Can I use PC3-10600 RAM instead of PC3-12800 for my iMac?

Silly John Fatty · May 5, 2014

Long story short in a few points:

I have a mid 2011 iMac (the one in my signature) with 32 GB of RAM that I bought at Crucial
Those 32 GB are PC3-10600
I'd like to buy a new iMac, the new 3,5 Ghz, also 27" and i7
I asked Crucial if my current RAM will work in the new Mac
They said no, because my current 32 GB are PC3-10600 and I'd need PC3-12800 for the new one

Just wondering if that's true? Obviously they want to sell as much as possible. I hope they didn't lie to me, I'd never buy from them again.

I don't know what these PC3 things are, but from what I got, it's just the speed of the memory. So my old (current) RAM would just be a bit slower, no? I mean to me it sounds like the iMac allows faster RAM, but that doesn't mean you need it.

Thanks!

PatrickVogeli · May 5, 2014

on paper it should work, as PC3-10600 is the same type of memory as PC3-12800, just slower. Both are DDR3 So-Dimms rated at 1,35V.

However, I've heard the iMacs to be quite picky with the RAM, but this seems to be a trend on all newer machines.

I'd just order the new iMac, test it a few days/weeks with stock RAM (to make sure the machine works with stock memory) and then put your 32GB and try it with them. Worst thing is that it won't work and the iMac won't boot or will come up and start beeping. If installed correctly, it won't harm anything to try those.

Patrick

Silly John Fatty · May 5, 2014

Hmm I see. I guess I'll try that, if they don't work I'll sell them and buy them again I guess. Perhaps it's not even that bad to have faster memory, who knows.

Thanks, and greetings from your neighbours in the south east of you.

flynz4 · May 5, 2014

PatrickVogeli said:
Worst thing is that it won't work and the iMac won't boot or will come up and start beeping. If installed correctly, it won't harm anything to try those.

Worst thing possible is that it does boot, and appear to work OK... but then be unstable giving system instability... or performing silent data corruption.

Personally... I would just buy new memory that is specced for the new machine.

/Jim

eddieaus · May 5, 2014

i have both 10600 and 12800 RAM (8GB in total) installed on my 2011 iMac 27". work perfectly.

SaSaSushi · May 6, 2014

If the PC3-10600 Crucial RAM is DDR3L (1.35V) then it is possible it might be usable in a Late 2013 iMac but if I were a betting man, I wouldn't give it great odds.

As previously mentioned the Haswell iMacs are extremely finicky with RAM. I do happen to recommend the Crucial CT2K8G3S160BM model PC3-12800 sold at Amazon.com. After many failed attempts to add 16GB of RAM to the stock Apple 16GB on my Haswell iMac, this was the one that finally worked without causing system instability and kernel panics.

With that RAM you may find it won't even boot, just give error beeps. There's no harm in trying it though.

eddieaus said:
i have both 10600 and 12800 RAM (8GB in total) installed on my 2011 iMac 27". work perfectly.

My previous iMac (Late 2009) had no issues with RAM upgrades either. This extreme sensitivity seem to be something new with Haswell.

rambo47 · May 7, 2014

I'm using 1333 MHz RAM in my 2010 iMac and it runs great!

SaSaSushi · May 7, 2014

rambo47 said:
I'm using 1333 MHz RAM in my 2010 iMac and it runs great!

Thanks, but that's not a great surprise considering PC3-10600 1333MHz is the spec'd memory for the 2010 iMacs.

The OP wants to use it in a Late 2013 iMac.

Eduardot · May 7, 2014

DDR3 PC3-10600 in imac 2013 late

Already tried it all 32gig of it.
iMac would not even boot.

rambo47 · May 9, 2014

SaSaSushi said:
Thanks, but that's not a great surprise considering PC3-10600 1333MHz is the spec'd memory for the 2010 iMacs.

The OP wants to use it in a Late 2013 iMac.

He said 2011 in his original post. I figured it would be close enough to work.

Silly John Fatty · May 10, 2014

Thanks for all your input guys

I'll see if they work when I get the Mac, if not then I'll just buy some new ones I guess and sell the old ones.

sconstantine · Dec 9, 2014

If I may ask, what was the outcome?

Silly John Fatty · Dec 9, 2014

The outcome was that I went with a Mac Pro instead of an iMac

So sadly, I do not know if it would have worked.

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