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Memory for a 2008 Imac

D

disambiguates

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 19, 2008
7
0
I have a 2008 Imac with 1GB and I want to expand it to 2GB. The price on the apple store is $50 for 1GB modules. I am well aware that the Apple store is excessively expensive for memory, but I want to make sure that both modules are exactly the same in my computer.

Now that Apple is shipping all of their computers with 2GB standard, do you think there is any chance they will drop the prices for stand-alone memory any time soon?
 
Could be a problem . . .

disambiguates said:
Would there be any issue if I installed a 2gb stick along side the existing 1gb stick?
Click to expand...

If you have the same iMac I do, you need 2 of the same kind of RAM sticks,
either 2x1GB or 2x2GB. I have the 24" iMac which was the 2008 design,
although it was physically manufactured in early 2009. And I now have 4GB
installed as 2x2GB sticks.

Can you check "About This Mac" in the far left corner of your screen, under the
Apple logo, and tell us what's there? The line called "Memory" should say
"1GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM". This will be important to know when you
actually buy memory from the sources mentioned earlier.

I got my 2GB sticks a few months ago for $24 each . . .

Hope this helps . . .
 
Mugwumper said:
If you have the same iMac I do, you need 2 of the same kind of RAM sticks,
either 2x1GB or 2x2GB. I have the 24" iMac which was the 2008 design,
although it was physically manufactured in early 2009. And I now have 4GB
installed as 2x2GB sticks.

Can you check "About This Mac" in the far left corner of your screen, under the
Apple logo, and tell us what's there? The line called "Memory" should say
"1GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM". This will be important to know when you
actually buy memory from the sources mentioned earlier.

I got my 2GB sticks a few months ago for $24 each . . .

Hope this helps . . .
Click to expand...

You DON'T have to use matched pairs, all Intel Macs support mixed pairs.

Anyway, DDR2 is so cheap now so get 4GB straight away.
 
Hellhammer said:
You DON'T have to use matched pairs, all Intel Macs support mixed pairs.

Anyway, DDR2 is so cheap now so get 4GB straight away.
Click to expand...

Yep, I see that on the Crucial site. But the Apple guys I dealt with in the
local store said they "work better" as a pair. Whatever . . . ;^)

The OP just needs to figure out what memory his system needs, and I suspect
it's limited to 4GB max anyway. So 2x2GB is $47 while 1x4GB is $94. Either
way, the existing 1GB won't be needed.

And to the OP - 4GB is SO much nicer . . . ;^) I can run whatever I want,
and as many apps as I need. One thing I did with all this power is to add
Hyperspaces to the existing MacOS Spaces capability. Now I can have 4
screens each doing their own thing (web/mail, finance, photos/music, or
games).

Have fun!
 
Mugwumper said:
Yep, I see that on the Crucial site. But the Apple guys I dealt with in the
local store said they "work better" as a pair. Whatever . . . ;^)

The OP just needs to figure out what memory his system needs, and I suspect
it's limited to 4GB max anyway. So 2x2GB is $47 while 1x4GB is $94. Either
way, the existing 1GB won't be needed.

And to the OP - 4GB is SO much nicer . . . ;^) I can run whatever I want,
and as many apps as I need. One thing I did with all this power is to add
Hyperspaces to the existing MacOS Spaces capability. Now I can have 4
screens each doing their own thing (web/mail, finance, photos/music, or
games).

Have fun!
Click to expand...

It supports 6GB unofficially. If you use paired RAM, it'll support dual-channeling which will give ~5% boost.
 
i would get 2x2gb 800mhz ram... that will see your computer good.... make sure it is ddr2 aswell and you should have no problems
signature_SmileyFace.jpg
 
I use otherworldcomputing.com, check the prices there, I did have what I thought to be one stick going bad but it's fixed itself and hasn't caused a problem since (was directly after installing my new SSD), so I like them.
 
I got my 4 GB matched set from a local Fry's store, but you can order from them online as well. Make sure you get the right kind of ram if you don't go through a place familiar with Apple ram (OWC, Crucial, etc.) I say this because even though the iMac is a desktop computer it does not use desktop ram. So if you do go to a local store make sure you tell them the pin count (200 pin) along with the type of ram. I've always found everymac.com to be helpful when quickly wanting to get details about specific mac models. It states the following about the 2008 iMac model:

RAM Type: PC2-6400 DDR2
Min. RAM Speed: 800 MHz
Details: Supports 800 MHz PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM.
Standard RAM: 2.0 GB
Maximum RAM: 4.0 GB*
Details: By default, 2 GB of RAM was installed as two 1 GB SO-DIMM modules. No slots free.

*Apple officially supports 4 GB of RAM, but third-parties have been able to upgrade the system to 6 GB of RAM using one 2 GB and one 4 GB memory module.
Click to expand...

Just did a quick search at Fry's online and they have it for $62.99 before shipping. LINK
 
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