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768MB to 1024MB worth it?

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iMetalG5

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 13, 2005
786
0
A guy i met wants to sell me a 512 stick by PNY for my iMac. I'd pull the stock 256 and add the 512 but he wants $40 for it. I mean is it really worth it to up it from 768 to 1024MB?

I'd love to get 1GB stick to have 1512MB but its expensive. Cheapest I found was at CompUSA for $175
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=50480173&pfp=cat3

never even heard of this brand. I know you can get 1GB sticks for a lot less online but was curious what you thought of the above product anyway...
 
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iMetalG5

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 13, 2005
786
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i guess will this make a difference at all? i've been on 768 so it will only be another 256...
 
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cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
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Do 'top' in a terminal, launch your heaviest setup, and watch the paging.
 
wheezy

wheezy

macrumors 65816
Apr 7, 2005
1,280
1
Alpine, UT
cube said:
Do 'top' in a terminal, launch your heaviest setup, and watch the paging.
Click to expand...

How do you do that? I've been wanting to watch paging somehow...

And every bit does count, easy upgrade for $40 to me, and newegg.com is a great place for memory, and they ship soooooooo fast.
 
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iMetalG5

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 13, 2005
786
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that is interesting (doing the TOP in terminal), i'm going to try that tonight and see what I get.

I'm just wondering if its really needed. I mean i don't run more than two apps at the same time, when running iMovie/iDVD I stop everything and usually "go solo" with iMovie or iDVD.

so maybe I'm fine at 768. But the more the better but i'm wondering if i should just wait and save up for a 1gb stick this way maybe in a year or so i can get another 1GB stick and pull the 512 stick so that i have 2GB of RAM.... what do you think?
 
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cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
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I don't think $40 is a good deal. If it were $25, I'd go for it.

Note that if you want to take advantage of dual-channel with the G5 machines, you need two identical sticks.
 
I

iMetalG5

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 13, 2005
786
0
cube said:
I don't think $40 is a good deal. If it were $25, I'd go for it.

Note that if you want to take advantage of dual-channel with the G5 machines, you need two identical sticks.
Click to expand...

i didn't think this mattered. but the 512 stick i have in there is PNY so if i do get this other one they would be identical. will this be worth it?

[edit] btw - when i ran TOP i showed (0) in both pageins pageouts. But every time i opened an app it would go up and then back down to zero. I've done it a few times with iMovie/iDVD, iTunes and Safari and widgets open at once. Although I was not doing any video editing at the time i was just curious to see what would happen. When i do video edit everything else is closed (including widgets). I try not to run iMovie and iDVD at the same time.

Do you think i need the extra RAM at this time?
 
solvs

solvs

macrumors 603
Jun 25, 2002
5,684
1
LaLaLand, CA
Newegg is definitely the way to go. Just read the user reviews, and if you have issues, you can send it back for a refund or replacement. $40 isn't bad, but what if it doesn't work? Guaranteed to run in the iMac. Is there a warranty on it, or will he give you your money back? For $40, you can buy it new. Cheaper if you factor in rebates.

Tell him to sell it on eBay, you'll be buying from Newegg .
 
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cube

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May 10, 2004
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iMetalG5 said:
i didn't think this mattered. but the 512 stick i have in there is PNY so if i do get this other one they would be identical. will this be worth it?

[edit] btw - when i ran TOP i showed (0) in both pageins pageouts. But every time i opened an app it would go up and then back down to zero. I've done it a few times with iMovie/iDVD, iTunes and Safari and widgets open at once. Although I was not doing any video editing at the time i was just curious to see what would happen. When i do video edit everything else is closed (including widgets). I try not to run iMovie and iDVD at the same time.

Do you think i need the extra RAM at this time?
Click to expand...

Well, it's the same brand, but is it the same part number? They should have the same timings. Some people say dual-channel is not worth it, although I've seen some impressive benchmarks on P4 with HT and ATI 9700.

You would need to look while doing some editing or encoding. If the number
in parentheses is low, I would just save the money. If $40 is no big deal, make low = zero.
 
SpaceMagic

SpaceMagic

macrumors 68000
Oct 26, 2003
1,744
9
Cardiff, Wales
I upgraded from 512 to 768 to 1024 by buying really cheap 2x128 DDRs on ebay.

The biggest increase i'd say was 768 to 1024. The 512 -> 768 upgrade just didn't feel any different for me and I got a load of Page Outs still. With 1GB i get far fewer page outs than I did with 768 and especially 512.

