mid 2009 macbook 4gb or 6gb ram

[jchase2057]

i have a mid 2009 pre unibody macbook. It can recognize up to 6 gigs of ram with a 4gb and a 2gb. my question is what would be faster 4gb with matching 2gb modules or 6gb with mismatched modules?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

6GB will help more, as using matched pairs will only offer a slight 10% performance increase.

 

[msjones]

I have the same MacBook as your currently running a 2x2GB matched pair. There is definitely a performance boost running this as opposed to the 6GB configuration.

However I have read on here and the apple forum that these mid 2009 can run with 8GB installed. I will be doing this upgrade within the next week so I will be sure to report back with how it goes.

 

[jchase2057]

I have the same MacBook as your currently running a 2x2GB matched pair. There is definitely a performance boost running this as opposed to the 6GB configuration.

However I have read on here and the apple forum that these mid 2009 can run with 8GB installed. I will be doing this upgrade within the next week so I will be sure to report back with how it goes.

im 99% positive that it wont recognize more than 6. you can install 8 but it wont recognize more than 6.

 

[alust2013]

im 99% positive that it wont recognize more than 6. you can install 8 but it wont recognize more than 6.

There was a firmware change that enabled 8GB on a lot of older models, so that may be one of them. Anyhow, dual channel performance increase is very small, so you would see far better performance if you actually need the extra memory. If you don't ever exceed 4GB, then there is no need for 6GB.

 

[msjones]

RAM is now on order should be here for the weekend 🙂

 

[sangretoro]

RAM is now on order should be here for the weekend 🙂

Hi, msjones. Did the 8gb work for you?

 

[darrennie]

Some RAM stats

According to MacTracker...
The Early and Mid 2009 MacBook 5,2 A1181 will run 6GB though Apple says 4GB
The Late 2009 MacBook 6,1 A1342 will do 8GB with Apple saying 4GB.