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TigerPRO

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 27, 2003
414
0
Wisconsin
I'm using a 1Ghz iMac that has only 256MB of RAM, which I am told is not enough for running Mac OS X really well. Under typical operation, I have anywhere from 5-25MB of RAM free according to my activity monitor. If I was to add some more, it would probably be a 512MB module. How much will this really help?

If anyone has had an experience upgrading from 256MB (or something) and could give me an idea about how much it really helped, I'd appreciate it allot. Thanks.
 

eclipse525

macrumors 6502a
Aug 5, 2003
850
0
USA, New York
I dont' care what anyone say's BUT I truely believe that your system should have a minimum on 1g of RAM. Especially, if you want you're OS to run smoothly and ESPECIALLY if you're doing anything with Video, Music or Higher end Grapics/3D.

BUT OFcourse they'll tell you can run it with less and it's just fine. Maybe, maybe not.


PS-> I have a 1gig of RAM in my iMac 17" FP.



~e
 

MoparShaha

Contributor
May 15, 2003
1,646
38
San Francisco
You can't comprehend the difference it makes. It's THAT good! Upgrade to as much as you can. I wouldn't run OS X with less than 768 MB RAM. When I got my Dual 1.25 G4 with the stock 256 MB RAM, it was almost as slow as my old 400 Mhz iMac with 768 MB RAM--seriously. As soon as my RAM upgrade came, the machine came to life. Just because your activity monitor says theres 5-25 MB of RAM free doesn't mean anything. Your machine always will keep a little RAM unused. Your machine needs more RAM, its just paging everything to the hard drive. Get the 512 MB upgrade, you won't believe the difference.
 

Powerbook G5

macrumors 68040
Jun 23, 2003
3,974
1
St Augustine, FL
I got a single 512 RAM module BTO with the intention of upgrading to a gig whenever I could afford to, but honestly, OS X with all the programs I normally use running in the background are all running smooth as silk and I usually have between 250-350 megs free according to MenuMeters.
 

mymemory

macrumors 68020
May 9, 2001
2,495
-1
Miami
Originally posted by MoparShaha
I wouldn't run OS X with less than 768 MB RAM.

Baaaah! I'm runing OSX in a G3 with 256MB of ram.

How importnat is ram? Ram is the life of the machine, it is more important than the processor actually.

Upgrade it as much as you can and your computer will last ages.

I can not affor any more ram but I can take my powerbook up to 1G of ram. That way you can have more memory for your applications and you can increase some speed too, but you need to add some good ram for that one.

If you have 2 slots, get the maximun amount of ram you can per slot. Do not get another of 256 if you can get another of 512 instead. the one of 256 will not have the same value once is used.
 

pyrotoaster

macrumors 65816
Dec 28, 2002
1,004
0
Oak Park, IL
RAM is as important - or more important than - clock speed. Head over to somewhere like dealram.com and buy at least another 256 MB (I'd go for 512). If you're only doing basic stuff, the extra 256 will be enough. If you're using any more powerful applications (Photoshop, even iMovie), then you'll want the extra 512.

A total of 512 RAM should be your bare minimum, though.
 

TigerPRO

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 27, 2003
414
0
Wisconsin
Alright

Thanks allot guys, that really helps. I'm going to get my hands on the 512MB module as soon as possible. I do allot of video work with FCP, so it'll probably do allot of good like you say. I'll post my results after I install it and let you know how much it helpped.

But there is one last question. Does it matter whether I get it from Apple or some local (or online) cheap shop? I've never purchase Mac memory before.
 

pyrotoaster

macrumors 65816
Dec 28, 2002
1,004
0
Oak Park, IL
Rule number one of RAM buying: Don't buy from Apple. They charge a premium that's not worth paying.

I suggest dealram.com. I bought a 512 module for my iMac through there for about $50 around a year ago. Haven't had a single problem.

By the way, if you're doing a lot of work in FPC, you might want even more RAM than 768. Final Cut can put a lot of strain on your system (particularly on that 1 GHz G4). Consier maxing out your RAM (if you can afford it).
 

Prabz

macrumors member
Sep 25, 2003
73
0
Meri PHILLY meri jaan!
Originally posted by mymemory
How importnat is ram? Ram is the life of the machine, it is more important than the processor actually...

GOD! I hope you are right... in fact, I could hug you right now dude, if you are!!!

I just placed my order a few days back for a 1.25 PB with 1 GB RAM, with the 4800rpm drive
and was kinda kicking myself over not having got the 5400rpm...

But I guess, I did well, after all! <phew!>



Your comments, and that of pyrotoaster, make me feel so much BETTER now!

