RAM Upgrade or neigh?

[Zav]

Okay so I'm in the process of creating my external SSD to run my boot drive for my iMac and I'm just wondering if its worth upgrading my RAM whilst I'm at it? I've read mixed opinions of whether upgrading RAM is worth it unless you do constant graphical work. I don't notice much slowness now at all and I'm guessing if i upgraded, the extra RAM would just lay dormant. What do you think?

[jav6454]

Depends on your usage... which we know little off.

[simsaladimbamba]

Open Activity Monitor and go to the System Memory* tab and look for Page Outs and Swap used and report back.

Using Activity Monitor to show you CPU and RAM usage

* Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor

[UberGTO]

It all depends on how much you have now and what you do with it. More RAM is always great to have especially now when it's relatively cheap, but if you have 4-8GB and just use it for basic web surfing, and iTunes your more than set.

[Zav]

Originally Posted by jav6454

Depends on your usage... which we know little off.

I'd have thought you'd have used your intelligence from my line 'I don't notice much slowness at all' and gathered that I don't exactly create works of art on Photoshop on a regular basis


Here's my memory breakdown (average usage I'd say)

[benwiggy]

Originally Posted by Zav

I've read mixed opinions of whether upgrading RAM is worth it unless you do constant graphical work. I'm guessing if i upgraded, the extra RAM would just lay dormant.

As my grandmother would say: You can never be too thin, too rich or have too much RAM.
If you need to open up the iMac to install the RAM, then I would certainly consider the opportunity now. You may not need it at the moment, but in 2-3 years time, newer apps and increasing user demands will require more RAM.

OS X likes to have lots of RAM, and will use as much it can/needs to. (See loads of posts here "OMG, my RAM is being used!".)

I can't say I've seen many opinions suggesting that more RAM isn't worth it.

[simsaladimbamba]

You could profit from 1 GB more RAM, but not necessarily.

[Zav]

Originally Posted by simsaladimbamba

You could profit from 1 GB more RAM, but not necessarily.

Image

Well i've got two 2GB sticks in now and having a different amounts of RAM (eg two 2GB and one 4GB) can apparently effect not improve the performance, so would you say put another two 2GB sticks in rounding it up to 8GB and be done with it?

Originally Posted by benwiggy

As my grandmother would say: You can never be too thin, too rich or have too much RAM.
If you need to open up the iMac to install the RAM, then I would certainly consider the opportunity now. You may not need it at the moment, but in 2-3 years time, newer apps and increasing user demands will require more RAM.

OS X likes to have lots of RAM, and will use as much it can/needs to. (See loads of posts here "OMG, my RAM is being used!".)

I can't say I've seen many opinions suggesting that more RAM isn't worth it.

Yeah, I guess improving the computer, even though I might not necessarily utilise the improvement fully can't be bad, right?

[Chad3eleven]

I would say go for it. Memory is cheap, and even though you may not be using an app. that needs alot of memory, having several apps open will use the memory you have up.

Even a browser playing some video will suck up some memory.

Do you play any games on it? That may benifit to have some extra ram in place.

Plus its easy to add.. 2 screws on the bottom and your golden!

[MathiasMag]

What do you do that makes an SSD needed? Most people who'd take advantage of SSD woold probably also make use of more RAM.

[Zav]

Originally Posted by Chad3eleven

I would say go for it. Memory is cheap, and even though you may not be using an app. that needs alot of memory, having several apps open will use the memory you have up.

Even a browser playing some video will suck up some memory.

Do you play any games on it? That may benifit to have some extra ram in place.

Plus its easy to add.. 2 screws on the bottom and your golden!

Yeah I'd say apart from my mass amounts of Word Processing its next function is gaming (Guild Wars 2, Football Manager ect)

Originally Posted by MathiasMag

What do you do that makes an SSD needed? Most people who'd take advantage of SSD woold probably also make use of more RAM.

What you mean apart from SSD's taking a giant poo all over SATA drives? :P. In all honesty its just a bit of a fun project and who can fault the speed of SSD's? IMO they are the next big leap in computing.

[Chad3eleven]

And how are you connecting your ssd external to your imac?

unless its thunderbolt, or in the least esata there isnt a point.. fire800 will choke the throughput of the drive.

[throAU]

Propose a sticky thread:

"Should I spend <$100 to upgrade my RAM?"

Yes.


END OF THREAD


(if $100 worth of RAM is an upgrade to what you have, then yes it will make a difference. it will also be the norm on future machines within 18 months, so you can bet developers will start targetting that amount within the lifetime of your machine. the dollar figure for the RAM question should continue to apply years into the future. RAM recommendations and requirements will continue to grow as prices drop)

[stockcerts]

Memory is cheap if you're not buying it from Apple.

[Bear]

Originally Posted by Zav

Well i've got two 2GB sticks in now and having a different amounts of RAM (eg two 2GB and one 4GB) can apparently effect not improve the performance, so would you say put another two 2GB sticks in rounding it up to 8GB and be done with it?

Yes, adding 2x2GB would give better performance than adding 1x4GB.

While you may not need it [currently], look at the price difference between buying 2x2GB and 2x4GB before you decide which way to go.

[Zav]

Originally Posted by Chad3eleven

And how are you connecting your ssd external to your imac?

unless its thunderbolt, or in the least esata there isnt a point.. fire800 will choke the throughput of the drive.

Yes I am aware of this.. I'm waiting on the Caldigit T1

Originally Posted by Bear

Yes, adding 2x2GB would give better performance than adding 1x4GB.

While you may not need it [currently], look at the price difference between buying 2x2GB and 2x4GB before you decide which way to go.

Ordered 2x2GB, should be ample amounts. Like everyone is saying, its cheap enough anyway.. £25.00 to be exact. So if I need to upgrade more in the future, it will be feasible.