Upgrading memory on 800 Mhz iMac G4

[Styxie]

Hi guys, this is my first post here, so be gentle =p

Anyway, I recently bought an old iMac G4 of a friend of mine. It's the 800 Mhz one, with the 15" screen. It was shipped with 512 MB of RAM, but my friend upgraded it to 768 MB. He ran Tiger on it, but as this is my first ever Mac, I desperatly wanted to install Leopard, so one way or another I got it to work.
However, it is not as fast as Tiger (figures), so I was thinking about upgrading the RAM to the maximun of 1 GB. But I'm not so sure the extra 256 MB will give me a significant performance boost. Also, this exact type of RAM I need is quite hard to find, so I'm probably gonna take it to the Apple Store and let them take care of it for me. This will set me back 50 euro's, and I bought the machine for 150 euro's. So is it worth it to upgrade the RAM?

 

[belvdr]

I had the exact same performance issue and the exact same machine with 768MB of RAM, and I wasn't even using all the RAM yet. So, my guess is that you're hitting other bottlenecks (like the system bus) and not memory.

 

[Eidorian]

It's not worth upgrading the RAM unless you've opened them up before. It sounds like the external user accessible slot is filled and you'll have to open it up to install the remaining 256 MB.

If you have a 512 MB PC133 DIMM around there are several take aparts online but you'll need the tools to do it.

It's a little scary the first time since you are taking the entire bottom case off.

 

[Styxie]

Oh I don't mind opening up my iMac =). I've performed surgery on loads of normal computers, so that's no biggie. But as I don't have a 512 MB stick lying around (and I can't get it on eBay for less than the Apple Store), I figured I might as well take it to the store.

PS: Damn, you guys are quick with your replies =p

 

[Eidorian]

Oh I don't mind opening up my iMac =). I've performed surgery on loads of normal computers, so that's no biggie. But as I don't have a 512 MB stick lying around (and I can't get it on eBay for less than the Apple Store), I figured I might as well take it to the store.

PS: Damn, you guys are quick with your replies =p

This is the take apart I used when I first operated on the iMac G4s in my department.

The bottom actually comes off quite easily and reassembly is just as easy too. You might want to take the time to air dust it out. The internal RAM slot is a full sized PC133 DIMM vs. the external "user accessible" PC133 SODIMM.

 

[RayK]

Cleaning out the dust is a big deal. I was given a mac just like yours, replaced the HDD and put in RAM and it was like night and day. I'd STRONGLY recommend you replace the HDD if its never been replaced. Enjoy the iMac.