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iMac Pro Upgrade suggestion for iMac 2010

kevinsjfl3jlj

kevinsjfl3jlj

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2018
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HI,
I have iMac 27” mid 2010
2.8 ghz intel core i5 8gb 1333 mhz ddr3
Ate radeon hd 5750 1024 mb

After installing to high Sierra, editing photos takes too much time, and stop response sometime.
It happen espeailly when I edit Raw format file.

So I'm thinking to upgrade my iMac.
Please let me know which upgrade (Ram/SSD/...) is good choice!
Thanks.
 
Are you talking about upgrading your existing iMac, or buying a newer model altogether?

First thing I'd do is check your memory pressure when you are experiencing the slowdowns. Just open Activity Monitor and check the memory tab while those programs are open. Chances are you are running out of RAM and hitting the swap file. If you're still on a spinning hard drive, then it will really get slow. It's possible that upgrading the RAM and adding an SSD will really help you out. RAM is by far the easiest to add and a good place to start.
 
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Darmok N Jalad said:
Are you talking about upgrading your existing iMac, or buying a newer model altogether?

First thing I'd do is check your memory pressure when you are experiencing the slowdowns. Just open Activity Monitor and check the memory tab while those programs are open. Chances are you are running out of RAM and hitting the swap file. If you're still on a spinning hard drive, then it will really get slow. It's possible that upgrading the RAM and adding an SSD will really help you out. RAM is by far the easiest to add and a good place to start.
Click to expand...

I want to upgrade current imac that I have.
Can you let me know what is the max ram that I can install?
And Is it easy to open the case and install rams?
 
kevinsjfl3jlj said:
I want to upgrade current imac that I have.
Can you let me know what is the max ram that I can install?
And Is it easy to open the case and install rams?
Click to expand...

Pick your year iMac from the list on this page:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201191
Not only will it show you how to upgrade the RAM, but it will tell you what type of RAM to purchase and how much you can install. Looks like you can go up to 16GB, and chances are, you have two slots available already, so you'd just need to buy 4GB x 2. You can check under "About this Mac" and then checking the "Memory" tab to see how many slots are in use.
 
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Adding memory is easy, fairly inexpensive, and probably the correct first thing to do. I would expect it to help, but not to the point of complete satisfaction. I think you should plan on replacing the hard disk with SSD as well; it's fiddly work but not terribly difficult. Do the memory first, though; it might suffice.
 
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kevinsjfl3jlj said:
I want to upgrade current imac that I have.
Can you let me know what is the max ram that I can install?
And Is it easy to open the case and install rams?
Click to expand...

If you're using a regular hard drive, upgrade to an SSD first before you do anything else. With an SSD even limited old machines become quite responsive and usable. I have a 2010 MBP with 8Gb of RAM that is very much still a usable computer after upgrading to a 512GB SSD from an HDD. It's only a backup, but I wouldn't hesitate to put it to real use if I needed it.

RAM is nice, but unless you only have 4Gb, you're going to notice the improvements from an SSD much more.
 
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You’ve got the same iMac as me.....

I added a 480gb SSD and it definitely speeded things up. I got an OWC upgrade kit and a Crucisl SSD from Amazon and followed online videos on how to do it.

With the upgrade kit I used, you keep the existing HDD and replace a 2-way cable with a 3-way cable that attaches to the SSD. The SSD is small and light and you don’t need to physically screw it into the iMac, you just use some double sided sticky tape to hold in place.

It was pretty easy to do. I took my time and followed the instructions and it took about an hour to install.

I would add an SSD first as you will get more benefit from that.

Adding RAM to the iMac is really easy. There is 3 screws under the screen and once they are off the RAM cards will pop out. Watch a video on crucial if unsure. It takes 5 mins.
 
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I checked that my iMac has 4ea of 2GB ram installed.
I just read the reply mentioning about OWC..
So, I can install 32 GB max ram.
Will it make big different if I upgrade from 8GB to 32GB ram, right?
By the way, do I have to use only OWC brand ram to upgrade to 32GB?
(I read the official max ram for my iMac is 16GB)

And I have Samsung external SSD. If I install Mac OS in there, will it make speed up too?

Thanks.
 
