM from Kingston, Crucial, (Micron) is usually better than that which comes from apple. Apple 'tend' to use Samsung RAM, and While I use Samsung RAM (in my old computer) and have never had any troubles, I would still say Crucial and Kingston make a better product.

[KC9AIC]

I agree with bankshot about getting four sticks of RAM. Much cheaper, and since you have 8 slots anyway, adding in four 512s will not fill them all, leaving room for further expansion.

[Dreadnought]

I also bought a dual G5 1.8 the other day and am also shopping for more Ram. Ofcourse I want to max this baby out, but the prices are at the moment too high. They were lower a coupleof months back. I have spoken with a couple of salesmen and they all said to wait a couple of months if you can. The adoption of the 1 GB sticks for example will bring the price down, also for the 512 mb sticks. So I am just gonna keep the stock 512 mb of ram in for a while and add more in a couple of months!

[mklos]

Is it true that if you have a PowerMac G5 and you want to put a 1 GB upgrade in it that you have to put (2) 512MB DIMMs and not just a 1 GB stick, or if you want to do a 512MB upgrade you have to buy (2) 256MB sticks? I thought I heard this somewhere.

[bankshot]

Originally posted by mklos
Is it true that if you have a PowerMac G5 and you want to put a 1 GB upgrade in it that you have to put (2) 512MB DIMMs and not just a 1 GB stick, or if you want to do a 512MB upgrade you have to buy (2) 256MB sticks? I thought I heard this somewhere.

Yep. G5 memory must be installed in matched pairs.

[benixau]

I know what you guys are saying BUT - if he wants to max it and not have to throw out chips later getting the GB chips now will save him money in the long term

I would have thought mac people understood long term investment - you got a mac didn't you?

[Dave00]

I'd be wary of Kingston RAM in G5 machines. There are plenty of reports of their RAM not working correctly. See macintouch.com, among other sites, for details.

[bankshot]

Originally posted by benixau
I know what you guys are saying BUT - if he wants to max it and not have to throw out chips later getting the GB chips now will save him money in the long term

I would have thought mac people understood long term investment - you got a mac didn't you?

Depends on how cheap the 1 GB memory sticks get, how soon, and when he might be interested in maxing it out. Imagine hypothetically that the 1 GB sticks go down to $100 each in another year or so. The machine comes with 2x256MB stock, so he has two choices:

Buy 2x1GB now for $860. Then later, toss out the 2x256MB and buy 6x1GB for $600. Total cost: $1460.

OR

Buy 4x512MB now for $360. Later, toss out 2x256MB and 4x512MB, and buy 8x1GB for $800. Total cost: $1160. You've tossed out more memory this way, but it's a net savings of $300! And maybe you'll be able to use the other memory in another machine (or give it to a friend/relative, etc).

I imagine it's only a matter of time before 1 GB memory sticks get down about this low, so like I said originally, it's probably smarter to buy the 4x512 as long as you don't want to max it out right now.

[mklos]

Originally posted by bankshot
Yep. G5 memory must be installed in matched pairs.

Is this because the can G5 address 2 banks of memory at the same time, or is there another reason?

[mklos]

Is this still true of the 1.6 GHz PowerMac G5 that RAM has to be installed in pairs since it only has 1 bank of memory?

[Mord]

g5's arte compatible with rare 2gb dimms so id get the 512 moduales and wait untill 2gb dimms are cheap enough