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Question about iMac Early 2008, RAM and HD drive upgrades.
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angelmb
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Aug 26, 2011, 04:42 PM
 
A friend of me is looking forward to upgrade his Early 2008 iMac id. 8,1 and would love to know:

a.- What the RAM ceiling is for this iMac 8,1. Not only recognized RAM but actually usable by the system. Some googling says those iMac top at 6 GB, all of them should be usable. Is that right.?

b.- What is the largest size internal hard drive he can install. Which would be the quietest brand.?

TIA.
     
ibook_steve
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Aug 26, 2011, 05:35 PM
 
According to Mactracker (great app to always have around), that iMac tops at 6 GB of DDR2. Apple's max is 4 but Mactracker says 6 is the actual max.

Any desktop SATA drive can be used. Others here can point you to quiet drives.

Steve
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angelmb  (op)
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Aug 27, 2011, 04:14 AM
 
Thanks Steve,

Firing up Mactracker on my iPhone was the first thing I did.

I guess it is safe for him to order the RAM and see what happens afterwards. A twofold increase (going from 3 GB to 6 GB) should be enough to make things snappier on Lion. There is too much hard disk swap activity right now going on there.

As for the hard disks, I know the WD Black Caviar series are great performers for Mac Pro(s) but I fear those might be too hot for the iMac inners to cope with.

Thanks for any insight you may bestow upon me.
     
P
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Aug 27, 2011, 07:00 AM
 
Silent PC review currently recommends Caviar Green drives if you are interested in very silent.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Waragainstsleep
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Aug 27, 2011, 07:22 AM
 
Actually most iMacs ship with WD black drives rather than green or blue. You might consider an SSD. Cool, quiet and fast.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
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Aug 27, 2011, 03:38 PM
 
Correct, but the HDs in the iMacs aren't exactly quiet. Fast, certainly, but you hear them over the fans.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
   
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