Got new iMac 16GB of RAM?

[shiseido]

Greetings,

I just ordered my new iMac 27" with i7 quad core. I'll be using it for CS5 Premiere Pro and CS5 After Effects. I'll be working with AVCHD video footage from my Canon HFS20 (It can record movie at 24mb/sec full HD 1920x1080p / 24fps).

Anyone try putting 16GB of RAM into their system? I wonder what the performance difference is.

The stock iMac comes with 2x2GB RAM sticks leaving 2 slots open. So it is a no brainer to order 2x4GB RAM sticks 3rd party...However, what about 4x4GB RAM sticks. What we are talking about is the difference between 12GB of RAM and 16GB of RAM.

Has anyone tried this?

I haven't received my iMac yet (Apple says it will ship Aug. 24), but I will order the RAM shortly so they arrive at the same time. I am in Korea and a Samsung 4GB RAM is about 140,000 KRW, which is roughly $120 USD.

 

[bobjob186]

the jump from 4 to 8 is much bigger than the jump from 8 to 12 or 12 to 16. It's called diminishing marginal returns. I'd go for 8gb if you want more, wouldn't really stress 12 or more because it gets too expensive. I have 8 in my MBP and it flies! I can run 2 extra OS's virtualized and the machine doesn't even hiccup.

 

[shiseido]

but I think the jump from 4 GB to 12GB is kind of a no brainer. The reason is that there are two empty slots. And I read some where on the Internet that one wants to get matching pairs. I just check price, it seems that 2GB sticks are roughly $55 USD each. Whereas a 4GB stick is roughly $120. So it seems that the price for GB is the same.

I was planning on going with 12GB for sure because editing HD footage requires so much RAM...but now you got me thinking....

 

[MikeinJapan]

I say got for 12Gb and upgrade to 16GB in the future. HD video love RAM and RAM loves it. If not you will upgrade to 4x2GB (8GB) then in the future when you go 16GB (4x4GB) you would have 8GB of useless RAM. I am going to 8GB on MBP just to put the 4 from it into my mini to avoid having 4GB not doing anything in the future.

 

[MaxBeagleton]

go for it...

I can't tell you anything about the comparison of 4 vs 8 vs 12 vs 16, since I upgraded to 4x4 before I even plugged in my i7. I can tell you that if you do what I did, you'll never wonder "would [insert program or task here] work better with more memory?" You're maxed out and that's it!

If you can afford it, do it. It'll give you peace of mind.

 

[shiseido]

But technically speaking....why is the maximum only 16GB? Should there be 8GB sticks some time in the future? Or is it something to do with the motherboard not being able to handle more than 16GB?