What would be faster?

[BlindSoul]

Hello,

I got an iMac 2011 21.5" inch. and I currently got:
3 x 4GB RAM DDR3 1333MHZ RAMs
and 2 x 2GB RAM DDR3 1333Mhz RAMs.

What would be faster?
2 X 4GB and 2X 2GB. ( 12GB Total BUT matching slots ).
OR
3 X 4GB and 1X 2GB. ( 14GB Total BUT no matching slots ).
I just heard there's a need to be atleast two slots of the same amount or something like that.

Thank you very much!

 

[Intell]

Probably the 2 X 4GB and 2X 2GB.

 

[BlindSoul]

Is there any way I can check that? doing any test or something?

Thank you!

 

[qap]

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (iPhone; Opera Mini/6.1.15738/25.858; U; en) Presto/2.5.25 Version/10.54)

2x4 and 2x2! There are a lot of discussions btw dual channel could be enable only with a pair of same ram and dual channel mode "ON" is faster not superfast but is better than have 2gb plus without dual channel enable.

 

[Nabby]

I agree the matched pairs are faster. My question is usually, is it enough of a difference that I can physically tell? For example, if I'm ripping a DVD and I know one machine will finish 5 minutes before another on the same task, I'd be willing to pay more for the faster machine. If the difference is 3 seconds on a 30 minute task, then it really isn't noticeable for my purposes.

As far as RAM goes, I can't answer whether or not you will see the difference in terms of speed. You may or may not. There may also be a performance increase by going with more RAM versus less based on a reduced need to page.

Just my $.02, not an expert by any stretch of the imagination.

Nabby

 

[apw100]

I agree the matched pairs are faster. My question is usually, is it enough of a difference that I can physically tell? For example, if I'm ripping a DVD and I know one machine will finish 5 minutes before another on the same task, I'd be willing to pay more for the faster machine.

Well, for 95% of applications, more than 4GB probably won't make a difference. The only apps that will benefit are 3D, video editing and other memory hungry programs.

 

[BlindSoul]

Oh well in that case I guess I will just sell the other 4GB. Thank you so much !

 

[basher]

Probably the 2 X 4GB and 2X 2GB.

Why would that configuration be faster?

 

[err404]

Why would that configuration be faster?

Because matched RAM will provide double the bandwidth. 12GB is a lot of RAM so it is unlikely to be memory starved.
Faster memory access will improve everything your machine is doing; whereas adding more RAM has an upper limit once the system doesn't need to page out.

Bare in mind that depending on what apps OP is running, the extra RAM could significantly reduce paging and provide more benefit vs the extra bandwidth.