Difference in RAM?

I want to upgrade my new imac to 2gb maybe 3gb, I have found that I can get a 2GB and a 1GB inc vat/delivery for £136 from Kingston but this hugely cheaper than what it would be from some larger brand named companies....are you paying for a name or are there reliability concerns with cheaper ram.

Thank you
Raff

Kingston is a big player in the third party RAM upgrade business, as is Crucial. Most of the RAM in my dual Xeon workstation is a Kingston upgrade specific for this particular Dell machine, whilst most of the other computers (and some of my printers) have Crucial RAM in them.

The best upgrade to buy in my opinion is one specifically sold by Kingston or Crucial for your particular computer (or printer). Before you buy, I'd check out Crucial UK's web site - you may find they have a better deal than Kingston. On the other hand, if you can find a dealer that's selling the particular Kingston kit(s) you need cheaply, that could be a great deal.

I would double-check that you've got the right part number(s) with the Kingston web site before ordering.

David

Cheers David, I've double checked through the Kingston site for the product codes and through WSTORE that price is right...a bit more else where. I've not delt with wstore before but they are recomended through the Kinston site so that offers some piece of mind.

A 2GB card from Crutial is £150! their 2GB kit (2x 1GB) is well priced though at £59 and the 1GB is £30. So its seemsa nice saving going with the Kingston.

I figured If I can I may as well max the RAM to start or if it was possible maybe run the 2GB with the 512MB RAM the system comes with?

Make sure they are heat sync'd correctly if you are putting it in a Mac. I dont remember the specific brands, but if you search around online you can find that there are a few specific aftermarket brands that apple users trust. I dont know the details about it, but there is something different about apple RAM than the RAM that goes in a PC. Like I said I dont know the specifics, but I have heard this from tons of other sources. Just search around a little you will find what I am talking about.

I start by finding out what the memory configuration of the machine is in terms of banks and occupancy.

If you have two banks, and the current configuration is one bank with 512MB and one bank empty, I'd probably go for 2GB in the first bank, move the 512MB to the second bank and see how you get on. The extra expense for changing that second bank to 1GB instead of 512MB is probably going to produce little, if any, benefit.


The Dell I mentioned has four slots - but the memory arrangements is pairs of identical DIMMs. There's only two banks.

The factory memory was 1GB, but I specified that should be in one bank (2 x 512MB rather than 512MB in each bank, which would have been 4 x 256MB and was a bit cheaper). Eventually I bought a Kingston 2GB kit (2 x 1GB) so I now have 3GB of RAM in the machine - 2GB in the first bank (2 x 1GB) and 1GB in the second bank (2 x 512MB - the original RAM Dell supplied). The most the motherboard will take is 4GB, but the benefit in buying a second 2GB kit and tossing the factory 1GB bank was likely to be minimal and not worth the expense.


I know nothing about Macs, but be careful. You're talking about 2GB kits made of 2 x 1GB. If your Mac has a similar memory arrangement to my Dell, fair enough. However, if the arrangement is that each bank consists of a single DIMM, and there's only two banks, you'll remove the factory 512MB, put 1GB in each bank, and have no further memory expansion potential.

Unless the cost is stupid, I tend to buy larger memory modules for future expansion potential, though on some motherboards there's a speed gain by spreading memory across all the slots. You have to weigh up cost, performance and future expansion potential.


My limited research on the Core 2 Duo iMacs indicates that the setup is simpler than my Dell - there's two independent slots, with a limit of 2GB per slot and 3GB total. If you can get a single 2GB module relatively cheaply, I'd do that, and move the factory 512MB to the second slot. If you ever find yourself hankering for the final 512MB that you can get in the machine, buy a 1GB DIMM and swap it for the factory 512MB - but I doubt you'll miss that 512MB very much.

David

I kind of understood that but perhaps a Mac wiz may help answer the bank situation.

My system (late 2006 duel core 2 imac 20') came with 1GB (2x 512MB one in each slot).

Thanks for you time David.

I'll also look into the heat sync thing.

Raff

Let's see if a Mac user can confirm this.


My understanding is that your machine has two RAM slots. The maximum size module you can use is 2GB, and the maximum in the machine is 3GB (one 2GB and one 1GB).

I'd start by buying a 2GB module, and put that in the first bank in place of the 512MB that's already there. That will give you 2.5GB of RAM.

If you find yourself wanting for the extra 512MB that's possible, you can subsequently buy a 1GB module, and use it to replace the other 512MB module. I doubt that you'll feel the need to do this.

David