02-02-2010, 04:35 PM

I have an iMac 20" 2.66 Ghz computer from early 2009. It has two 1GB DDR3 sticks of RAM.

I am a photographer and use Photoshop CS4 to touch up, as well as Aperture for organization and touching up photos.

Aperture and CS4 both run well on my iMac, but take a while to load--especially CS4. Sometimes my computer will hang while performing minor tasks like touching up or even previewing pictures.

I was informed that I should install the most RAM that I can afford, but being a college student I'm on a budget.

So should I buy one 2GB stick and install a second 2GB later or just both both at once?

02-02-2010, 06:43 PM

Do you have enough hard dish space free to use as a swap disk for photoshop etc?
And you can just buy 1x 2GB stick. Then you'd have 3GB in your mac. And 1GB stick to sell or do whatever with. And 3GB is totally fine for photoshop. I only have 3GB and it runs photoshop totally fine with no slowdown at all.

So if you're on a really tight budget I'd get the 1x 2GB stich and try that. And if you need the 2nd 2GB stick then get it. But the only difference is if the can get 2x 2GB sticks for cheaper together individually then you have to think which is better for you.

02-02-2010, 07:25 PM

So should I buy one 2GB stick and install a second 2GB later or just both both at once?

Both at once. Reason: Your machine uses dual channel memory architecture and will work better when installed in pairs. Read about it here.

If you can't afford to purchase 2 x 2 Gb DDR3 modules right now, wait until you have the money to do so. Leave the pair of 1 Gb modules for now.

Regards.

02-02-2010, 08:05 PM

thanks chscag. cheers