[Frugle]

Hey,

I recently purchased a 2GB mushkin ram kit with the idea that if buying 2, I would get dual channel performance.

I've read many times people saying that the jump from 1 to 2GB showed a significant speed increase (my guess was that it allowed for full bandwidth of the CPU) .

But I havn't had the same results... in fact I'm a little dissapointed.. I was hoping for more... launching into applications, I still get the beachball of doom... it still takes forever to launch iPhoto...


is there something I was supposed to do to make it work differently? Like resetting something? I ran onyx and did a mem test and everything checks out good.. it is seeing both GB... and it is supposedly running at full speed.

This is the ram I bought, at the time it was 200 dollars: Mushkin - Mushkin 2GB DDR2 PC5300 Apple SODIMM Dual Pack - 976504A - onSale.com

Again the ram works great, it is operating exactly as it should..... I was just expecting more.

But one thing I have noticed, is that whenever my computer is going slow (launching into applications etc.) I hear harddrive noise, so does that mean that my 5400RPM drive is holding my whole computer back that much? I've never had a problem with 5400rpm drives in the past, never felt the need for a 7200...

Thanks!

[zerostar]

How much free space is on your hard drive? thats the only thing I can think of, you will probably want at least 8GB free for swap growth.

What machine is this also? A Core 2 Duo?

[Frugle]

39GB and a Core Duo.

[peeb]

Well look, here's the thing - more ram will help only if you are disc swapping before you add it. It won't make launching apps faster, it will mean that your computer swaps to disc less frequently. If you're not swapping to disc much now, you have enough ram, and adding more will not help much.

[mduell]

Dual channel adds a marginal bit of performance, but you'll only notice it if what you're doing is bound by memory bandwidth; more people are bound by memory capacity, which makes them swap.

If you're seeing no performance difference, you were either already ahead of the memory curve (not using all that you had) or too far behind it (and you're still swapping).

Why did you buy a 2x1GB kit? Didn't your MBP come with 1x1GB stock? I thought all the 2.16Ghz models did...

[Cliff_O]

Originally Posted by mduell 

Why did you buy a 2x1GB kit? Didn't your MBP come with 1x1GB stock? I thought all the 2.16Ghz models did...

I believe there is a slight performance boost to be had by installing paired memory - so this upgrade was presumably to take advantage of that.

[ibook_steve]

Originally Posted by Cliff_O 

I believe there is a slight performance boost to be had by installing paired memory - so this upgrade was presumably to take advantage of that.

I think the question is: why buy 2 1GB if you already have 1 1GB? Matching the amount of memory between two sticks is more important than matching the manufacturer.

Steve

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Cliff_O 

I believe there is a slight performance boost to be had by installing paired memory - so this upgrade was presumably to take advantage of that.

Adding 1GB would give him a pair of 1GB DIMMs and thus the performance benefits of dual channel. It doesn't matter if the memory modules are from the same manufacturer; they only have to be the same size and speed. Buying a pair of 1GB DIMMs when you already own one is a waste of money.

[Frugle]

correct, I bought the kit because I think the ram has to be sequential and/or same chip/manufacturer for it to work in dual channel mode fully. (at least thats the way it was with my PC) So I bought a 2GB kit and sold my 1GB stick, so it evened out to be the same price as if to buy an extra 1GB stick.


Thanks for the help all! especially peeps post, I think you hit the nail on the head... I wasn't using up the RAM I already had, I doubt I was swapping much. I also haven't started using intensive apps yet... but I have a wedding to edit coming up and I'm sure the 2GB will be noticed then.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Frugle 

correct, I bought the kit because I think the ram has to be sequential and/or same chip/manufacturer for it to work in dual channel mode fully. (at least thats the way it was with my PC) So I bought a 2GB kit and sold my 1GB stick, so it evened out to be the same price as if to buy an extra 1GB stick.

No, it doesn't. As long as you get the same capacity and speed, two modules from different companies will work fine together in dual-channel. But at least you sold your 1GB to make up the difference.

The only problem I foresee is that if you ever have to take your laptop into Apple for service, they may blame it on the 3rd party RAM and you can't swap the original Apple RAM back in.

[Cliff_O]

Originally Posted by ibook_steve 

I think the question is: why buy 2 1GB if you already have 1 1GB? Matching the amount of memory between two sticks is more important than matching the manufacturer.

Steve

I can read, thanks. My attempt to answer on behalf of the OP was subsequently confirmed by the OP.

[Frugle]

I think technically you are right...It doesn't have to be the exact same... but reading around on the internet right now, (no specific place) the general consensious is that it has a greater chance or working properly if everything matches exactly... and that if you miss-match brands, it has the potential to be even less efficent.

[Philip J. Fry]

My understanding is that matched pairs is really beneficial to those machines with an integrated graphics chip, not so much on those with a dedicated video card due to the OS utilizing the graphics card for core operations, such as Core Image. Therefore, matched pairs in the MBPro aren't that big of a deal.