Wanting to upgrade RAM in 2011 iMac

[sstevens]

I have a top model 2011 27" iMac excluding any RAM upgrades - it has 8gb.

I was wondering where I can look online to max it out at 16gb (I assume 4x4gb sticks is the max as that is what Apple has told me)

I don't want to pay extra for Apple to do it but one of the Genius Bar tech's showed me a site to buy the 8gb for I believe $140.

This may be a strange question but can I replace the ram which is GDDR3 with GDDR5? Also, the tock ram has speeds of 1333MHz, can this be increased thru internal software tinkering on the Mac and do all the sticks have to have the same speeds?

Any links to what is best or what a majority of you go to would be greatly appreciated!

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Your iMac supports 32 GB of 1333 MHz 204-pin DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM, faster RAM will be downclocked, as it is not a software, but a hardware issue due to the chipsets.
You also confuse GPU RAM (GDDR - G stands for Graphics) with normal RAM, thus there is no need to get GDDR5 or so RAM.

16 GB via four 4 GB modules can be had for less than 80 USD, 32 GB RAM can be had for less than 200 USD.

Newegg or Crucial are good sources to get 1333 MHz 204-pin DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM.

 

[sstevens]

Your iMac supports 32 GB of 1333 MHz 204-pin DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM, faster RAM will be downclocked, as it is not a software, but a hardware issue due to the chipsets.
You also confuse GPU RAM (GDDR - G stands for Graphics) with normal RAM, thus there is no need to get GDDR5 or so RAM.

16 GB via four 4 GB modules can be had for less than 80 USD, 32 GB RAM can be had for less than 200 USD.

Newegg or Crucial are good sources to get 1333 MHz 204-pin DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM.

Thank you, sorry for the confusion. The 32gb is never mentioned as it's "max" but I've heard it is supported...that means 8gb sticks in all slots. I read that the second gen sandy bridge i7 processors support the 32gb. My CPU is the i7 3.4GHz, but am unsure if it is sandy bridge or not. I just don't want to spend the money and basically 16gb are always idle and my computer won't read all 32gb...

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Thank you, sorry for the confusion. The 32gb is never mentioned as it's "max" but I've heard it is supported...that means 8gb sticks in all slots. I read that the second gen sandy bridge i7 processors support the 32gb. My CPU is the i7 3.4GHz, but am unsure if it is sandy bridge or not. I just don't want to spend the money and basically 16gb are always idle and my computer won't read all 32gb...

If it is a 2011 iMac, it is a Sandy Bridge iMac. If you do not need 32 GB RAM, which is very likely, 16 GB will more than suffice. You can get two 8 GB modules for around 80 or so USD. Thus you can use the two new 8 GB modules with the already present modules in your Mac.

 

[Raima]

Thank you, sorry for the confusion. The 32gb is never mentioned as it's "max" but I've heard it is supported...that means 8gb sticks in all slots. I read that the second gen sandy bridge i7 processors support the 32gb. My CPU is the i7 3.4GHz, but am unsure if it is sandy bridge or not. I just don't want to spend the money and basically 16gb are always idle and my computer won't read all 32gb...

My 2010 27" iMac i7 2.8Ghz has 32GB in it and it reads it all fine.

I've had 4 x virtual machines running utilising about 28GB of RAM.

Your 2011 iMac will have no problems running 32GB if you wanted to.

 

[Imac Sam]

I purchased this 16GB of crucial memory on Amazon for my 27" 2011 Imac. I am currently running 24GB in right now.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008LTBJK2/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

At the time I bought it, it was around $83, it seems to have went up a little bit now, but I am sure the price will come back down.