Memory for the new iMac 24"

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lugesm

lugesm

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2007
572
9
Just bought a new iMac with 24" screen, running 2.4Ghz with 1GB of memory.

The local Apple store did not have more memory, so I took the machine with the standard 1GB. Would like to upgrade to (at least) 2GB.

I have heard that a lot of the 3rd party memory is unreliable and can even crash the iMac. Can anyone recommend a reliable brand of memory for my machine?

Thanks for your comments.

Regards
 

D

diehardmacfan

macrumors regular
Mar 12, 2007
204
0
just got 4 gigs of OWC (macsales.com) ram today. works great, great price, great lifetime warranty, buy it. i 100% reccomend it
 
sarah3585

sarah3585

macrumors regular
Aug 12, 2007
230
0
Is it better to have 2 sticks the same or does it make no difference if you have for example 1 gig + 2 gig sticks?
 
S

smurfy

macrumors member
Aug 6, 2007
61
0
I hate when people go 'OWC is awesommmeee'

It may be awesome, but how do us Brits get it? :mad:
 
mavis

mavis

macrumors 601
Jul 30, 2007
4,153
506
Tokyo, Japan
smurfy said:
I hate when people go 'OWC is awesommmeee'

It may be awesome, but how do us Brits get it? :mad:
Click to expand...
Umm, you order a product, just like people in the States ... ?

Actually I'm not sure about Britain specifically, but I live in Japan and had no problems ordering my 4GB RAM upgrade using a Japanese issued Visa. YMMV but I seem to recall seeing quite a big list of countries when I was checking out ... ;)
 
lugesm

lugesm

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2007
572
9
Thanks for your comments.

I have purchased a 2GB module for my 24" 2.4GHz iMac.

This will be used in the #2 slot to provide 3GB total on this machine.

Looking at the MacRumors instructions on installationof memory, it is strongly suggested that one run a thorough memory test after installation. The recommended tool is something called "memtest."

Has anyone else used this tool? Although I have tons of hardware and Windows experience, I am new to the Mac. Is this test difficult or confusing ?

Thanks for your help.
 

lugesm

lugesm

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2007
572
9
Received a 2GB memory module for my 24" iMac yesterday afternoon from OWC.

Installed without incident.

Restarted computer and everything seemed to run fine.

Ran 3 cycles of Rember and the end result was "all tests passed."

Ran a second set of 3 cycles with Rember this morning with the same results, "all tests passed."

I am assuming that the memory is okay based on these test results.

Will I need to retest at some point in the future to determine if the memory has started losing bits or bytes with age?
 
chas0001

chas0001

macrumors 6502a
Sep 18, 2006
804
0
Alicante, SPAIN
smurfy said:
I hate when people go 'OWC is awesommmeee'

It may be awesome, but how do us Brits get it? :mad:
Click to expand...
I ordered from OWC when I lived in the UK and also from Spain. No a problem at all. They requested that I complete a credit card verification form before they will deliver, but once that is done everything is easy. You may have to watch out for import duties, although saying that it still seems to be cheaper than buying it in the UK.
 
likwidplastik

likwidplastik

macrumors member
Nov 1, 2006
68
46
I'm running 4GB of OWC ram in my new iMac. No problems, quick install, and iMac is running beautifully.
 
CanadaRAM

CanadaRAM

macrumors G5
Oct 11, 2004
12,417
6
On the Left Coast - Victoria BC Canada
Is it better to have 2 sticks the same or does it make no difference if you have for example 1 gig + 2 gig sticks?
i would also like to know this as well.
Click to expand...
Please read the MR Guide , we have covered this many times already.

Matching RAM gets a general 6% - 8% performance boost -- more in the machines with integrated video (cos it speeds up the shared video memory as well), less on the machines with dedicated Video.

If it is a choice between 2 Gb matching and 3 Gb non matching, IF you regularly multitask, use Photoshop, digital video or digital audio or have 1000's of photos in iPhoto, then the additional 1 Gb of RAM will give more performance than the 6% - 8% you lose by using unmatched RAM. So: for light use, matching RAM is better, for any heavy use, 3 Gb unmatched is better.

If you can afford to go 2 x 2 Gb in a Core2Duo machine, then you get matching RAM dual channel speeds, and the maxium RAM load -- 3.3 Gb usable RAM in Core2Duo machines and 4 Gb usable RAM in Core2Duo Santa Rosa models.
 

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