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drainyoo · Oct 29, 2007, 11:08 AM

Just picked up a new 24in iMac and I want to fill it up with RAM but I wanted to know which company has the best prices and is the most reliable?

No Time 4 Love Dr. Jones · Oct 29, 2007, 11:54 AM

You can get 4 GB from Crucial for 199.99

casey · Oct 29, 2007, 01:57 PM

Macsales.com $167

Cave Man · Oct 29, 2007, 02:44 PM

I use Macsales as well. Lifetime return policy, which I've had to use once with my Mini.

drainyoo · Oct 29, 2007, 04:29 PM

Thanks guys. I was looking into Macsales.com but I didn't know anything about them. Are they reliable? Are the chips reliable?

obelix112za · Oct 29, 2007, 04:41 PM

Memory upgrades, flash media, and usb storage at Crucial.com

angelmb · Oct 29, 2007, 04:53 PM

I always buy RAM from OWC (macsales.com) and haven't had any issue with it… I save a good amount of bucks since RAM is always cheaper there than here in Europe.

drainyoo · Oct 29, 2007, 05:12 PM

Originally Posted by obelix112za

Memory upgrades, flash media, and usb storage at Crucial.com

I don't see how the 2GB chip is $59.99 and two 2GB chips are $199.99. Doesn't make sense to me.

Grrr · Oct 29, 2007, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by drainyoo

I don't see how the 2GB chip is $59.99 and two 2GB chips are $199.99. Doesn't make sense to me.

Read it again, then it will make sense.
The 2gb kit is 2 X 1gb chips. Not 1 X 2gb chip.

However, why on earth you'd want to buy that, when most of these iMacs already have a 1gb chip installed is beyond me, because there is only 2 ram slots. Now THAT doesn't make sense.

Still, I've bought lots of ram from their euro store, and never had a problem.

drainyoo · Oct 29, 2007, 11:35 PM

Ah i didn't know the 2gb kit was 2 x 1gb. That is a weird kit cause like like you stated the iMac already has a 1gb chip in it. Why buy another two? Macsales has a 2gb chip and the 4gb kit so I will probably purchase from them.

Rowen · Oct 29, 2007, 11:54 PM

Newegg.com

I just picked up a 2GB 667mhz So-Dimm, A-Data with Lifetime Warranty for $60 after rebate.

casey · Oct 30, 2007, 05:53 AM

Originally Posted by Rowen

Newegg.com

I just picked up a 2GB 667mhz So-Dimm, A-Data with Lifetime Warranty for $60 after rebate.

Can you give us a link to the ram you bought?

Gankdawg · Oct 30, 2007, 05:44 PM

I love newegg but for RAM for new iMac, I went with OWC (Macsales). I bought the 2GB chip for $85. Macs are notoriously finicky about RAM, so I went with a Mac vendor with a good rep.

mduell · Oct 30, 2007, 09:54 PM

Crucial

Rowen · Oct 31, 2007, 01:00 AM

Newegg.com - A-DATA 2GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Notebook Memory - Retail
A-Data 2GB So-Dimm 667mhz DDR2

When I first installed the ram, I was taken back as the boot light just started blinking with hatred. After many hours of pleading with it, and a vegas marriage proposal, I finally found out it wasn't firmly installed. I mean, tight is one thing, but this iMac wanted tight like making the kessel run less than 12 parsecs.

It installed, it booted afterwards, and Parallels and BitTorrent loves the new memory.

mduell · Nov 1, 2007, 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by Rowen

When I first installed the ram, I was taken back as the boot light just started blinking with hatred. After many hours of pleading with it, and a vegas marriage proposal, I finally found out it wasn't firmly installed. I mean, tight is one thing, but this iMac wanted tight like making the kessel run less than 12 parsecs.

Welcome to the world of DDR2. Tight is the only way you're going to reliably get 250Mhz+ clockrates with a slot.

CheesePuff · Nov 2, 2007, 12:05 PM

A lot of people don't recommend it, but I've purchased the cheapest RAM for my machines from NewEgg for the past 2 years (Mac mini, MacBook, Power Mac, etc) and never had one issue at all, and saved tons. Now you can get 2 GB DDR2 667 MHz SO-DIMM for $58 shipped from there.

