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RAM upgrade question

B

Brianmp007

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 2, 2009
10
0
So I know theres probably a million topics dealing with this subject but I had a quick question about upgrading the RAM on my mid 2007 macbook.

I have the black 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo macbook and was wondering if it would be a better choice to buy single 1gb stick and a single 2gb stick of ram or to buy the 2x2 GB sticks for the 4 GB.

I know that this macbook can only support 3.3 GB and was curious about the pros and cons of these two options.

I was also hoping someone could recommend a good site to buy RAM from

thanks in advance
brian
 
Yes...there have been ~1.543 million threads on MacBook RAM upgrades...we do have a search button at the top for assistance ;)

Pros to 2x2GB: Fully utilize 3.3GB available memory. Purchasing in pairs can be cheaper than buying two single DIMMS at times. Dual-channel support.

Pros to 1x1GB, 1x2GB: None that I can think of other than saving a couple bucks.
 
I thought that in macbooks, you had to have RAM in pairs. to 2X1GB or 2X2GB RAM. Could just be for different versions of macbook.

I have a quick Q whilst we are on the topic:
I have an early 2008 (polycarbonate) macbook, with 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM.
Do I have to buy the same type (so 2X2 GB 667Mhz DDR2 SDRAM?)
And, I did look and came across ValueRAM. do you have to buy the same make of RAM? (Company I suppose as well) or would any that is listed in Google Shopping do?

I realise, that might be a bit confusing.
 
Brianmp007 said:
So if I went with the 2x2GB would this suffice?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820349025
Click to expand...

That should work fine. You may want to see what Crucial offers, even via Newegg pricewise. Crucial tends to be a trusted brand, I use them all the time for PCs.

As for the post before yours, no you don't need matching pairs in the MacBook. The only benefit of them is dual-channel memory is only available when the DIMMs are matching. The benefit of this is pretty minor, and if you need the extra memory of non-matching, having more memory is a bigger performance boost than dual-channel matching.
 
Personally i went with Mushkin perfect match ram for my macbook 2.16.... did the 2 x 2GB and wow upgrading from 1 gb of ram to the utilized 3.3 GB is a huge change....

I know a lot of people who run the mushkin perfect match in macbooks/imacs and i've never heard of a problem...

I believe newegg sells the 4gb kit for 66.99
 
I don't think you'd notice a difference between 3GB and 3.3GB.... but for ram I almost always go with the MAXIMUM... maybe someday apple will figure out a way to address the other .7GB or ram...
 
mcmanus7 said:
I don't think you'd notice a difference between 3GB and 3.3GB.... but for ram I almost always go with the MAXIMUM... maybe someday apple will figure out a way to address the other .7GB or ram...
Click to expand...

I think the 3.3GB limit is a hardware limitation with the memory controller...not positive though.
 
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