PNY Ram in my new Imac- a little worried

[msoph]

I just picked up a 27" late 2013 imac -3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 at Best Buy yesterday. I wanted to install more ram right off the bat before I even brought it home so I had the geeksquad do that for me and install two more 4gb for a total of 16. I previously put corsair in my macbook and haven't had an issue. They were out of corsair that I would have needed for this imac so I let them talk me into PNY (PC3-10666). I don't know much about the brands but after researching once I got home, i come to find PNY has a bad reputation. Also, now i notice the ram specs say 1333mhz but my imac specs on the box say 1600mhz. I'm a little worried about this being cheap ram. I finally saved the money for this and I don't want to have problems down the road. Can this cause any damage if it's bad ram long term to my computer? Any suggestions on what I should do? I was contemplating returning the whole thing and getting a new one. I haven't noticed any problems yet, but it's only been less than a day, are there problems that could occur later?
Any opinions are much appreciated!

 

[Maxx Power]

I just picked up a 27" late 2013 imac -3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 at Best Buy yesterday. I wanted to install more ram right off the bat before I even brought it home so I had the geeksquad do that for me and install two more 4gb for a total of 16. I previously put corsair in my macbook and haven't had an issue. They were out of corsair that I would have needed for this imac so I let them talk me into PNY (PC3-10666). I don't know much about the brands but after researching once I got home, i come to find PNY has a bad reputation. Also, now i notice the ram specs say 1333mhz but my imac specs on the box say 1600mhz. I'm a little worried about this being cheap ram. I finally saved the money for this and I don't want to have problems down the road. Can this cause any damage if it's bad ram long term to my computer? Any suggestions on what I should do? I was contemplating returning the whole thing and getting a new one. I haven't noticed any problems yet, but it's only been less than a day, are there problems that could occur later?
Any opinions are much appreciated!

It will not cause any damage, but you won't be getting the full performance in memory intensive applications as these ram running at 1333 Mhz will cause the stock 1600 Mhz ram to down clock to 1333 Mhz to match.

As for brands, except for Crucial, Samsung, Hynix, Elpida (I think that's it for now), no one else makes their own DRAM chips (the black chips on your stick of ram). Everyone else such as Corsair, PNY, G.Skill, etc all buys DRAM chips from these manufacturers and test/bin/fabricate their own modules. So as far as choosing brands works, you should just pay for the cheapest one at the specifications you are interested in. Anything else would be a bit frivolous especially since DRAM prices are high right now.

My recommendation, return the 1333 Mhz ram, not because it is PNY, but because it is not the fastest speed at which your iMac supports and therefore causes the other sticks in the machine to down clock (check your system profiler). Also, ram at Bestbuy is overpriced compared to online/other physical locations, depending on where you live.

 

[matreya]

I agree, return the iMac and get them to remove the PNY RAM. You can order RAM online and it's a fairly easy process to put the memory in yourself.

 

[redheeler]

I just picked up a 27" late 2013 imac -3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 at Best Buy yesterday. I wanted to install more ram right off the bat before I even brought it home so I had the geeksquad do that for me and install two more 4gb for a total of 16. I previously put corsair in my macbook and haven't had an issue. They were out of corsair that I would have needed for this imac so I let them talk me into PNY (PC3-10666). I don't know much about the brands but after researching once I got home, i come to find PNY has a bad reputation. Also, now i notice the ram specs say 1333mhz but my imac specs on the box say 1600mhz. I'm a little worried about this being cheap ram. I finally saved the money for this and I don't want to have problems down the road. Can this cause any damage if it's bad ram long term to my computer? Any suggestions on what I should do? I was contemplating returning the whole thing and getting a new one. I haven't noticed any problems yet, but it's only been less than a day, are there problems that could occur later?
Any opinions are much appreciated!

Assuming you even need 16 GB over 8 (it would depend on how you use it, if it's just for web browsing, Mail, iTunes and similar tasks you likely don't), I would agree with the other posters and recommend you do return the 1333 MHz RAM for 1600 MHz RAM. You don't even need to take it in to do this, Apple has made the RAM very accessible on these models so almost anyone can replace it.