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I don't think an external SSD will give you a speed boost as the 2010 iMacs use an older slower USB connection than modern ones.

You can put 8Gb in each slot to make 32Gb in total. I left my 2x 4Gb's in and added an extra 2x 8Gb's to give me 24Gb total.
 
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kevinsjfl3jlj said:
I checked that my iMac has 4ea of 2GB ram installed.
I just read the reply mentioning about OWC..
So, I can install 32 GB max ram.
Will it make big different if I upgrade from 8GB to 32GB ram, right?
By the way, do I have to use only OWC brand ram to upgrade to 32GB?
(I read the official max ram for my iMac is 16GB)

And I have Samsung external SSD. If I install Mac OS in there, will it make speed up too?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

It does not have to be owc brand ram (they actually are not a ram manufacturer, they buy other people's ram and put an owc sticker and packaging on it.)

Also, i never had any issues mixing ram (as long as they are in pairs) if they are the same specs. My 2011 model used both owc & patriot ram brands.
 
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I got a message from other member of this site that he sill 50% price for old ram.
Does old ram also make same performance with new one?
And is it safe to buy old ram here?
Thanks.
 
By the way, can I install 4ea of 8gb or 2ea 16gb?

I saw apple site that I can install only either 2gb or 4gb to each slot
 
kevinsjfl3jlj said:
By the way, can I install 4ea of 8gb or 2ea 16gb?

I saw apple site that I can install only either 2gb or 4gb to each slot
Click to expand...

Apple only offered 2 or 4 gb modules back when the sold the 2010 models. The computer will actually support the 8gb models, but since Apple didn’t sell them they are not listed as “officially” supported.

It’s very common for Apple to do this, which is why sites like everymac, crucial, owc will list different maximum memory from apple’s official site.


The 2010 models will not support 16gb per ram card, it will only take the 2,4, or 8 per slot.
 
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I don't know how big a difference it will make to jump to 32 Gb. it depends on what you run and how much memory your applications use. If you were OK before, and only saw issues after moving to High Sierra, it may be that 16 Gb will do the trick. Additional memory beyond what your applications need is not wasted (it's generally used as a file page cache) but it's not an effective use of your money, better to put it into SSD. Any memory that meets the specs will do, you don't need OWC memory or brand new.

As noted above, Activity Monitor might give you a hint as to how much memory will be useful, although it can take a bit of intuition to interpret.
 
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kevinsjfl3jlj said:
I found that ram for iMac is more expensive than ram for Mac Pro.
Click to expand...

Not too surprising. iMac RAM uses SODIMM form factor which is generally associated with laptops. Mac Pro ram is DIMM form factor and there's a ton of it floating around from data center server pulls. Some laptop memory is pulled and resold but apparently not in the same volume as the server stuff.

My usual go-to for memory is datamemorysystems.com -- decent if not rock-bottom pricing and you're assured that it will work. I don't see a 32Gb kit listed, but individual 8 Gb sticks are about $60.
 
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kschendel said:
Not too surprising. iMac RAM uses SODIMM form factor which is generally associated with laptops. Mac Pro ram is DIMM form factor and there's a ton of it floating around from data center server pulls. Some laptop memory is pulled and resold but apparently not in the same volume as the server stuff.

My usual go-to for memory is datamemorysystems.com -- decent if not rock-bottom pricing and you're assured that it will work. I don't see a 32Gb kit listed, but individual 8 Gb sticks are about $60.
Click to expand...

The older DDR3 ECC RAM isn't really sought out by too many folks, either. The demand on DDR4 is pretty tight though!
 
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You can use any DDR3 so-dimm (meant for laptops), that are rated at 1333MHz or greater. I have the exact same iMac and I am currently using (in addition to the original 2*4GB) a pair of 8GB DDR3L at 1600MHz. They are running at 1333MHz, and the L means that they are Low voltage, and can be used in most modern laptops that use DDR3 (low voltage dimms are backwards compatible with non-low voltage boards).

In addition to memory, I would suggest to add an internal SSD. I have installed a 256 Samsung EVO in third internal SATA slot, and created a Fusion drive in combination with the original 1TB spinning drive. In case you are interested, iFixit is your friend, not a trivial task, but doable.
 
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