What RAM do you recommend for 2012 Mini's?

[mcsolas]

I am planning to buy 16gb for a 2012 Mini with a 2.6GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 Processor. What type of RAM would you recommend?

[GGJstudios]

Originally Posted by mcsolas

What type of RAM is popular for 2012 Mini's?

I am planning to buy 16gb for a Mini with a 2.6GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 Processor.

Some great sources for RAM for your Mac are OWC, Crucial and newegg.com.

[mcsolas]

Thank you. So far I am liking this one:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other.../1600DDR3S16P/

edit - went ahead and got it. I will post in the forum as I complete the setup. thank you for your help.

[tejota1911]

Crucial, Kingston, and G.SKILL have never let me down.

[53x12]

Originally Posted by mcsolas

Thank you. So far I am liking this one:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other.../1600DDR3S16P/

edit - went ahead and got it. I will post in the forum as I complete the setup. thank you for your help.

That is some pricey RAM as you are paying a good 40% markup compared to other 16GB options.

[esmith2039]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231631
.. The memory I got for ours. Looks like the same specs and cheaper.

[philipma1957]

i got 6 of these for 225 on a black friday sale.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820239287

so far they have worked in the 3 machines I put them in.

[thekev]

Originally Posted by mcsolas

Thank you. So far I am liking this one:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other.../1600DDR3S16P/

edit - went ahead and got it. I will post in the forum as I complete the setup. thank you for your help.

I'd typically say crucial. Test it prior to real use regardless of where you purchase it. I emphasize that to everyone.

[ybz90]

Honestly, I say go to Newegg and get the cheapest one. Even the "no-names" likely source their NAND from the same manufacturers like Hynix, Samsung, etc.

These days, there's no need to buy special "for Mac" RAM anymore, as they use basically off the shelf Intel chipsets and aren't picky like the PowerPC days. As long as the specs are right, they should work just fine. OWC provides great service and some good products, but many of their products are overpriced.

[airmac]

hi, is this ram compatible with mac mini (late 2012)?

http://www.crucial.com/eu/store/part...CT102464BF160B

[mcsolas]

Its good to know there are a lot of options. I'm looking forward to putting my system together, with luck I think it will ship Monday.

Once the ram is installed, what apps do you use to test it?

[Bartzca]

Just an FYI,

G Skill #F3-1600C11D-16GSQ is not compatible in Late 2012 Mac Mini.

Purchased from Newegg after reading some feedback that it worked I ordered some.

Worked well for an hour or so and noticeable speed increase then first lock up.

Swapped them around and re seated and kept locking up.

Ran the Mac Hardware Test and locked up almost immediately during memory test.

[philipma1957]

Originally Posted by mcsolas

Its good to know there are a lot of options. I'm looking forward to putting my system together, with luck I think it will ship Monday.

Once the ram is installed, what apps do you use to test it?

memtest 86+ is the gold standard you have to burn a cd/dvd or make a usb on their website.

the next best is rember here is the link


http://www.kelleycomputing.net:16080/rember/

[esmith2039]

Originally Posted by Bartzca

Just an FYI,

G Skill #F3-1600C11D-16GSQ is not compatible in Late 2012 Mac Mini.

Purchased from Newegg after reading some feedback that it worked I ordered some.

Worked well for an hour or so and noticeable speed increase then first lock up.

Swapped them around and re seated and kept locking up.

Ran the Mac Hardware Test and locked up almost immediately during memory test.

Mine has ran almost a day and hasn't locked up. I'd say you got a bad chip.

[Bartzca]

Originally Posted by esmith2039

Mine has ran almost a day and hasn't locked up. I'd say you got a bad chip.

I thought of getting replacement and trying again, however Newegg.ca is already going to cost $25.00 to ship back, if it happens again it'll be another $25 to send back again.

I'm going to try another brand entirely and spin the wheel one more time.

I did email G Skill support and received reply back in 12 hours saying:

"The memory kit you have purchased is not designed for Mac products. Please
contact your retailer to see if you can exchange for a "FA-1600C11D-16GSQ",
which is a memory kit designed for Mac products.

Please feel free to contact us again if you have any further questions.
Thank you for choosing G.Skill.

Best Regards

Tech Support Team, F.A.E."

Which is the ram I should have ordered in the first place.

I didn't because 2012 Mac Mini wasn't listed and G Skill's website RAM Configurator doesn't work. With no reviews on Newegg I went with the one others were saying worked.

Kind of a shot in the dark, but this is my first mac, I've built probably a dozen PC's over the years and NEVER had DOA RAM so I'm a little leery.

If my replacement works I'll post results here.

[mcsolas]

Originally Posted by philipma1957

memtest 86+ is the gold standard you have to burn a cd/dvd or make a usb on their website.

the next best is rember here is the link


http://www.kelleycomputing.net:16080/rember/

Many thanks! Rember looks promising, I think it will be all I need.