:)
 

mj_1903

macrumors 6502a
Feb 3, 2003
563
0
Sydney, Australia
Have a brand new 1ghz 15" Pbook and running with the stock 256mb was like running a snail after 2 apps were open.

I added 512mb more and it started flying. When I get the chance I will upgrade with another 1gb of RAM.

In my investigation, adding 256mb of RAM with 5 apps open will give a snappiness boost of around 15%. This continues up and becomes more and more obvious with 10+ apps open.

Mac OS X will also soak up as much RAM as possible after a day of use. For instance, icons are cached from the Finder, frameworks are added to RAM for faster loading, interfaces for common apps are completely loaded in memory, etc. It really makes a big difference.
 

TigerPRO

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 27, 2003
414
0
Wisconsin
Does it really matter where you get it from? I found a 512MB module really cheap for only $95. Is it going to be crummy quality?
 

cr2sh

macrumors 68030
May 28, 2002
2,554
3
downtown
Who wants to make an argument for ECC Ram over non-parity RAM that will convince me?

This thread is scary actually, 512mb is too little ram?
 

iGav

macrumors G3
Mar 9, 2002
9,025
1
Originally posted by Powerbook G5
I remember being in awe when I installed an extra 128 megs to my PowerBook G3

I remember having people in awe of my G3 266MHz that had 192MB of RAM back in 1998, when the norm at that time was 32MB and 64MB and if you had 128MB then they'd buy you beers at the students union... heheheh!
 

cr2sh

macrumors 68030
May 28, 2002
2,554
3
downtown
I'd hate to have to pull a 512 in order to up all the way to 2gb... but then its only $60 worth of RAM... Would I actually see a difference between 1.5GB and 2GB?

This 17" will take 1gb chips right? Ugh.. when I used to have PC's I knew everything about them... but my life is so much simpler now with apple.
 

1macker1

macrumors 65816
Oct 9, 2003
1,375
0
A Higher Level
My co-worker has 640M of ram in his g3 ibook and i have 256M of ram in my 17" imac. And i can say that his ibook is twice as fast as my iMac. Thus I will be getting more memory soon.

*why is memory for mac's so expensive compared to pc memory*
 

yamabushi

macrumors 65816
Oct 6, 2003
1,009
1
In order to prevent disk caching for most users running common applications I recommend at least 512MB for OSX or Windows XP. OS8 or Windows 98 don't need as much RAM to run - 128MB should be enough. OS9 could use a little bit more, say about 160MB. Windows 2000 should have at least 384MB. If you are running Windows under Virtual PC on a Mac add these minimum requirements for both Windows and Mac OS together for your total required RAM.

These should be considered minimum amounts of RAM for best perfomance. All of these operating systems will boot and operate with much less RAM but you will get noticeably slower perfomance. If you are running OSX and often use applications that benefit from large amounts of RAM such as Final Cut Pro or Photoshop treat yourself to 1GB of RAM or more. Win2k, XP, and OSX all have advanced memory management that will eat up as much RAM as you can provide in order to give the best performance possible. There are diminishing returns in performance as you increase RAM. 1GB might be the sweet spot for OSX where adding more RAM provides little gain in perfomance but it depends upon your intended use.
 

pyrotoaster

macrumors 65816
Dec 28, 2002
1,004
0
Oak Park, IL
Originally posted by 1macker1
My co-worker has 640M of ram in his g3 ibook and i have 256M of ram in my 17" imac. And i can say that his ibook is twice as fast as my iMac. Thus I will be getting more memory soon.

*why is memory for mac's so expensive compared to pc memory*
RAM is only expensive if you want it to be. For example, buying from Apple will be expensive (very expensive).

Rather than buying RAM that is specifically labeled as for (for example) an "iMac", just buy the same kind of RAM the iMac uses. Dealram.com (third time I've mentioned it in this thread, I know), and probably a lot of other online RAM places (I've only bought through Dealram, though), sorts by compatibility.

Point is, it's a lot cheaper to just buy RAM that's compatible, rather than buying RAM specifically labeled for your machine.
 

kanker

macrumors 6502
Nov 13, 2003
280
0
Indy
Originally posted by Powerbook G5
I remember being in awe when I installed an extra 128 megs to my PowerBook G3
I remember having an 80MB hard drive and wondering how I would ever fill it.
I've said it a couple of other places, I'll say it here- I've seen some posts about Panther having issues with some RAM that worked fine in Jag. I'd check this out a little, maybe wait a couple of weeks to see how this all develops- it might just be a few isolated incidents, or it might be a major problem. That said, I'd rather invest an extra 20 or 30 buck in a good stick, especially when you consider it's going in a $1000-3000 machine.
 
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