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2012 Mac Mini RAM Compatability

W

Westyfield2

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2009
606
0
Bath, UK.
rezinous said:
Am I able to run the previous gens ram, 1333mhz?

Bought an 8gb stick of ram for an old mini that ended up getting sold. Never got to test if it works and lost the receipt. Just needed to test it before putting it on eBay.
Click to expand...

1333MHz will work, but it will be slower.

Memory performance will make a difference to the HD 4000 IGP. Here’s a good test by Anandtech going from DDR3-1333MHz to DDR3-2400MHz on the desktop chip and benchmarking it. http://www.anandtech.com/show/6372/...333-to-ddr32400-on-ivy-bridge-igp-with-gskill
As Anandtech point out however, it’s not just about MHz. Arguably the memory sub-timings are more important. Here’s a good article explaining memory for the uninitiated among us http://www.anandtech.com/show/3851/.
 
F

Fifemacuser

macrumors member
Mar 16, 2012
55
0
I am having the same dilemma with memory. the UK crucial store is sold out of the 16gb mac kit, but the alternative is available and cheaper.

Is it really just the same? Also would I still be covered by Crucial's compatibility guarantee?

Cheers

Edit

I decided to just go for the cheaper stuff. It is the same spec and I want it for my mini tat s due tomorrow!
 
Last edited:
kdoug

kdoug

macrumors 65816
Jun 2, 2010
1,025
195
Iowa City, IA USA
calvol said:
Looks like the same stick, so I ordered the cheaper one, will let you know if it works in about 8 days....
Click to expand...

They are the exact same stick with a different part number. I've ordered from Crucial before many times and I always order the non-apple branded stuff.
Mine will be here Monday for both of my Mini's but I'm not concerned, it'll work.

----------
Bierboy said:
Interesting, though, since one says it's guaranteed compatible, and the other does not...
Click to expand...

Crucial has done this for years. At one time they use to charge 20-30% more for apple compatible ram. Of course this was prior to Intel.
Don't get caught up in disclaimers, the cheaper stuff is the same.
 
L

Luksus

macrumors newbie
Oct 31, 2012
3
0
And what about Kingston HyperX - KHX16S9P1K2/16, I saw that it was mentioned in this thread but did someone actually tested it with positive outcome?

I am wondering about two things:

1. Since this RAM has additionally a heat sink installed to it will it actually fit in Mac Mini, seems to be that there might be a problem.
2. Does it have 1600MHZ from begging or this needs to be adjusted in BIOS (which is not possible for mac mini).
 
M

milkmandan

macrumors member
Oct 3, 2012
65
0
Luksus said:
And what about Kingston HyperX - KHX16S9P1K2/16, I saw that it was mentioned in this thread but did someone actually tested it with positive outcome?

I am wondering about two things:

1. Since this RAM has additionally a heat sink installed to it will it actually fit in Mac Mini, seems to be that there might be a problem.
2. Does it have 1600MHZ from begging or this needs to be adjusted in BIOS (which is not possible for mac mini).
Click to expand...

Just so i am not referencing the wrong stick, you are looking at these right?
http://www.amazon.com/1600MHz-PC3-12800-Notebook-KHX16S9P1K2-16/dp/B008H7IGGI

These sticks look quite similar to the Corsair Vengence sticks I got for the Mac Mini.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233242
These fit just fine in the mac mini.

Duno about #2. Depends on the compatibility of the sticks.
 
Sir Ruben

Sir Ruben

macrumors 68000
Jul 3, 2010
1,885
1,200
UK
lamerica80 said:
Yeah but its 1.35 and not 1.5 V...but it seems that dont matter yo.
Click to expand...

I know that the teardown revealed 1.5v Crucial memory but I was under the impression 1.35v is the correct spec?

Can anyone explain the performance difference between the two?
 
L

Luksus

macrumors newbie
Oct 31, 2012
3
0
milkmandan said:
Just so i am not referencing the wrong stick, you are looking at these right?
http://www.amazon.com/1600MHz-PC3-12800-Notebook-KHX16S9P1K2-16/dp/B008H7IGGI
Click to expand...

Actually I was reffering to those:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Hy...Q4N6/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1352372685&sr=8-4

As you can see they are little bit bigger then normal ones due to heat spreader, but they comes with CL: 9 not 11 like most of the others.
I know they fit in Mac Book Pro but if they fit in mac mini, that's the question :confused:

Edit: After some investigation I can see that Kingston has similar without this heat spread:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008H7IGGI/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

I wonder if this RAM is going to work with 1600 MHz without a need of fixing it in BIOS.
 
