iMac 21.5 (Mid 2011 model) RAM Upgrade

[rrawat02]

Hi Guys,

My iMac came with 4 GB RAM (2GB X 2) installed. My iMac has 4 slots and I'm currently using 2.

On crucial.com they claim I can leave in original 4 GB RAM and add two more 8 GB RAMs in the available slots. The final configuration will be--

2 GB, 2 GB
8 GB, 8 GB

Total of 20 GB of RAM.

Questions--

1: Apple.com claims the highest possible RAM for my iMac is 16 GB. Should I follow this recommendation and ignore crucial.com?
2: The apple.com website says, "For the iMac (Mid 2010) and iMac (Mid 2011) models, use 2 GB or 4 GB RAM SO-DIMMs of 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM in each slot." They don't talk about 8 GB RAM option. Comments?
3: I heard it was preferable to have identical RAM for each slot. Thoughts on that?

Thanks!

Rishi

 

[Beaverman3001]

I have a mid 2011 21.5in iMac with 20GB RAM right now (2x2x8x8) just like you are looking at, works fine. Apple only lists the amount they sell as the max for their computers.

 

[rrawat02]

Thanks Beaverman3001!

 

[TrboMac]

You can go up to 32GB of RAM on our model. I'm wanting to upgrade to at least 24 this year myself.

 

[toddzrx]

How much RAM do you really think you need? I would start with that question.

For what it's worth, I found a guy selling stock Apple RAM on Craigslist in my area: 2X2GB sticks for $20. I put those in my 2010 iMac, bumping it from 4 to 8GB, and the improved performance was small but noticeable (even after putting an SSD inside). So, modest upgrade for very little expense. At least in my case, I could go up to 16GB, but why? I have no need for that kind of performance. I'll wait for another couple of years when I need the performance, but the RAM is cheaper, to go above 8.

 

[RichMilo]

Oldish thread I know, but just confirming that I have the same model iMac with 32gb RAM installed, so yes you definitely can do it.

It is a bit odd that Apple state 16gb as the max. It would be interesting to put four 16gb modules in just to see what happens.

>> How much RAM do you really think you need? I would start with that question.

As much as I can get. Trying running Photoshop, Premier and After Effects for an hour to see why!

 

[Bear]

Oldish thread I know, but just confirming that I have the same model iMac with 32gb RAM installed, so yes you definitely can do it.

It is a bit odd that Apple state 16gb as the max. It would be interesting to put four 16gb modules in just to see what happens.

>> How much RAM do you really think you need? I would start with that question.

As much as I can get. Trying running Photoshop, Premier and After Effects for an hour to see why!

When Apple released the 2011 iMac, 8GB memory modules were rather hard to get ahold of. This is why they limited it to 16GB (4x4GB).

The hardware in the machine would not see 16GB memory modules properly. It would other cap them at 8GB each or not work at all.

 

[dogslobber]

You can go up to 32GB of RAM on our model. I'm wanting to upgrade to at least 24 this year myself.

Yep, I've been running with 24gb for a few years now. Great machines are these computers. Even got one for my wife!

 

[Daniel Dionne]

Hi Guys,

My iMac came with 4 GB RAM (2GB X 2) installed. My iMac has 4 slots and I'm currently using 2.

On crucial.com they claim I can leave in original 4 GB RAM and add two more 8 GB RAMs in the available slots. The final configuration will be--

2 GB, 2 GB
8 GB, 8 GB

Total of 20 GB of RAM.

Questions--

1: Apple.com claims the highest possible RAM for my iMac is 16 GB. Should I follow this recommendation and ignore crucial.com?
2: The apple.com website says, "For the iMac (Mid 2010) and iMac (Mid 2011) models, use 2 GB or 4 GB RAM SO-DIMMs of 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM in each slot." They don't talk about 8 GB RAM option. Comments?
3: I heard it was preferable to have identical RAM for each slot. Thoughts on that?

Thanks!

Rishi

[doublepost=1519922284][/doublepost]Hi! There is no problem installing 2X8G Ram and 2G or 4G or 8G or what you want in the other slot Mid2011 but you are limited to 16 G Ram for Mid 2010.

I heard that I can go to 64G Ram on a Mid 2011 I don"t know if you can on a mid 2010

As i see on your configuration you have more ram 20G if it's a mid 2010 so I think you can go 32G

Hope this will help you !