I'd pay the $40.. and just get it!
 
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iMetalG5

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 13, 2005
786
0
SpaceMagic said:
I upgraded from 512 to 768 to 1024 by buying really cheap 2x128 DDRs on ebay.

The biggest increase i'd say was 768 to 1024. The 512 -> 768 upgrade just didn't feel any different for me and I got a load of Page Outs still. With 1GB i get far fewer page outs than I did with 768 and especially 512.

I'd pay the $40.. and just get it!
Click to expand...


wait guys. I just saw a Best Buy ad for PNY 512MB PC3200 DDR RAM for $60 with a $20 rebate. Is this the same RAM that would be used for the iMac? If so then his $40 price is not good. He should sell it to me for $20 Right???? ;)
 
I

iMetalG5

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 13, 2005
786
0
cube said:
Well, it's the same brand, but is it the same part number? They should have the same timings. Some people say dual-channel is not worth it, although I've seen some impressive benchmarks on P4 with HT and ATI 9700.

You would need to look while doing some editing or encoding. If the number
in parentheses is low, I would just save the money. If $40 is no big deal, make low = zero.
Click to expand...

Yup same part #'s and please see my post above. I think its the exact same RAM he is trying to sell me. I didn't see the part number but I'm gonna go to the BB site now to find out.
 
zen.state

zen.state

macrumors 68020
Mar 13, 2005
2,181
8
this goes back to the #1 rule of computing... you can NEVER have enough ram. I would grab it because even if you don't multitask much it will still speed up osx.
 
Abstract

Abstract

macrumors Penryn
Dec 27, 2002
24,837
850
Location Location Location
Your RAM doesn't need to be the same brand.

If I did need to get the same brand of RAM for my 12" PB, I'd need to get Samsung RAM, as one of the 2 sticks allowed in my PB is soldered to the logic board, which left me only 1 free RAM slot. I once had Crucial RAM in that slot, but now I have a 1 GB of OWC branded RAM in that slot. The RAM soldered to the logic board is probably Samsung, meaning I have never had the same type of RAM in both slots.

I don't think it'll make much of a difference for you.

If you have had more than 30000 page-outs after 1 week of uptime, then maybe its worth it. I have 15000 page-outs in 15 days of system uptime. I have 1.25 GB of RAM in m PB. :)
 
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cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
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Abstract said:
Your RAM doesn't need to be the same brand.

If I did need to get the same brand of RAM for my 12" PB, I'd need to get Samsung RAM, as one of the 2 sticks allowed in my PB is soldered to the logic board, which left me only 1 free RAM slot. I once had Crucial RAM in that slot, but now I have a 1 GB of OWC branded RAM in that slot. The RAM soldered to the logic board is probably Samsung, meaning I have never had the same type of RAM in both slots.

I don't think it'll make much of a difference for you.
Click to expand...

PowerBooks do not support dual-channel mode, that's why you don't care about matching sticks. And the matching needs to be done only by pairs to enable this mode.
 
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cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
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zen.state said:
this goes back to the #1 rule of computing... you can NEVER have enough ram. I would grab it because even if you don't multitask much it will still speed up osx.
Click to expand...

I have 576MiB of RAM and I'm always running with about 200MiB free. Adding more RAM would speed up NOTHING. I had one additional 128MiB stick before but I gave it to my mom because of this.
 
quidire

quidire

macrumors 6502
Aug 11, 2004
349
0
Washington DC (in Kalorama Triangle)
We use Macs, not PCs.

OS X uses the Unix memory model; all available RAM is used as a disk cache, and thus does speed up your computer (as hard drive access is the slowest data operation that can occur inside your computer).

Get the extra RAM, or really, spend the $200 and get the 1GB; its worth it!

-RS
 
I

iMetalG5

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 13, 2005
786
0
well i bought it off him for $30 and just put it in. I must say I see a speed difference. Just browsing the 'net Safari seems to be loading faster (or it could just be me) but yeah there is definitly a difference in how snappy things are.

Maybe next year I'll buy 2GB of RAM if need be but for now this is plenty, thanks for all your comments!
 
zen.state

zen.state

macrumors 68020
Mar 13, 2005
2,181
8
cube said:
I have 576MiB of RAM and I'm always running with about 200MiB free. Adding more RAM would speed up NOTHING. I had one additional 128MiB stick before but I gave it to my mom because of this.
Click to expand...

you have no idea what you're saying. more ram makes osx faster. period.
 
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