A1176 Question: Upgrading RAM

[Demo318]

Hey guys, I have a quick question.

I have a 2008, Intel Mac Mini. 1.83 Intel Core 2 Duo, 1GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, etc. You can look up the model number (A1176) for all the details. None of the hardware has been upgraded (yet!).

When I purchased the mac, the Apple Store only gave me the option to get up to 2GB (and I went with 1GB). Upgrading now, am I limited by my hardware to only upgrade to 2GB or can I go up to 4 GB (2 x 2GB)? As far as I can tell, any of these should work unless there's some kind of hardware/software limitation which would keep me at 1 GB per stick.

Can I go 4GB? Thanks for any feedback! I appreciate the mac community. You guys are great!

 

[GGJstudios]

You can find specs on all Apple products, including maximum RAM:

• By visiting EveryMac.com: Actual Maximum RAM
• By selecting your model on the Crucial Memory Advisor™ Tool to find RAM information
• By entering your serial number here to find specs for your model.
  (Be aware that some models can use more RAM than Apple shows. Check EveryMac to verify actual usable RAM.)

 

[Demo318]

According to EveryMac, I can install up to 4GB, but the system will only ever use 3GB because of the Intel chipset architecture. Would I be good to go with a 1GB stick and a 2GB stick together? Is that allowed?

 

[paulrbeers]

According to EveryMac, I can install up to 4GB, but the system will only ever use 3GB because of the Intel chipset architecture. Would I be good to go with a 1GB stick and a 2GB stick together? Is that allowed?

Yes you can. There might be a small performance hit since you won't be running the memory in dual channel but that is how I am running the memory in my two a1176s. I believe if you install 4gb you will actually get like 3.1gb of memory so you will be losing a small amount of ram but you probably won't notice.

 

[philipma1957]

I made a dozen or so some with 3gb and some with 4gb. the 3gb is good almost 97 percent as fast. when I did the mods 2gb sticks were costly so if the buyer was short cash I made a 3gb if they had the money i made a 4gb. if you could find kingston hyperx ddr2 2gb sticks they were the best for that machine.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA

these of course they are a bit more money and the difference is not much

 

[raymondkerr]

I just upgraded my 2011 base mini to 8GB, ordered from crucial.co.uk less than 24 hours ago and it arrived this morning, 10 minutes to install and my mac mini is now quicker than ever. 2GB just wasn't enough, even for basic stuff like browsing and editing photos.

The best £40 UKPs upgrade you can buy for Mac Mini. Next up with be a SSD if I can get hold of another flex HD cable I will put in a 128GB SSD SataIII as my boot drive for Lion and have the 500gb HD for my files.

 

[saulinpa]

Has anyone tried the PC2-6400 (800MHz) ? Just wondering if that is better than the CAS4 latency version.