iMac G5 upgrading RAM

[blasto333]

I had a g4 800mhz with 512mb of ram and sold it to get a G5. When I got the G5 I got 512mb of ram on that machine also. I noticed it was not that much faster than the old iMac. (I didn't use any programs that are too intense).

How much performance difference would I notice if I upgraded the G5 to 2gb of ram? The most intensive app I use is probably photoshop elements.

 

[Fredstar]

I noticed quite a noticeable improvement from 512 to 1gb. I would say it is not worth spending £300 odd on 2gb's of ram - the difference probably won't be noticeable. Save yourself some money and get another 512mb for about £50.

 

[patrick0brien]

I had a g4 800mhz with 512mb of ram and sold it to get a G5. When I got the G5 I got 512mb of ram on that machine also. I noticed it was not that much faster than the old iMac. (I didn't use any programs that are too intense).

How much performance difference would I notice if I upgraded the G5 to 2gb of ram? The most intensive app I use is probably photoshop elements.

-blasto333

I have 2gb in my iMac G5, but then, it's a dedicated computer for Logic 7 music production.

I will say this, with 30 concurrent tracks at 24bit@88.2khz it's not breaking a sweat yet.

I think the point is, that you'll only see the speed (or rather lack of slowdown) if you stress the machine into the arena of actually needing that much headroom. If you see a slowdown, likely your machine has maxed its RAM and is nt using the disk for RAM (Virtual memory). Sure sign you need more RAM.

But do you think you really need 2gb?

 

[blasto333]

I probably don't need 2gb, but I could use a ram disk with 1gb of it just to have a little mini backup drive. Also the computer has to last me 4 years (through college) and lots of ram will probably help. Is it possible to do a RAM disk on OS X? If it is possible would I lose the data every time I restart?

 

[iGary]

This machine loves RAM - which one doesn't?

I have 1gb in my iMac G5 and it works very well.

 

[Bear]

I probably don't need 2gb, but I could use a ram disk with 1gb of it just to have a little mini backup drive. Also the computer has to last me 4 years (through college) and lots of ram will probably help. Is it possible to do a RAM disk on OS X? If it is possible would I lose the data every time I restart?

Think about it for a moment. RAM is volatile - it gets wiped when the mahcine loses power.

That would not be a backup drive. If you want a backup drive, get an external drive or maybe an iPod Shuffle if you don't need to backup much.

 

[Bear]

I had a g4 800mhz with 512mb of ram and sold it to get a G5. When I got the G5 I got 512mb of ram on that machine also. I noticed it was not that much faster than the old iMac. (I didn't use any programs that are too intense).

How much performance difference would I notice if I upgraded the G5 to 2gb of ram? The most intensive app I use is probably photoshop elements.

Actually, Web Browsers can be fairly intense. I suggest you add either a 1GB or a 2 GB kit. 1 GB additional is probably enough for you form what you said. It all depends on what you actually run and how much of it is open at the same time.

 

[Jovian9]

I too upgraded to an iMac G5 from an iMac G4 and had 512MB put in it from Apple. Recently I put another 1GB stick in (for 1.5GB total) and it has made a world of difference.