[crazyreaper]

hey guys, long time no see, hope everyone is ok!

was just thinking about upgrading my macs ram and after a little research read that my imac would only use up to 3GB (even though 4 was an option on order). at the moment i have 2GB (2 x 1 GB) and was thinking about taking them out for (2 x 2GB) however is there much point in doing this, would my imac be just as quick is i replaced just one of the rams for a 2 GB leaving me with 3GB. Or does this 3 GB cap only matter to 10.4 has this changed for 10.5 (which im planning on upgrading to in the forthcoming weeks)

Thanks in advance for any replies and thanks for taking time out to read this.

Regards
Matt

[P]

The 3 gig cap is still in effect (it's in the firmware). The difference between 2x2 GB and 2+1 GB is going to be very small. 2x2GB will let you use dual-channel RAM access, thereby doubling the memory bandwidth, but it has been repeatedly shown that this is essentially irrelevant except for models with integrated graphics.

[crazyreaper]

that pretty much answers my question, all thats left to ask is:

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/349700...k/Product.html

any reason why i shouldn't buy that for the small price of £25? compared to the **** load more im sure apple would charge

[ghporter]

Definitely do NOT buy additional RAM from Apple. Consider their price premium a "harassment charge" and find a vendor with products from one of the very reputable RAM makers/vendors like Crucial, Samsung, and Kingston. You'll spend a fraction of the Apple cost and get RAM that's just as good.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by crazyreaper 

that pretty much answers my question, all thats left to ask is:
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/349700...k/Product.html
any reason why i shouldn't buy that for the small price of £25? compared to the **** load more im sure apple would charge

That type of memory will work. But $43 seems overpriced to me (even if you include VAT and shipping).

You can get 2GB for $26. And even if you really want Kingston Newegg has it for $28.

And yeah, you should definitely not get your RAM from Apple.

[crazyreaper]

yer but this is the UK my friend, thats what we have to pay, we just take what u could buy it for in the US and swap the $ for a £ and ignore the exchange rate, play will be one of the cheapest places to buy in the UK

thanks ghporter for that, i know apple rip ur limbs off as part of the payment when u buy ram (and most upgrades) from them

[MacNNUK]

Make sure you push in the new memory fully.

After I upgraded memory, iMac played up, until I discovered it was loose memory insertion.

[mattyb]

Not sure if this is the right place for this question, but I'm pretty confused about max RAM in iMacs.

I have a Feb 2007 iMac, and it has 4G of RAM in it. OSX only sees 3G.

Newer iMacs, according to the Apple Support pages can also take 4G, but I haven't been able to find anything anywhere that says that OSX sees the 4G. IIUC its a firmware limitation on the model that I have, but do the newer iMacs, Minis, MacBooks and MacBookPros actually see and use the 4G?

Thanks.

[P]

iMacs, MBs and MBPs: Yes (depending on the chipset). Minis still have the old 945 chipset that sets the max RAM below 4 gigs.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by mattyb 

Newer iMacs, according to the Apple Support pages can also take 4G, but I haven't been able to find anything anywhere that says that OSX sees the 4G. IIUC its a firmware limitation on the model that I have, but do the newer iMacs, Minis, MacBooks and MacBookPros actually see and use the 4G?

Current iMacs and previous iMacs with an 800 MHz FSB (Crestline) will make use of the entire 4 GB.

MacBook and MacBook Pro RAM limits are detailed here.

Mac minis can't make use of 4 GB at all. CS/CD models make use of 2GB. C2D models make use of 3GB.

[mattyb]

Thankyou very much for the clarifications.