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albarosa · Feb 27, 2007, 03:23 AM

Hello, I have a 17" iMac G4 1GHz which I have been using for the past several years or so. Unfortunately, I have never bothered to upgrade the measly 256MB of RAM that it came with and ever since I installed Tiger, I began to notice that my old Performa has been able to outperform it on a consistent basis. (This may be somewhat of an exaggeration, but not much of one.)

As I have heard, this computer has two slots available for memory, and maximizes out at 1GB, so I figure to go with two 512MB DDR PC2700 pieces of memory from Crucial.

However, it says on the Crucial page that the DIMM slot is not accessible, while the SODIMM slot is "from the bottom of the system." I am assuming that this does not apply to me if I don't mind opening up the computer, but I'd like a little confirmation or explanation if anyone could offer some. Thank you.

lostjamie · Feb 27, 2007, 03:37 AM

Hey,

I think i understand your question. If this post isn't any relevance please ignore.

On the bottom of the iMacs stand there is 3 instructions on how to install RAM. It's a fairly easy process. Long as you have the correct RAM and yes, 2 512MB RAM DIMMS is fine (by my knowledge anyways, dont quote me on that) but i've done it before and installed 1GB RAM from 2 512's.

Opening it up is easy, putting the RAM in is easy (It only fits one way and you'll know because it fits snug in and the wrong way it just falls out.

Pop the RAM in, close up the bottom and away you go. Turn on and continue, it's easy as that.

If you're not comfortale with doing it yourself you could take it into an Apple Store and paying for the upgrade there. They'll fit it there and then (to my experience anyways).

allblue · Feb 27, 2007, 09:46 AM

No quite lostjamie. There are two ram slots in the 17" G4 imac, only one of which is easily accessible. The second (spare in your case albarosa) is a simple snap-in accessible by removing the bottom plate (do remember to earth yourself first - touch something metal - as ram chips are very sensitive to electrostatic charge). However, the default slot requires a special tool to access it. This is a bit of a bugbear of mine, I bought mine with 512 (2x 256) and have only been able to replace the second chip with a 512, giving me 768. It is not a major job to replace the default chip, you do not void your warranty if you do so, but if you are a bit nervous about such things as thermal paste (as I am) you'd need an apple engineer to do it.

There's some good advice here:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread....&tstart=30

and according to this thread:

http://www.macworld.com/forums/ubbth...=0&page=84

you could put a 1Gb in the spare slot. Hope that helps, let us know how you get on!

albarosa · Feb 27, 2007, 02:23 PM

Thank you for the quick replies. I suspected that "non-accessible" actually meant inside the computer, and I appreciate you two confirming this. I have opened the computer up before to replace the hard drive and I have some thermal glue on hand so I doubt it would be too hard of an operation. However, I think I will just install a 1GB module in the bottom of the machine for now.

By the way, for people who had the same questions as I did, just to clarify, this computer is supposed to hold only 1GB of RAM at its maximum capacity, but allblue's suggestion to add another 1GB of RAM would actually work. Apparently, 1GB memory modules for this computer were not available upon its release, and Apple has never bothered to update this computer's potential for maximum RAM capacity, even though they are currently available. So in short, one 1GB module in each slot should get your old iMac to run with 2GBs of RAM. This is confirmed on the links allblue has provided above.

Anyway, as Crucial does not offer the appropriate memory in 1GB increments, I'll try one from OWC and let everyone here know how it went. It is almost unbearable to use right now, so I'm sure I will be happy with just about any result besides the computer blowing up. Again, I thank you two for the help.

lostjamie · Feb 27, 2007, 02:42 PM

My mistake allblue, i've only really upgraded intel imacs, which are easier. Im sorry for my post, please ignore albarosa

albarosa · Feb 27, 2007, 02:48 PM

By the way, since I may be opening up this computer soon anyway, does anyone know of a reliable and relatively cheap DVD drive capable of replacing my now defunct superdrive? I have an external drive which does the job for burning data and things like audio, but as far as I know, it will not integrate with iApplications. It would be really nice to have a working internal drive again.

Actually, lostjamie, your information was quite relevent. It helped clarify the information had seen regarding the memory slots, although in the G4 there happens to be only one slot in the bottom. Your help was appreciated, thank you.

allblue · Feb 27, 2007, 06:07 PM

I don't know much about these things really (especially compared to some of the eggheads in this and other forums!) so I always enjoy passing on any bits I do know!

Plus finding about being able to put a Gig chip in the second slot has rather intrigued me - I've been waiting for a good time to upgrade to the 24", but you know how it goes - I'll just hang on for Leopard... Santa Rosa... Blueray/HDVD... Penryn... cold fusion... etc, so if I could give my old beauty a good ram bump it could mean new camera this year, new iMac next. If you are opening up yours, are you thinking of putting 2GB in? If you did, I would be very interested to hear how that went, because that might become an option for me.

yessongs · Feb 27, 2007, 10:39 PM

Originally Posted by albarosa

By the way, since I may be opening up this computer soon anyway, does anyone know of a reliable and relatively cheap DVD drive capable of replacing my now defunct superdrive? I have an external drive which does the job for burning data and things like audio, but as far as I know, it will not integrate with iApplications. It would be really nice to have a working internal drive again.

I installed this in my G4 mini.
http://www.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=2510

albarosa · Feb 28, 2007, 12:35 AM

allblue, yes, I would strongly suggest waiting for a revision on the iMac if you can, as the G4 model is still a very capable machine. I am pretty sure installing 2GBs of memory will be fine, as I have seen people on others forums say so. Anyway, I'll volunteer to be the guinea pig here, and install more than the supposed 1GB limit. It won't be 2GB, but it will be nice to have proof of concept in affect. I will probably upgrade to 2GB eventually, but I don't need to do so just yet. Anyway, I'll have an update on here telling how everything went, hopefully by the end of the weekend. If not by the weekend, sometime soon, as my RAM has already shipped, and its just up to me to find time.

yessongs, thank you for your suggestion. Has yours held out well? I believe I have a Pioneer drive right now but it stopped burning discs after about a year.

yessongs · Feb 28, 2007, 01:10 PM

The mini is a HTPC, i upgraded to the core duo mini. Up until i sold it, it worked fine. If you do go with it make sure it fits your cable.

albarosa · Mar 11, 2007, 04:20 PM

Thank you to everyone who has helped me here. The RAM I ordered arrived the other day and I installed it rather easily by just opening up the bottom of the computer and inserting it. I am currently running Azureus, Photoshop, Camino, iTunes, and Quicksilver with no noticeable slowdown. I guess quintupling my previous memory really had an effect. I will probably buy another module and up my RAM to 2GBs upon Leopard's release.

allblue, I would recommend going for 2GBs. Although according to Apple, the maximum capacity for RAM is only 1GB, my current system specs say I have 1.25GBs and there are no problems. As previously mentioned, there are also many people who have successfully installed 2GBs.