2011 iMac Kingston ram help!

[Funkbefgh]

info first, questions follow:

I ordered a 21.5" iMac with the 2.8Ghz quad-core i7 last week and have been drooling over the wait. You know the feeling, when every free moment clicks your brain back into thinking about the computer you don't have? It's killing me. So to pass the time I have been doing a lot of research on possible ram upgrades. Forums all over give me different answers, but I get that generally:

-I have 4 slots for up to 16GB
-the machine comes stock with 2x 2GB 1333Mhz DDR3
-it's rumored that the i7 supports 1600Mhz, but even if it doesn't, the ram will run at 1333MHz, and it's also possible it will be supported in a future firmware update
-mixing brands/sizes/speeds will generally run at the lowest clocked speed between them

so I was thinking of getting a 2x 4GB 1600Mhz pack and installing it alongside the stock ram for now, before I had an extra c-note to drop on another pair.. or possibly running with just the 8 gigs of 1600, since that should be plenty anyway. after all of that, I settled on the Kingston brand, as they seem to be the most reputable of those selling 1600Mhz stuff (and the lifetime warranty makes me feel pretty confident). Ordered two sticks from newegg only to read in a forum today...

QUESTIONS:
will the heatspreaders on the ram make it impossible to install Kingston HyperX ram in the iMac? or, can I remove the heatspreaders and just use the ram without damaging it?

this is what I have:
KHX1600C9S3K2/8GX

has anybody worked with these? or at least tried removing the heatspreaders from the cards?

mine has arrived, but I dont want to open it and have problems with what could be an easy swap to 1333Mhz Crucial before it's too late

 

[Funkbefgh]

also, would it do any harm to install the ram before the initial boot? I didnt think so, but I don't want to be asking for trouble..

 

[bpeeps]

Why do you need the 1600s? The difference is negligible, go with the 1333. Your Mac will down-clock the 1600s to 1333 if you use the stock RAM anyway.

 

[Funkbefgh]

I bought the 1600 because it was a difference of $5.. It didn't occur to me the heat spreaders might be too large for the slot until the ram had already shipped! But! The computer came 3 days early!!! I put the 8 in by themselves and it worked fine.. no more resistance than usual.. it's migrating ATM.. ss's of ram info to come, just incase it comes up for anyone else. it seemed roomy with the 2 empty slots, and booted just fine. I'm not at all concerned

 

[sth]

Could you post a system profiler screenshot after the migration is finished (running only the Kingston modules)? Thanks!

 

[Cole JM]

It isnt the processor that supports the speed of the ram, it is the motherboard, the fastest they can work with is 1333.

 

[sth]

It isnt the processor that supports the speed of the ram, it is the motherboard

Wrong, current Intel CPUs have an on-die memory controller, therefore it's not chipset-dependent.

the fastest they can work with is 1333.

People report that even 1866mhz memory works in the current MacBook Pros using i7-2820QM CPUs, which is essentially a clocked-down version of the i7-2600 you can get in the iMac.

I know that Intel doesn't officially specify 1600mhz for the i7-2600 but people in the PC world even run 2133mhz memory with that chip.

The only question is: Does the iMac recognize 1600mhz memory or will it just run at 1333mhz (which is likely)?

 

[Funkbefgh]

no such luck.. hopefully we will get an update for this.

 

[Badger^2]

why did you take the apple ram out?

And so you spend $1600 on an iMac and then skimp $5 to buy ram that *might* not have worked -- and even IF it worked at 1600 the difference would be .000000000001 seconds compared to the 1333?

 

[sth]

Image

no such luck.. hopefully we will get an update for this.

Too bad. At least you can now put the Apple RAM back in.
Thanks for posting this.

 

[Funkbefgh]

why did you take the apple ram out?

And so you spend $1600 on an iMac and then skimp $5 to buy ram that *might* not have worked -- and even IF it worked at 1600 the difference would be .000000000001 seconds compared to the 1333?

I took it out to run the test... and I will take it out again after every firmware update with my fingers crossed. I didn't skimp! I spent $5 more to get faster ram. Ram that was going to work, that was never a question. I was worried it wouldn't fit in the machine AFTER I read so in a forum AFTER I had already bought the ram, while I was still waiting for the machine to arrive.

I'm running 12GB at 1333MHz now. The heatspreaders dont touch the apple ram, but I think if all 4 cards had heatspreaders you would have some trouble wiggling the second pair in. I wont try it, I will probably buy a different pair of 4GB 1600 ram cards that do not have heat spreaders to complete my setup if they ever get it enabled. 12 is plenty for now.