 

[msoph]

Thank you all for your help. I use photoshop and illustrator pretty intensively for graphic design- large banner design as well so I wanted to make sure I'm covered. And after reading about PNY and bad reviews, I was worried if there was any long term damage I could do since the specs didn't match. I don't know much about ram and if you search long enough online, you're going to read things you don't want to hear. I'm really not comfortable changing it myself, I'd rather have them to do it just in case. So I'm purchasing the correct one online now from crucial.
Again, thank you!

 

[SaSaSushi]

As for brands, except for Crucial, Samsung, Hynix, Elpida (I think that's it for now), no one else makes their own DRAM chips (the black chips on your stick of ram). Everyone else such as Corsair, PNY, G.Skill, etc all buys DRAM chips from these manufacturers and test/bin/fabricate their own modules.
So as far as choosing brands works, you should just pay for the cheapest one at the specifications you are interested in. Anything else would be a bit frivolous especially since DRAM prices are high right now.

I disagree with this. My advice is to stick with a quality brand like Crucial and I speak from personal experience. The Haswell iMacs are particularly finicky with RAM. The price of 16GB of Crucial DDR3L 1600GHz RAM is actually about the lowest point I can recall it being over the past year at $115 and would boost you up to 24GB total.

It isn't only about the memory chips, but also the quality of the components used and the amount and type of testing done on them.

My recommendation, return the 1333 Mhz ram, not because it is PNY, but because it is not the fastest speed at which your iMac supports and therefore causes the other sticks in the machine to down clock (check your system profiler). Also, ram at Bestbuy is overpriced compared to online/other physical locations, depending on where you live.

This I agree with. Definitely get 1600MHz RAM. How much did you pay BestBuy for the 8GB of PNY?

 

[Maxx Power]

I disagree with this. My advice is to stick with a quality brand like Crucial and I speak from personal experience. The Haswell iMacs are particularly finicky with RAM. The price of 16GB of Crucial DDR3L 1600GHz RAM is actually about the lowest point I can recall it being over the past year at $115 and would boost you up to 24GB total.

It isn't only about the memory chips, but also the quality of the components used and the amount and type of testing done on them.

Crucial manufacturers their own chip and the modules. So they fall into the category of manufacturers that I trust more, same as you (they make all of it). The others who don't make their own are the ones that I am less sure how much validation and testing actually goes into their products. However...

I was pointing out that any manufacturer that doesn't actually make their own DRAM chips has to buy them from some first tier (Crucial is one of them, Samsung, Hynix, etc). You can't be sure how much testing actually goes into their module when it is completely assembled since this isn't documented. The first tier companies (like Crucial, your brand) actually have the largest validation list (compatibility lists) for each motherboard (on the PC side) and each laptop and all-in-one. BUT, they do have a list of compatible computers including Macs, and I should have included that "compatible" phrase in the original post.

My experience has been that RAM is more hits than misses as long as you find something that is compatible when you have the choice. Of course, some models of Macs do have their pickiness when it comes to ram, but that would be documented. I am certainly not recommending non DDR3L chips for machines that specifies 1.35V operation, for example.

Addendum and anecdote: I remembered that I did have 2 bad experiences with Crucial back in the day. They made an entire series of problematic DDR1 ram called the Crucial Ballistix based on the Micron "G" die. All sticks would eventually no longer operate at the intended speed after about a year of usage. I had at least 4 sticks of these things and they all went belly up. I RMA'd with Crucial and that was my 2nd bad experience with them. They offered to replace them with non-performance ram or the equivalent of market value which was $20. I swore off of Crucial for years (no DDR2, no DDR3, etc). It wasn't until recently that I decided to give them another try, calling their DDR1 effort a one-time blunder. I also used a large amount of Corsairs, G.Skill, Kingston and generic OEM non-branded memory. Except for the Crucials and Kingstons, all other brands work wonderfully and over the years repairing/decommissioning/upgrading computers for others, I have cumulated an entire box of a few lbs of ram modules, nearly all of them working sticks from EDO to SDRAM to DDR3 of various brands and makes.