1600 MHz ram not working in 2011 iMac

[zepharus]

Anyone have any luck running 1600mhz ram? I'm using these and they are showing up as 1333mhz. Thoughts?

I'm presuming you ordered it with the base 4GB or RAM? You will want 8GB at a minimum probably although it depends on what other programs you keep open when you're playing WoW. But as others will tell you, better to buy the memory elsewhere.

Yes sir.

Just ordered these coming from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Y4XAAK

 

[Icy1007]

The 2011 iMac doesn't support 1600MHz RAM, only 1333MHz..

 

[Icaras]

Well for one, the new iMacs don't utilize 1600mhz RAM. I have read folks on these forums who are able to successfully use 1600mhz memory, but the iMac will automatically throttle it down to 1333mhz no matter what.

But not sure why your memory won't work. I would just stick to 1333mhz.

 

[zepharus]

Well for one, the new iMacs don't utilize 1600mhz RAM. I have read folks on these forums who are able to successfully use 1600mhz memory, but the iMac will automatically throttle it down to 1333mhz no matter what.

But not sure why your memory won't work. I would just stick to 1333mhz.

It works but throttles down to 1333

So how can the MBPs run at 1600?

 

[tsugaru]

It works but throttles down to 1333

So how can the MBPs run at 1600?

Because the mobile chips support 1066/1333/1600, and the desktop ones only support 1066/1333.

i7-2720QM (2.2GHz i7 used in upgraded 15" MBP/base 17" MBP)
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=50067

i7-2600 (3.4GHz used in CTO 27" iMac)
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52213

I'm actually somewhat surprised by this as well. Oh well. I wouldn't change my 2600 for the 2820 for the slight memory bandwidth boost in lieu of the higher CPU performance.

 

[iMikeT]

I wouldn't change my 2600 for the 2820 for the slight memory bandwidth boost in lieu of the higher CPU performance.

And could it be because you actually have use for the power behind the iMac/desktop vs. a MBP/mobile computer?

 

[sth]

The iMac only supports 1333mhz, but at least these modules will run at CL7 instead of CL9 (not that anyone could notice the difference, though).

 

[tsugaru]

And could it be because you actually have use for the power behind the iMac/desktop vs. a MBP/mobile computer?

That's correct.

 

[yashrg]

Could you notice any performance improvement/difference?
I got interested in this after reading this article. http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3/1

 

[aliensporebomb]

Just a thought....

My late 2009 iMac runs fine with 1333 mhz memory even though those models only shipped with 1067 mhz memory and were only supposed to run at that. Not so!

There's a thread here (link forthcoming) that these Macs will even will run with the 1600 mhz memory but only at 1333 mhz speed).

See:

My geekbench numbers improved substantially with this type of memory and I felt some improved "snappiness" of the machine afterwards but that probably was from going to 16 gigabytes.

 

[iMacoo7]

Just a thought....

My late 2009 iMac runs fine with 1333 mhz memory even though those models only shipped with 1067 mhz memory and were only supposed to run at that. Not so!

There's a thread here (link forthcoming) that these Macs will even will run with the 1600 mhz memory but only at 1333 mhz speed).

See:

My geekbench numbers improved substantially with this type of memory and I felt some improved "snappiness" of the machine afterwards but that probably was from going to 16 gigabytes.

You can infect run 1600 on a machine that takes 1300 and it is a bit faster, although the system will down throttle to the 1300