Last edited:
Sir Ruben

Sir Ruben

macrumors 68000
Jul 3, 2010
1,885
1,200
UK
knight1 said:
I've received my 16gb Ram kit from Crucial UK. I was worried about the 1.35v being compatible with the new mini.
The RAM I received is 2x8gb DDR3L -1600 SODIMM. From reading on the crucial site and others, DDR3L is dual voltage.
Here's the part number: CT2C8G3S160BMCEU

This should answer most questions: http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Standar...-35v-1-5v-Dual-Voltage-DDR3-memory/ta-p/71731
Click to expand...

How have you found the performance with the 16GB of ram? A lot better? Would you recommend I go for the 16GB also or would you say 8GB would be good enough?
 
W

Westyfield2

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2009
606
0
Bath, UK.
Sir Ruben said:
I know that the teardown revealed 1.5v Crucial memory but I was under the impression 1.35v is the correct spec?

Can anyone explain the performance difference between the two?
Click to expand...

One other thing to point out, is that we don't actually know that the motherboard is sending the RAM the full 1.5V, it might be only giving it 1.35V but that's enough for the RAM.

I come from a PC overclocking background, so find the whole locked out BIOS of Macs annoying.
In my experience, I've bought memory that was advertised as being able to do DDR2-1066MHz at 2.1v. As standard the motherboard gave it 1.9V and it ran at DDR2-800MHz. This was as per the JEDEC SPD. If you were do set the timings to have it running at DDR2-1066MHz it would then fail all the stress tests. To run at the high speeds and be stable, you had to set the motherboard to 2.1v - as stated on the RAMs packaging.

So it's perfectly possible that the Mac Mini is only giving the Crucial RAM 1.35v, but the RAM doesn't mind the undervolting and runs fine. If you were to stick a stick of RAM in that needed the full 1.5v, and the Mac Mini still only gave out 1.35v, then you would have stability problems.

I haven't got a Mini yet (waiting for the display blacking problem to be fixed), but if you were to bootcamp windows and then run HWMonitor you should be able to see the voltages...
 
D

dogmusic

macrumors member
Oct 28, 2012
39
0
Ontario
Westyfield2 said:
One other thing to point out, is that we don't actually know that the motherboard is sending the RAM the full 1.5V, it might be only giving it 1.35V but that's enough for the RAM.
Click to expand...

It turns out that the stock RAM that comes installed by Apple in the Mac Mini is 1.5v, so the motherboard must be sending the RAM the full 1.5V.
 
W

Westyfield2

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2009
606
0
Bath, UK.
dogmusic said:
It turns out that the stock RAM that comes installed by Apple in the Mac Mini is 1.5v, so the motherboard must be sending the RAM the full 1.5V.
Click to expand...

Did you even read what I wrote?

It's perfectly possible that the motherboard is only sending it 1.35v, but that the RAM can manage to run on that. It's called undervolting. http://www.google.co.uk/#q=undervolt+RAM

There's three ways to find out.
  1. Multimeter on the DIMM slot
  2. HWMonitor
  3. Stick the stock RAM in an unlocked BIOS machine and set it to 1.35v, then Memtest it for 24hours and test stability
 
K

knight1

macrumors newbie
Nov 6, 2012
9
0
London,UK
Sir Ruben said:
How have you found the performance with the 16GB of ram? A lot better? Would you recommend I go for the 16GB also or would you say 8GB would be good enough?
Click to expand...

Besides the issues many people are reporting and which I'm also experiencing, the Mini is performing well after installing 16gb ram for VMs. Running 2 VMs and Firefox (multiple tabs), Itunes, it used up 10gb ram quite easily.
8gb would be enough for most people, but you need to work out if you would ever go over 8gb, then get 16gb.
 
D

dogmusic

macrumors member
Oct 28, 2012
39
0
Ontario
Westyfield2 said:
Did you even read what I wrote?

It's perfectly possible that the motherboard is only sending it 1.35v, but that the RAM can manage to run on that. It's called undervolting. http://www.google.co.uk/#q=undervolt+RAM

There's three ways to find out.
  1. Multimeter on the DIMM slot
  2. HWMonitor
  3. Stick the stock RAM in an unlocked BIOS machine and set it to 1.35v, then Memtest it for 24hours and test stability
Click to expand...

Yes, I read what you wrote.

The stock RAM in my Mini is MICRON MT8JTF25664HZ-1G6M1.

The data sheet for that RAM states under "Operating Conditions" a minimum Operating Supply Voltage of 1.425v.

I don't believe that Apple would install that RAM if the motherboard could only send 1.35v.
 
I

iWeekend

macrumors regular
Nov 28, 2012
118
1
Partially thanks to dogmusic's post, I also grabbed the G. Skill SQ series. Very happy with the purchase.
 
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