Memory upgrade for iMac

[Sdahe]

Hello,

I have a 27" iMac (2017) that I use daily for my graphic art work. I've notice the computer is running slow for some time now and I guess it's time to do a memory upgrade. Before I do that I have a question. In activity monitor I have 417.8MB under swap used.. I guess this confirms that I do need to bump up the memory right?.. I currently have 16GB and Im always using Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator and Dreamweaver. Most of the time all of those apps are open at the same time.

 

[DeltaMac]

I would say that less than 500 MB of swap isn't really a lot, although the apps that you use might get some better use with more RAM.
How much free space do you have on your internal drive?
Have you considered upgrading your iMac to SSD only?

 

[sublunar]

Definitely a candidate for a RAM increase. How is the 16Gb of RAM configured in the Mac? Is it 2x8Gb sticks or 4x4Gb sticks? If the latter you would need to replace some of that RAM to upgrade it as your 4 slots would be filled.

Delta is right about upgrading to SSD but that's an internal thing and not for the faint hearted. You really need to have 10% of room free on your boot drive.

If you are on HDD or Fusion Drive and working on massive art files then the swap will be slow even if you have over 10% of the drive free. Thankfully, a 2017 iMac will have Thunderbolt 3 ports so you could boot off a Samsung X5 Thunderbolt 3 external drive.

 

[Sdahe]

I would say that less than 500 MB of swap isn't really a lot, although the apps that you use might get some better use with more RAM.
How much free space do you have on your internal drive?
Have you considered upgrading your iMac to SSD only?

My iMac already has a SSD.
[automerge]1590509309[/automerge]

Definitely a candidate for a RAM increase. How is the 16Gb of RAM configured in the Mac? Is it 2x8Gb sticks or 4x4Gb sticks? If the latter you would need to replace some of that RAM to upgrade it as your 4 slots would be filled.

Delta is right about upgrading to SSD but that's an internal thing and not for the faint hearted. You really need to have 10% of room free on your boot drive.

If you are on HDD or Fusion Drive and working on massive art files then the swap will be slow even if you have over 10% of the drive free. Thankfully, a 2017 iMac will have Thunderbolt 3 ports so you could boot off a Samsung X5 Thunderbolt 3 external drive.

It has 4x4Gb sticks

 

[Sdahe]

Well I just ordered 2 16GB sticks from OWC (I hope they are good).. I'll let you all know how the computer responds after the upgrade.

 

[velocityg4]

Although late I find memory pressure is a more important indicator. If it is yellow or red. More RAM is advisable.

 

[Sdahe]

Although late I find memory pressure is a more important indicator. If it is yellow or red. More RAM is advisable.

What do you mean if it's yellow or red?.. sorry Im not much of a computer expert. hahaha

 

[DeltaMac]

Your first post showed a screenshot of part of your Activity Monitor window, on the Memory tab.
Bottom of THAT window has a graph for memory pressure. Low memory pressure will be green, higher pressure will be yellow, or red. It's just an indication of your relative memory use. Green doesn't need any attention. Yellow, or particularly red can mean that more RAM can be helpful with your computer. It can also reflect the performance of the Mac, where red could result in noticeable slow-downs.
Is your iMac SSD-only? or, is the SSD part of a fusion drive (spinning hard drive plus SSD, so you would have both devices operating together.)?

 

[Sdahe]

Your first post showed a screenshot of part of your Activity Monitor window, on the Memory tab.
Bottom of THAT window has a graph for memory pressure. Low memory pressure will be green, higher pressure will be yellow, or red. It's just an indication of your relative memory use. Green doesn't need any attention. Yellow, or particularly red can mean that more RAM can be helpful with your computer. It can also reflect the performance of the Mac, where red could result in noticeable slow-downs.
Is your iMac SSD-only? or, is the SSD part of a fusion drive (spinning hard drive plus SSD, so you would have both devices operating together.)?

Ohh ok I understand what you are saying.

I think my iMac is SSD only..

 

[Sdahe]

Any feedback on the memory from OWC?

 

[DeltaMac]

OWC Ram should be good. In my experience OWC stands behind their products, and their tech support (if you need it) is usually helpful (with my own experience with OWC going back about 25 years.

What size is the storage drive in your iMac? How much space is free?
Both of those will be easy to see: Right-click on your drive, and choose Get Info to see the information window for the drive.
There, you can see Capacity, and Available, which shows the total storage capacity, and how much is available (free space) at the moment.

 

[Sdahe]

OWC Ram should be good. In my experience OWC stands behind their products, and their tech support (if you need it) is usually helpful (with my own experience with OWC going back about 25 years.

What size is the storage drive in your iMac? How much space is free?
Both of those will be easy to see: Right-click on your drive, and choose Get Info to see the information window for the drive.
There, you can see Capacity, and Available, which shows the total storage capacity, and how much is available (free space) at the moment.

Cool.. good to hear about OWC.

My iMac came with a 500GB SSD and right now it says it has 298.91GB available

 

[NewUsername]

You can find memory pressure here: Activity Monitor -> Memory -> Memory Pressure. You'll see a graph with the evolution of the memory pressure in the past few seconds. (It only starts as soon as you open Activity Monitor, so give it some time first.)

According to Apple, if it's green you're fine, if it's yellow you should consider more RAM, if it's red you definitely need more RAM.

For more details: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201464#memory.

 

[DeltaMac]

The time to check that memory pressure is when you notice that your system seems to be slowing down.

 

[Sdahe]

Don't know if I can do this... My iMac has 16GB of RAM right now. 4x4gb memory sticks. I just recieved my 2x16gb (32gb) sticks and I was wondering. Can I put the 2x16gb (32gb) sticks and leave 2x4GB in there so I can have a total of 40GB of RAM?

 

[26139]

Don't know if I can do this... My iMac has 16GB of RAM right now. 4x4gb memory sticks. I just recieved my 2x16gb (32gb) sticks and I was wondering. Can I put the 2x16gb (32gb) sticks and leave 2x4GB in there so I can have a total of 40GB of RAM?

Yes, absolutely.

 

[konqerror]

Don't know if I can do this... My iMac has 16GB of RAM right now. 4x4gb memory sticks. I just recieved my 2x16gb (32gb) sticks and I was wondering. Can I put the 2x16gb (32gb) sticks and leave 2x4GB in there so I can have a total of 40GB of RAM?

Performance will be better if you keep the channels symmetric: it should be 16, 4, 16, 4.

 

[Sdahe]

Performance will be better if you keep the channels symmetric: it should be 16, 4, 16, 4.

Yes that's what I did..