MacBook Pro 2012 Ram Upgrade from 8 to 12 or 16 recommended?

[desisn.com]

Hi guys,

I just bought a 2012 MacBook Pro to replace my 2010 MacBook Pro. I am thinking about replacing the 8GB Ram with 16 GB or 12 GB (just 1 new 8 GB Ram instead of 2 x 8 and leave one old 4GB in).

My question:

1. How much speed gain does CL9 Ram offer over CL11 Ram in this model? Is it worth it?
2. Is there a downside with going 12 GB over the 16 GB option?
3. How important is 1.35 V? Will it use less battery or what is the upside to 1.5 V Ram, I read that both work in the 2012 MacBook Pro.
3. Which RAM should I use. I was looking into these:

Crucial CT2C8G3S160BMCEU 16 GB Kit (8 GB x 2) (DDR3L, 1600 MT/s, PC3-12800, SODIMM, 204-Pin
HyperX Impact 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) 1600 MHz DDR3L CL9 SODIMM Notebook Memory Kit

both are CL9 RAM with 1.35 V

4. Why has RAM got double as expensive in about 1 year? I bought 2x8 GB Ram for my iMac 2013 about one year ago and it cost half! Seems like price fixing to me. The Ram companies were charged for price fixing 10 years ago, so it does not seem to be unlikely that they are doing it again.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Hi guys,

I just bought a 2012 MacBook Pro to replace my 2010 MacBook Pro. I am thinking about replacing the 8GB Ram with 16 GB or 12 GB (just 1 new 8 GB Ram instead of 2 x 8 and leave one old 4GB in).

My question:

1. How much speed gain does CL9 Ram offer over CL11 Ram in this model? Is it worth it?
2. Is there a downside with going 12 GB over the 16 GB option?
3. How important is 1.35 V? Will it use less battery or what is the upside to 1.5 V Ram, I read that both work in the 2012 MacBook Pro.
3. Which RAM should I use. I was looking into these:

Crucial CT2C8G3S160BMCEU 16 GB Kit (8 GB x 2) (DDR3L, 1600 MT/s, PC3-12800, SODIMM, 204-Pin
HyperX Impact 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) 1600 MHz DDR3L CL9 SODIMM Notebook Memory Kit

both are CL9 RAM with 1.35 V

4. Why has RAM got double as expensive in about 1 year? I bought 2x8 GB Ram for my iMac 2013 about one year ago and it cost half! Seems like price fixing to me. The Ram companies were charged for price fixing 10 years ago, so it does not seem to be unlikely that they are doing it again.

Firstly do you need more RAM??

Check activity monitor and put up your most demanding use case and check the graph, if it stays green you don't need more ram, if its yellow consider more ram if it goers into red then you need more RAM.

Secondly do you have an ssd in there?? If not then this should be your first upgrade over RAM without a doubt it will make a massive difference to the speed and usability of your MBP.

RAM is expensive due to the masses being made for the mobile device market that simple really.

 

[Kingcr]

1. Nothing you’d ever notice outside of a synthetic test.
2. A downside with mismatched sizes is that your memory subsystem performance will drop above 8 gigs (the upper 4 gigs in a 12 gig system are essentially single channel). But this will unlikely be noticeable. The bigger thing is to match timings between your existing 4 gig stick and a new 8 gig stick.
3. Very. You need 1.35v - DDR3L.
3.b. Either. I use Crucial personally.
4. That’s a whole other story.

 

[desisn.com]

Thanks for the replies. I have a 500GB Samsung 850 Evo SSD in there. The MacBook Pro is the i7 2.6 Ghz, 1GB GeForce GT 650M version, which is pretty fast compared to my old 2010 model, which already had max specs, alas the GPU (capacitator problem), which was fixable by using the kext fix, available here in the forum thread. The reason I switched, was that the SSD could only use about half the write / read speed, because the 2010 model does only support SATA 2 and not SATA 3.

So I guess I am fine with 8 GB, but I can get the 16 GB brandnew for 100 Euro and sell the old RAM for about 50 I guess, so I think the upgrade is worth it, even though I probably dont really need it. I am mostly just using Photoshop and Animate CC and web design software, which isn't that demanding as video or 3D software.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Thanks for the replies. I have a 500GB Samsung 850 Evo SSD in there. The MacBook Pro is the i7 2.6 Ghz, 1GB GeForce GT 650M version, which is pretty fast compared to my old 2010 model, which already had max specs, alas the GPU (capacitator problem), which was fixable by using the kext fix, available here in the forum thread. The reason I switched, was that the SSD could only use about half the write / read speed, because the 2010 model does only support SATA 2 and not SATA 3.

So I guess I am fine with 8 GB, but I can get the 16 GB brandnew for 100 Euro and sell the old RAM for about 50 I guess, so I think the upgrade is worth it, even though I probably dont really need it. I am mostly just using Photoshop and Animate CC and web design software, which isn't that demanding as video or 3D software.

At that sort if price a no brainer really, do the upgrade and enjoy the more RAM, your machine will use it and it will keep things faster with more stuff loaded to RAM but don't expect night and day difference.

 

[duervo]

4. Why has RAM got double as expensive in about 1 year? I bought 2x8 GB Ram for my iMac 2013 about one year ago and it cost half! Seems like price fixing to me. The Ram companies were charged for price fixing 10 years ago, so it does not seem to be unlikely that they are doing it again.

Rumors have it that it’s either just a huge demand causing prices to go up, or price fixing happening between the top memory manufacturers. With regard to the latter, apparently, there’s some sort of investigation going on in Asia about the price fixing, or at least the Chinese government is keeping their eye on RAM manufacturers, just in case. Isn’t the first time. Probably won’t be the last.

I just count my lucky stars that I got my 32GB of DDR4 (2 x 16GB) in March last year, when it was selling for half of what it is now. My only regret is that I didn’t get more. I’m hoping it comes back down in price now, so that it’s more reasonable when the time comes that that system begins its life as an ESXi white box.

 

[Fishrrman]

Unless you're having RAM-related problems, leave the RAM alone.
You may find 8gb to be perfectly adequate, unless you're running some "heavy duty" apps.

Give it some time to sort things out.
No need to spend $$$ for RAM (which is expensive right now) unless you HAVE to.