Mindflux · Nov 4, 2007, 08:21 PM

I ordered 4GB of PQI memory from Newegg that'll be here later this week. I'm a little aprehensive about it since I am usually a die-hard Crucial user. But for the price difference of 70 dollars and 30 days to figure out if it works ok or not (newegg's return policy is 30 days) I decided to give it a go. Coupled with PQI's lifetime warranty I'm hoping to have come out on top.

The fact of the matter is ram is ram, for the most part. If it has acceptable memory timings it should work fine. Most of the sticks are likely coming out of a similar (or same) factory.

Gankdawg · Nov 5, 2007, 08:20 PM

And if anyone is on the fence about upgrading your RAM, DO IT. I went from the stock 1 GB to 3 GB and it is VERY noticeable, money well spent. I'm now thinking I will take out the stock 1 GB and replace it with a 2 GB stick too.

alsam · Nov 14, 2007, 06:53 PM

OK, totally noob here. I just walked home with a 2.4 20" Imac with the standard package. As I read above, the 1 gig of ram takes up one of the 2 slots. I can buy a 2 gig stick and there won't be any issues with mis-matched sizes?

Gankdawg · Nov 14, 2007, 07:08 PM

Nope, no issues. I have the stock 1 GB in one slot and a 2 GB in the other slot.

alsam · Nov 16, 2007, 02:50 PM

on order from macsales (a 2 gig chip) here on Monday, faster 10 minutes later.

AC Rempt · Nov 17, 2007, 10:15 PM

I can see going from 1 Gig to more would make a big difference, but how about 2 to 4? I have 2 Gigs now in my 24" Core 2 Duo (Alu), and I'm toying with upping it to 4, but will it make that much of a performance difference?

StrengthDesign · Nov 18, 2007, 02:36 AM

fatwallet.com, newegg.com.

I got 2 sticks of crucial memory through newegg for very cheap, a while back.

StrengthDesign · Nov 18, 2007, 02:37 AM

Originally Posted by AC Rempt

I can see going from 1 Gig to more would make a big difference, but how about 2 to 4? I have 2 Gigs now in my 24" Core 2 Duo (Alu), and I'm toying with upping it to 4, but will it make that much of a performance difference?

Not really. Better money would be spent on saving for a new CPU, buying a slightly faster one, and ebaying your current one.

AC Rempt · Nov 18, 2007, 02:42 AM

Well, the only faster iMac than mine is the 2.8, and I don't think that would make enough of a difference to eBay my brand new iMac 2.4.

StrengthDesign · Nov 18, 2007, 07:03 PM

I meant ebaying your current PROCESSOR. Buying a faster PROCESSOR, replacing it, and ebaying your slower PROCESSOR.

zerock · Nov 18, 2007, 08:12 PM

Find the latest Performance Upgrades, Firewire and USB Hard Drives, SATA, Memory, Laptop Battery, and more at OWC. is the best period.

Macintosh Sauce · Nov 18, 2007, 08:15 PM

The best place to buy Mac RAM is at Transintl.com.. I recommend them highly as I have dealt with them for years.

AC Rempt · 12:08 AM

Originally Posted by StrengthDesign

I meant ebaying your current PROCESSOR. Buying a faster PROCESSOR, replacing it, and ebaying your slower PROCESSOR.

Well gosh, I'll crack that case right open and get rid of that crappy PROCESSOR right away.

It's an iMac, dude. Do you know what it takes to disassemble the thing? I'm certainly not up for it. Now a RAM upgrade, sure. But again, will the extra 2 Gigs make that much of a difference?

mduell · Nov 18, 2007, 11:26 PM

The price difference between the CPUs ($851 vs $316) is actually more than the price difference between the iMacs ($1800 vs $2300), and the iMac upgrade includes another 1GB RAM and 180GB disk. So if you were going to go the eBay route I think doing the whole machine makes more sense than just the CPU. And swapping the CPU would be a bit of a hassle and void your warranty.

I'd blow the $100 to get up to 4GB RAM and see how well it works for you.