I've done extensive reading on upgrading RAM for 15" Macbook Pro Late 2011 models, but haven't read any definitive responses on which slot to put a 4 gig ram stick when upgrading to 6 gigs. I know about the matched RAM and all that jazz and I have seen comments saying that people "think any slot is ok" or "I would suggest slot 0 for the 4 gig RAM stick and slot 1 for the 2 gig", but I haven't seen any backed up results (benchmark tests, etc) to support their claims. I'm trying to get the maximum performance from 6 gigs of RAM that is possible.Originally, a long time ago, I thought I remembered reading something online that if you are installing unmatched RAM to install the larger one first (the slot closest to the board which is slot 1) because the cpu will try to fill that memory first then overflow to the next memory slot (bank 0). Then, after seeing that the 4 gig RAM stick was installed in bank 1, I thought to myself, numerically speaking, it would make sense that the cpu would access bank 0 first over bank 1. So, I swapped the 4 gig from bank 1 to bank 0 and put the 2 gig in bank 1.
My question is this, does the computer access and fill one RAM card over the other? For instance, will it access bank 0 first and then bank 1. If it does access bank 0 first then it would make sense to have the larger RAM card in bank 0 to prevent the computer from switching back and forth as much as it would if the 4 gig card were in slot 1 vs. slot 0 which would result in the computer doing more work hindering performance. Or is it random? And if it is how does the computer pick which RAM slot to access over the other? Is there a link that someone may have that can explain this?
Overall, both configurations seem to work fine. But it does seem that when I first installed the 4 gig RAM in slot 1 that it ran faster. But I don't know if it's psychological or real as I was pretty pumped that it worked to begin with. So, due to my excitement I might be tricking myself in to thinking that having 4 gigs in bank 1 and 2 gigs in bank 0 is faster when in actuality it is not. I'm too poor to purchase benchmark software to test this theory out.
Can someone help that has already been though this and have evidence to back it up? It would be of great help.
Laptop specs: 15" Macbook Pro late 2011, Version: 10.8.2, Processor: 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7, Memory: 6 GB 1333 MHz DDR3, Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 1024M MB.
Many thanks.
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