3rd party RAM vs RAM from Apple

[Wilson]

I'm planning to buy a powermac G5 dual 1.8GHz and I was wondering what's the difference between 3rd party RAM and the RAM from apple? If there is no difference, or very little difference, is it best to buy the computer with the default 256 MB RAM already installed and then add RAM from a 3rd party supplier? I'm planning to have at least 1GB RAM for my graphic design needs. If anyone has any suggestions on what I should do that would be great. Any recommendations on where to buy RAM too would be great. Thanks.

 

[edesignuk]

Don't ever buy RAM for Apple, plain and simple. It's a rip-off. Get your upgrades at www.crucial.com!

 

[thedoc1111]

hey I was going to say that!

There is a difference between RAM from say PNY and Apple Store RAM - so get good branded RAM.

Crucial is the best compromise between Price and Quality. Crucial RAM Is great quality - never had a DIMM fail on me (and I have about 6 on the go at any one time) and is at a reasonable price - especially compared to the Apple Store.

And you can select the RAM for your system using their menus and they guarantee it will be compatible!

doc

 

[gopher]

I'm planning to buy a powermac G5 dual 1.8GHz and I was wondering what's the difference between 3rd party RAM and the RAM from apple? If there is no difference, or very little difference, is it best to buy the computer with the default 256 MB RAM already installed and then add RAM from a 3rd party supplier? I'm planning to have at least 1GB RAM for my graphic design needs. If anyone has any suggestions on what I should do that would be great. Any recommendations on where to buy RAM too would be great. Thanks.

The only reason to buy Apple RAM is if you:

1. have only one authorized repair shop and that is Apple's own retail store. Since Apple will only install its own RAM.
2. the RAM slot you need (not want, but actually need) to upgrade is one that doesn't fall under the customer installable parts on Apple's website:

http://www.info.apple.com/usen/cip/

and you have filled the customer installable parts slot with the most the spec database says it can hold:

http://www.info.apple.com/support/applespec.html

since going beyond that spec may make it difficult for X to run without kernel panics:

http://www.macmaps.com/kernelpanic.html

3. The vendors do not have the RAM you need in stock

http://www.macmaps.com/Macosxspeed.html#RAM

Other authorized repair shops can install in non-customer installable part ports.
Apple will only install its own RAM at its retail stores.
The link in the 3rd statement above lists vendors who back their RAM with a lifetime warranty in case the RAM goes bad and starts to cause kernel panics.

 

[atszyman]

Actually Apple Ram is not so bad if you get the educational discount, provided that you are upgrading to the one stick memory options. $90 to go to one stick of 512 MB, or $450 to go to one 1 GB stick both of these prices beat Cruicials but of course you could always sell the ram that you get and buy from Crucial for a further discount but for the 1GB stick you'd probably only end up saving less than $100.

 

[Wilson]

Thank you all for your replies.

I think i'm gonna get two 512 MB sticks of RAM from Crucial. When it says "4 banks of 2" does that mean I have to install 2 sticks of RAM at one time?

Also, has anyone from Canada bought RAM from Crucial? I'm a little concerned about the customs and taxes. I had a bad experience with that before when I made a purchase online (not with Crucial).

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Thank you all for your replies.

I think i'm gonna get two 512 MB sticks of RAM from Crucial. When it says "4 banks of 2" does that mean I have to install 2 sticks of RAM at one time?

Also, has anyone from Canada bought RAM from Crucial? I'm a little concerned about the customs and taxes. I had a bad experience with that before when I made a purchase online (not with Crucial).

I was very happy with OWC (macsales.com).

 

[jsulens]

is the ram at the apple store the best ram you can get for ur mac reguardless of price. i know that it is more expensive than crucial and those other brands but are those other brands better if price did not matter?

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

is the ram at the apple store the best ram you can get for ur mac reguardless of price. i know that it is more expensive than crucial and those other brands but are those other brands better if price did not matter?

The only thing with buying Apple memory is that you can pretty much assure that it will work on your Mac.

As long as you get properly spec'd RAM (OWC and Crucial do well on this) there will be no problems.

 

[Sun Baked]

Thank you all for your replies.

I think i'm gonna get two 512 MB sticks of RAM from Crucial. When it says "4 banks of 2" does that mean I have to install 2 sticks of RAM at one time?

Also, has anyone from Canada bought RAM from Crucial? I'm a little concerned about the customs and taxes. I had a bad experience with that before when I made a purchase online (not with Crucial).

Memory is in PAIRS.

Basically the memory channel is 128-bits wide, and the DIMMs are only 64-bits wide each -- so you need two of the same size.