Does more memory trump matching memory?

[devburke]

Let's say I wanted to upgrade the memory on an old iMac G5. I know that matching memory modules provide the best performance, but if a mismatched pair would provide more memory, would the advantage of having more memory overcome the advantage to having matched memory?

tl;dr Which is better, having 2x512 memory that matches, or having 512+1gb memory that doesn't match but provides more memory?

 

[Cboss]

A few months ago I was in the same spot you are. I went ahead and added a 1 GB stick because I figured the extra 512 MB would help a lot more than the slight bonus from matched pairs.

 

[Genghis Khan]

you'll need more memory

1GB is barely enough these days

 

[macgeek18]

Um,I've never mismatched ram,so I wouldn't know,though I've heard never to do it.but that's with my job building pc's.But on a mac?it might handle it,it might not,I don't know.

 

[devburke]

you'll need more memory

1GB is barely enough these days

This isn’t for me, it’s for my dad’s friend who’s just upgrading her G5 to Leopard. She really doesn’t have heavy needs, so 1.5 GB should be plenty.

 

[After G]

More memory (major speedup) is usually better than matching sticks for dual-channel (minor speedup).

 

[electroshock]

Let's say I wanted to upgrade the memory on an old iMac G5. I know that matching memory modules provide the best performance, but if a mismatched pair would provide more memory, would the advantage of having more memory overcome the advantage to having matched memory?

tl;dr Which is better, having 2x512 memory that matches, or having 512+1gb memory that doesn't match but provides more memory?

More memory trumps matching memory just about every single time, especially if you wouldn't have enough memory otherwise.

Unmatched memory may run a bit slower though you'd probably not notice it. But if you don't have enough memory and end up swapping to/from disk, that's thousands of times slower! Not even close.