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iMAC Grinding - more RAM?

TayHarley

TayHarley

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 14, 2008
53
0
Hi

I've a 2009 24" iMAC 3.06 Core 3 Duo, with 2 GB ram, I'm getting pinwheels and grinding noises from the iMAC. I think the grinding may be the hard drive (?) but note sure - would adding ram would help things out?

Deadline pending as Crucial have 10% off sale !!

Also has anyone maxed out the memory on an iMAC above the manufacture's recommended level (as highlighted by Crucial)?

a basic question but .... need advice ..... thx.
 
TayHarley said:
Hi

I've a 2009 24" iMAC 3.06 Core 3 Duo, with 2 GB ram, I'm getting pinwheels and grinding noises from the iMAC. I think the grinding may be the hard drive (?) but note sure - would adding ram would help things out?

Deadline pending as Crucial have 10% off sale !!

Also has anyone maxed out the memory on an iMAC above the manufacture's recommended level (as highlighted by Crucial)?

a basic question but .... need advice ..... thx.
Click to expand...

2 GB RAM is far too low if this computer sees a lot of use. Should be 4 GB minimum. I had 4 GB in my 2010 i7 iMac and I got the spinning wheel a lot (especially when using Parallels). Upgraded to 12 GB and now it is perfect! If I were you I would upgrade to at least 4 GB if not 6 or 8.

I don't think maxing it above the recommended level (you are talking 16 GB, right?) is even possible due to the iMac hardware.
 
thx for the feedback - I'll have a look at page outs (whatever they are). The machine seems fine then it goes into crisis mode from time to time.

The recommended max ram is 4GB, so not even sure where to get two 4 GB chips !! I'll continue researching.

thx again . . .Stuart
 
I have 4.9 million page ins and 1.2 million page outs according to iStatpro.

is that good or bad !? I think I know the answer :)

so now I need to fix it !!
 
TayHarley said:
thx for the feedback - I'll have a look at page outs (whatever they are). The machine seems fine then it goes into crisis mode from time to time.

The recommended max ram is 4GB, so not even sure where to get two 4 GB chips !! I'll continue researching.

thx again . . .Stuart
Click to expand...


you will find them on the crucial website just look for the ram itself not for the iMac ram recommendations , as crucial want to stay safe and only offers what apple says the iMac can take

so you know the recommended spec of the ram (its a 2 gb module ) ,the just search for the 4 gb module with the same spec
 
You might want to take a look at what's running and how much RAM each process is using, either by using the command "top" from the Terminal or from Activity Monitor. Of course, it all depends on what types of apps you're running, but if you're just browsing the web I wouldn't expect you to be running out of memory like that. For example, my iMac with 2 GB RAM has Safari and iTunes open right now, and there is almost 900 MB free. If the pinwheel was spinning like crazy with only those two apps open I would get concerned that something was wrong.
 
Hi thx for all the advice

off to Crucial to get 10% saving !! Rebooted and the pages in 351000 and page outs 29000, been working on the machine all day - a minor grind or two but a lot better.
:)
 
Are you aware that when you close a window with the red "X" in the top left corner of the window, that often doesn't quit the application but only closes the window? This isn't meant to be insulting, but I can't tell from your posts how new you are to the Mac, which has a different behavior than Windows. It just occurred to me that you may not be quitting programs and they could all still be running and taking up memory. My dad does that all the time.
 
jsf8x said:
What exactly are page outs and what is good and bad?

My Unibody Macbook has 442,900 pages outs. Should I upgrade to 4gb?
Click to expand...

Page out happens when data has to be written from RAM to the HD. This usually happens when you don't have enough RAM left but apps still want/need RAM so some of the data in the RAM is transferred to swap file in the HD to free up some RAM. As HD is like 100000 times slower than RAM, it will cause a slowdown (i.e. a beachball).

Page in is the opposite, i.e. data is written from HD to RAM. That's a good thing and you will always get those if your system is working properly.

How much page ins do you have? If you have a lot page ins as well, then 400k isn't that much though I would anyway do the upgrade as it will definitely speed up.
 
Hmmm... I have what sounds like the exact same iMac, except I have 4GB of RAM and my read ins, write outs seem quite high from the sounds of it, see attachment.

Ironically, just minutes before reading this post I ordered the 6GB kit from OWC which will max out the capacity capability of my iMac.

So what's the deal with my disk activity?

Edit: It seems I was looking at the wrong tab. See attachment #2. I think I am in good shape then right?
 

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jsf8x said:
2,500,000 Page Ins
400k Page outs
Click to expand...

I would get more RAM then. 4GB is so cheap nowadays and it will deliver noticeably better performance. You have nearly 20% page outs/page ins ratio which isn't good.

SandboxGeneral said:
Hmmm... I have what sounds like the exact same iMac, except I have 4GB of RAM and my read ins, write outs seem quite high from the sounds of it, see attachment.

Ironically, just minutes before reading this post I ordered the 6GB kit from OWC which will max out the capacity capability of my iMac.

So what's the deal with my disk activity?

Edit: It seems I was looking at the wrong tab. See attachment #2. I think I am in good shape then right?
Click to expand...

Yeah, you would be fine with 4GB but IMO you can never have too much RAM. Apps will use more if there is more RAM available

Stan Mikulenka said:
Hi,
here is my Activity Monitor:
Click to expand...

That's perfect, no need for more RAM
 
Hellhammer said:
I would get more RAM then. 4GB is so cheap nowadays and it will deliver noticeably better performance. You have nearly 20% page outs/page ins ratio which isn't good.



Yeah, you would be fine with 4GB but IMO you can never have too much RAM. Apps will use more if there is more RAM available



That's perfect, no need for more RAM
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot man! Just ordered :)
 
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