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iMac 5k Ram Upgrade / 4 x 4GB or better 2 x 8GB??

Klack3er

Klack3er

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 22, 2014
13
0
Germany
Hey everyone!

I got a very sweet deal on an iMac 5k with retina display but i have a question about upgrading the RAM inside of it.

My model will have the 4.0Ghz i7-processor, 256GB SSD and the M295X 4GB graphic card. But it only comes with 8GB RAM (2 x 4 GB sticks) preinstalled.

I definitely wanna upgrade again to 16GB of RAM, since i used this as well in my old Macbook Pro. Now my question: Since there are already 2 x 4GB preinstalled, i could go the cheaper way and just buy 2 more sticks with 4GB to reach my 16GB. But i don't know if this slows down the machine then? Would it be better to buy 2 sticks with 8GB and replace the 4GB sticks or is it fine to go with 4 x 4 GB sticks?

Sorry if this was discussed before, i searched for a similar topic but couldn't find one.
 
I

ixxx69

macrumors 65816
Jul 31, 2009
1,294
878
United States
Klack3er said:
But i don't know if this slows down the machine then? Would it be better to buy 2 sticks with 8GB and replace the 4GB sticks or is it fine to go with 4 x 4 GB sticks?
Click to expand...
Not sure what gave you the impression that 4 x 4GB sticks would be slower than 2 x 8GB sticks. I can't speak for some possible synthetic benchmark difference, but there wouldn't be any difference in speed in any perceivable way.

If you don't have any intention of upgrading beyond 16GB, then a couple more 4GB sticks is obviously less expensive route to go.

You seam to be reasoning that you should have 16GB in your new computer because your last computer had 16GB... but does your usage actually require more than 8GB? Maybe you don't need to upgrade at all?
 
Ledgem

Ledgem

macrumors 68020
Jan 18, 2008
2,034
924
Hawaii, USA
Given that there are four slots in total, why not use a 2x4 + 2x8 configuration? That will get you to 24 GB, and should you ever require more than that, you'll still be able to get to 32 GB.
 
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