What SSD and RAM to buy for my late 2012 iMac?

[Loke2112]

I am going to update my late 2012 iMac from 8 to 16 gigs of RAM and an internal SSD to replace the original HD.I am hoping someone can recommend the best options or just point me in the direction of an online retailer that can properly consult me.

 

[Tommy c]

You can do an external Samsung T5 SSD or a Internal Samsung EVO 860 Pro SATA. I'm using the external Samsung T5 512SSD myself.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

And Crucial or OWC modules,

 

[danielwsmithee]

For SSDs go Samsung or Crucial
For Memory go Crucial or OWC

 

[Loke2112]

You can do an external Samsung T5 SSD or a Internal Samsung EVO 860 Pro SATA. I'm using the external Samsung T5 512SSD myself.

I was told using the external like I am now is a real bottleneck at the UISB port do you agree? Thanks for the reply.

 

[Tommy c]

I was told using the external like I am now is a real bottleneck at the UISB port do you agree? Thanks for the reply.

You are already using an external? I did not know that. There is a advantage if your willing to take the co mouser apart. I’m getting 450ish read/write and that’s pretty good for 120.00 and no labor.

I followed advice from another member on this. The best wat is internal, if you want to take it all apart.

 

[danielwsmithee]

I was told using the external like I am now is a real bottleneck at the UISB port do you agree? Thanks for the reply.

Inside is definitely better. Here is a kit that basically has everything you could need. Just buy the drive.

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMACHDD12/

Another option you can do with these older iMacs is replace the optical drive with an SSD as well. In that case you can run two SSDs in RAID0, or one SSD for your OS, one SSD for your user accounts etc.

My older 2009 iMac is still running strong. The optical drive bay SSD is an older 128GB SSD that has the OS install. The HD Bay has a 1TB SSD that has all the system user accounts.