Mac mini 2012: Which RAM?

[anselm]

Hi,

Want to upgrade my Mac mini 6.2, late 2012 (i7, QuadCore, 2.6GHz)

Apple specifies compatible RAM as PC3-12800 DDR3 204-Pin SO-DIMM.


I`d like to upgrade to 2x8GM Ram modules. At PC retailers, prices are about 30€ lower.

The question is the latency. No info from Apple.

The RAM that is supposed to work is declared to have CL-11 latency. The one by Crucial 11-11-11-30 to be precise. There are other offerings with 11-11-11-28 or 9-9-9-27 that according to buyer feedback at amazon do work in the late 2012 Mac mini, but I don`t want to base system stability on 2-3 buyers being satisfied.

What is really important? Can I just get the lowest latency and possible even get a bit faster performance?

 

[ActionableMango]

CL11 is correct.

Lower latency is theoretically faster (at the same clock speed), but will make no noticeable difference in anything that most everyone does (general computing, professional applications, gaming, etc). So unless you are using some weird specialized scientific program that is deeply affected by memory latency, or you are a PC overclocking type that needs to tweak specific timings, CL-11 is the right memory to get.

 

[anselm]

3D rendering.
Music production.
Both demanding CPU power. However I do not expect miracles and I am not really focussing on the last bit of performance. That would be the wrong approach*.
Yet, if there is a bit of performance to get and at the same time saving 25-30% of the cost, I would prefer the faster and more affordable RAM, not the least, because paying more feels like being ripped off. Who likes that?

So OK CL-11. But there is still different latencies, when looking at the more detailed timing information (where available).
Sometimes you get even two sets of timings. One is "tested", one is "SPD", whatever that is supposed to mean.




*the right approach, should I think I`d need a faster setup, being: work, earn, get faster computer –not that the Quad Core i7 is shabby, it`s quite good actually, or *will* be once equipped with 16GB RAM and SSD, which I finally chose to get despite being such a penny pincher.

 

[Negritude]

The 2012 Mini will work with CL11 or CL9. Because of integrated HD4000 graphics, I went with CL9 to get whatever tiny little bit of theoretical speed might be available. It might not matter, but then I was able to get the RAM for essentially the same price as CL11, so why not. Read this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2012-mini-ram-upgrade.1907334/

I assume you're in Europe, so obviously the retailers you look to for the memory will be different.

 

[anselm]

The 2012 Mini will work with CL11 or CL9. Because of integrated HD4000 graphics, I went with CL9 to get whatever tiny little bit of theoretical speed might be available. It might not matter, but then I was able to get the RAM for essentially the same price as CL11, so why not. Read this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2012-mini-ram-upgrade.1907334/

I assume you're in Europe, so obviously the retailers you look to for the memory will be different.

Thank you for the info and link