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Ram Upgrade early 2011
- Thread starter DerekRod
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OSX will use as much RAM as you give it. The difference between 8GB and 16GB may not be noticeable, but it isn't being wasted.
Make sure the second 8GB stick you order is the same make and model as the one you already have. I'm pretty sure it doesn't run in dual channel if they aren't the same, specification wise.
Depends on what you do...
I really needed that 16GB so I got it.
Cant wait for 32GB sticks...
While you have your machine open, to go to 16gb instead of 10 will be about an extra 30-40 bucks.
And then you'll realistically never need to worry about upgrading again for the life of the machine, will get full dual channel speed, etc.
With RAM, there is no such thing as overkill - if you can afford it (and 16gb is dirt cheap now), go for it.
I ordered 1 8gb stick yesterday of DDR3 PC3-10600 and a second one today from crucial so hopefully they get here soon
First I got both off amazon.
1333 and 1600. Tried them both and did not see much difference.
I retured the 1600 since 1333 was about 30 bucks cheaper at that time.
I bought Corsair models.
They are under 65USD now. I bought them when they are over 150.
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Chann...TF8&colid=1ERU5DWRRIJCX&coliid=I32UD9XAADHHVM
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I'd rather add those $29 and get the 1600MHz variant of it.
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Well atleast I didnt see any difference between those 2.
It might be true that Mac doesnt support fully of the 1600.
Its compatible, but cant get all the speed.
One of those tech review sites, I think it was Anandtech, did a review to see what the "best" RAM configuration for Sandy Bridge processors was. Based on their benchmark tests (which don't necessarily translate over to real-world benefits), the higher clockrate provided a performance benefit over faster CAS latency. In other words, CL10 1600 MHz was faster than CL9 1333 MHz. I don't recall the difference being that dramatic, but if you're one of those guys who likes to feel that they're getting every bit of performance...
Actually, I think I misinterpreted your post: you were talking about compatibility. Are there systems that are CAS-restricted? I've never heard of it before, but I could believe it. Even if so, I would think that a system that could make use of CL9 would be fine with CL10/11 (which are slower).
As to 1333 Mhz vs. 1600 MHz, the RAM reports that it's running at 1600 MHz (on my late 2011 Macbook Pro), so I assume the system is benefitting from it. But yusukeaoki brings up a good point in that the performance difference may not be that great. I bought from Newegg and the price difference between the two clock rates was less than $10 at the time, so I figured that I might as well go for the faster RAM.
That wasn't my experience. Have you looked at the Activity Monitor to see if something is taking up most of your RAM? Are all of your programs up to date and compatible with the OS?
Yeah according to what Ive seen and the Apple Genius saw i just needed more ram.Just waiting on my second 8GB ram stick I dont just want to put one in and lose dual channel.
Edit: If I just put 1 8GB stick and leave the other slot empty will I lose dual channel?Or should I just wait for both sticks to arrive?
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Dual channel requires two sticks of identical RAM (hence the name). When I say identical, I'm not just referring to the size of the RAM, but also its clock rate and timings.
If you're running with one stick of RAM, you won't be using dual-channel; if you add in a second identical stick of RAM, then the system will utilize dual-channel. It's not something that you gain or lose permanently.
While dual-channel offers performance benefits, for most applications you won't notice it (or miss it). In other words, even if you bought two sticks of RAM that aren't perfect pairs, you are much more likely to gain a performance improvement from the expanded capacity compared with a lower capacity running in dual-channel mode.