This is becoming a hit or miss thing. Pretty disappointing considering the reputation of Apple.
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1.35 V & 1.5 V RAM for late 2013 iMac's
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I don't think there's any consensus on Ripjaws at all. Even in this thread there are conflicting reports. It is also not specifically marketed for the Late 2013 iMac compatibility, although it may work fine.
The Crucial CT2C8G3S160BM (Part Number CT4951624 on Crucial's own site) for the Late 2013 iMac does work. It's also $27 cheaper than the Newegg Ripjaws right now on Amazon.
I've got three weeks now with the Crucial RAM with no more panics. One more week to go until I blessedly declare it case closed.
I did extensive googling before I installed that particular RAM but could only find one forum post from a guy who installed 16GB. There is a user review on the linked newegg page that says it's running fine on the 2013 iMac, but I think it's the same person. So, there's no "consensus" per se. On the bright side, there is no problem report either.
I did install 32GB, and mine is working perfectly. It's labeled as 1.35v, but according to reviews on the internet, its effective working voltage is 1.28v. So, if a higher voltage is really a problem for the latest iMac with 32GB, it may be a safer one among low latency models out there.
As for conflicting reports SaSaSushi mentioned, I think he's confusing RIPJAWS's DDR3 1866 model and the 1600 one. The one you linked to has one success report for 16GB and another one (by me) for 32GB. No one has reported a problem, it seems.
If you're looking for compatible RAM labeled as 1.35v and CL9, this seems to be the only stick that has only successful reports and no complains on the internet; I found one trouble report on Kingston's low latency stick on 2013 iMac, although I guess it's a different problem than voltage.
Edit: I just did casual googling again, and the situation seems to be the same; one success report with 32GB (me), another with 16GB on this forum (and one more probably by the same guy on newegg), and no issue reported so far. All compatibility issues I could find about RIPJAWS are about 1866MHz sticks, which are not officially supported by Apple on 2013 iMac to begin with.
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Thank you for the clarification. I hadn't noticed but the failure reports I've seen for the G.Skill RAM do seem to be for the higher speed model.
The Crucial is still a lot lower priced though and there is a huge amount of data online to show it's a safe bet.
If you like the Ripjaws brand and don't mind paying more I suppose it's worth a try. Both the G.Skill and Crucial have lifetime warranties after all.
CL9 aside, if it's about performance, my mixture of Crucial and Apple Elpida seems to be kicking butt in Geekbench and the system performance overall is excellent.
The Crucial is still a lot lower priced though and there is a huge amount of data online to show it's a safe bet.
If you like the Ripjaws brand and don't mind paying more I suppose it's worth a try. Both the G.Skill and Crucial have lifetime warranties after all.
CL9 aside, if it's about performance, my mixture of Crucial and Apple Elpida seems to be kicking butt in Geekbench and the system performance overall is excellent.
It seems the 3 month free AppleCare was just (another) lie from the guy in the Apple Store...
Anyway the technician in AppleCare was superfriendly and offered to get my iMac for free, it's now on transit. He explained that will do extensive tests, I told him by email that my ideal resolution of all this is a replacement. Let's see how this ends
Anyway the technician in AppleCare was superfriendly and offered to get my iMac for free, it's now on transit. He explained that will do extensive tests, I told him by email that my ideal resolution of all this is a replacement. Let's see how this ends
Thanks for the update.
They may not replace the entire machine, but at the very least they should swap out the logic board if they can't pinpoint the exact cause of the panics, which is pretty much the same thing. Since you've got all Apple RAM, I'm sure they'll probably replace that as well.
The techs also have far more advanced diagnostics tools than the AHT, so maybe they can actually diagnose the actual cause of your problems.
Keep us posted.
They may not replace the entire machine, but at the very least they should swap out the logic board if they can't pinpoint the exact cause of the panics, which is pretty much the same thing. Since you've got all Apple RAM, I'm sure they'll probably replace that as well.
The techs also have far more advanced diagnostics tools than the AHT, so maybe they can actually diagnose the actual cause of your problems.
Keep us posted.
Thanks very much for checking in and I'm really glad to hear that. You reminded me that I posted the following to a similar thread on Apple's and Crucial's forums yesterday, and I forgot to post an update here as well:
Well, I never thought I'd get here but it has now been one solid month of heavy usage with my replacement set of Crucial CT2C8G3S160BM and it has been rock solid. I haven't had a single crash nor kernel panic and I am going to go out on a limb and say that if it hasn't happened yet at one month in, I'm probably OK.
It was a hellish ride to get to this point but I want others out there to know that there is hope for stable operation at 32GB with the Haswell iMacs.
I will continue to monitor this thread, and of course in the extremely unlikely event that problems occur in the future I will post about that as well.
I wish a happy resolution to all those dealing with RAM issues.
How is everyone's experiences going with the RAM KP issues?
In particular the people with 32GB 1.5v RAM.
I've just ordered a iMac 27" 5K, 512GB SSD, 8GB 1600MHz stock RAM, with the faster CPU, 4.0GHz i7
I want to buy 4 x 8GB sticks for it, and there seems to be quite a price difference in New Zealand for 1.35 vs 1.5v RAM, so was hoping to to buy the 1.5v RAM.
Edit:
I ended up playing the safer route and bought 2x HX316LS9IBK2, 1.35v
HyperX Impact SODIMM - 16GB Kit* (2x8GB) - DDR3L 1600MHz CL9 SODIMM
Been running it for about a week now without issues. (as everyone has mentioned)
In particular the people with 32GB 1.5v RAM.
I've just ordered a iMac 27" 5K, 512GB SSD, 8GB 1600MHz stock RAM, with the faster CPU, 4.0GHz i7
I want to buy 4 x 8GB sticks for it, and there seems to be quite a price difference in New Zealand for 1.35 vs 1.5v RAM, so was hoping to to buy the 1.5v RAM.
Edit:
I ended up playing the safer route and bought 2x HX316LS9IBK2, 1.35v
HyperX Impact SODIMM - 16GB Kit* (2x8GB) - DDR3L 1600MHz CL9 SODIMM
Been running it for about a week now without issues. (as everyone has mentioned)
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For those still curious, I've bought 4x 8GB Samsung DDR3 1600MHz at 1.35V and I'm delighted to say that it works with no problems at all.
Same here. I have 32 GB, so two of these 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) kits in my retina iMac. Installed them when I got the iMac before booting up first time.
I think it's key you have 1,35 V SO-DIMMs. If you go for SO-DIMMs with a higher supply, you could suffer from voltage drop or slightly varying levels more easily (e.g. under load).
I'm not sure about the frequency. People are using e.g. 1866 MHz without problems. Haswell should be able to work with these.