Some of this thread info might be useful to include in the buying guide. I did check before posting.
http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_Mini_Buyer%27s_Guide

[esmith2039]

Originally Posted by Bartzca

I thought of getting replacement and trying again, however Newegg.ca is already going to cost $25.00 to ship back, if it happens again it'll be another $25 to send back again.

I'm going to try another brand entirely and spin the wheel one more time.

I did email G Skill support and received reply back in 12 hours saying:

"The memory kit you have purchased is not designed for Mac products. Please
contact your retailer to see if you can exchange for a "FA-1600C11D-16GSQ",
which is a memory kit designed for Mac products.

Please feel free to contact us again if you have any further questions.
Thank you for choosing G.Skill.

Best Regards

Tech Support Team, F.A.E."

Which is the ram I should have ordered in the first place.

I didn't because 2012 Mac Mini wasn't listed and G Skill's website RAM Configurator doesn't work. With no reviews on Newegg I went with the one others were saying worked.

Kind of a shot in the dark, but this is my first mac, I've built probably a dozen PC's over the years and NEVER had DOA RAM so I'm a little leery.

If my replacement works I'll post results here.

My mistake didn't catch the first 2 letters, FS versus FA. I had a choice between Crucial and Gskill the only reason I went with the gskill was due to the fact no taxes with newegg. Didn't care for newegg's shipping so might be the last order.

[Bartzca]

Originally Posted by Bartzca

Just an FYI,

G Skill #F3-1600C11D-16GSQ is not compatible in Late 2012 Mac Mini.

Purchased from Newegg after reading some feedback that it worked I ordered some.

Worked well for an hour or so and noticeable speed increase then first lock up.

Swapped them around and re seated and kept locking up.

Ran the Mac Hardware Test and locked up almost immediately during memory test.

Update:

Recwived Corsair Vengeance http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00

Been running for about 6 hours with no issues.

I won't bother to update again unless problems arise.

[cjgonzales1900]

I am looking to upgrade my RAM in my newly bought Mac Mini 2012. I have always bought from OWC but Seeing how i can save over $20 by going with Crucial I think I will take a gamble. Does anyone recommend going this route?

[tejota1911]

Originally Posted by cjgonzales1900

I am looking to upgrade my RAM in my newly bought Mac Mini 2012. I have always bought from OWC but Seeing how i can save over $20 by going with Crucial I think I will take a gamble. Does anyone recommend going this route?

I would. I like OWC, but prefer Crucial RAM over just about any other brand. The fact that its cheaper only sweetens the deal.

----------

Originally Posted by Bartzca

Update:

Recwived Corsair Vengeance http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00

Been running for about 6 hours with no issues.

I won't bother to update again unless problems arise.

Glad the Corsair Vengeance is working for you. There is no reason the G.SKILL RAM shouldn't have worked for you, besides a bad chip. I'm actually running the faster CL10 version of that RAM that I picked up for $59 before the price jump. Works flawlessly.

[costabunny]

Ive always used crucial and have not had issue. also the memtest suggested is good practice.

i suggest always keeping the original memory. i like to leep it in the crucial box

its tempting to make a few shekels, but just in case i have orig nearby. also good should you need to send to apple.

[jpxdude]

I use GeIL Ram which is running very well!

[53x12]

Originally Posted by cjgonzales1900

I am looking to upgrade my RAM in my newly bought Mac Mini 2012. I have always bought from OWC but Seeing how i can save over $20 by going with Crucial I think I will take a gamble. Does anyone recommend going this route?

No need to worry about Crucial. They make great RAM that I have never had issues with. Definitely save the $20 over the OWC.

[mcsolas]

I tried setting it up the mini with the OWC 16 gb ram last night and ran rember twice. The test threw this error:

Block Sequential : (trimmed).... setting 113 of 256testing 113 of 256

FAILURE! Data mismatch at local BUFA address 0x0000000165b834c0, BUFB address 0x00000002a2d17cc0
BUFA Data: 0x7070707070707070, BUFB Data: 0x7070707060707070

What does this "block sequential" failure mean? I am going to look at potentially running some more tests before passing judgement.. but its not looking good. The test failed in the same place twice.

[Travisimo]

Originally Posted by Bartzca

Update:

Recwived Corsair Vengeance http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00

Been running for about 6 hours with no issues.

I won't bother to update again unless problems arise.

No problems with the Corsair here either. I've been running the 16GB upgrade on my 2012 Mac Mini 24/7 for a couple of days now without issue. Wasn't as good of a deal as some of you got, but the price was decent and Amazon delivered quickly.

PS - I am amazed at how much better the Mac runs with 16GB of memory! I don't have an SSD, but everything loads quickly and there is of course no swapping to and from the hard disk. I have Windows 7 installed via Virtualbox and it was making my Mini very sluggish before the RAM upgrade. But now I have dedicated 2GB just for the virtual machine and both the Mac and Windows 7 can run simultaneously without slowing down my Mac at all. Just an anecdote for those interested...