03-02-2003, 12:32 PM

Think I might upgrade the RAM in my iMac this week. Seeing as I have all this free time, and a Compusa card that is only half-full ( I know, I've been slacking ) I figure what the hell. Currently I have 768 MB's RAM in this baby. I have upgraded the SO-DIMM slot to 512 MB's so this leaves the factory slot to upgrade. I have found these instructions which make no mention of any paste, or even where there would be any paste upon opening the case. So I don't know, I will look a little bit more, but I don't see it as an issue. I am an A+ CompTIA certified technician, and I have worked on hundreds of machines, and have never once ever used paste ( except on CPU's, and that is overkill, unless you are OC'ing ).

At this point I am thinking this is some sorta scare tactic from Apple to allow them to charge 4x's the price that I can get it for locally. Compare Apple to CompUSA. Basically memory is memory, either it works, or it doesn't. Especially at only 133 MHz. I usually like to use Kingston, but PNY is pretty reliable.

So was just wondering if anyone else has done this, and if so, what was it like for you?

EDIT: Do you think another 256 MB's of RAM will make all that much difference? Most of my Wintel machines have 368, and I think one has 512. So I am thinking 1 GB is a lot of ram. But than again for the price of the RAM, wouldn't it be nice to pamper my baby

03-02-2003, 01:07 PM

Im living with 512 on my iMac... I was going to upgrade last winter break (this), but it looked to much work for the pay off...
I also have a G4 733 with a GB of RAM, I notice a difference, (beach ball shows up less often).. in OSX more RAM = faster (with in reason).

Im never going to upgrade my iMac, I don't think it will make enough of a difference. I am also certified, but I don't see work ? payoff. You are right tho, RAM is RAM, just this RAM is harder to get at then most... glue? I would bet scare tac.

If you are going to do it let me know how it goes (I may change my mind.)

03-03-2003, 01:49 AM

the guy i know in the service department at microcenter was the one who told me about it. they replaced the pc133 on several machines without using it. and apparently apple sent them the paste after a few months and said to make sure they use it on the flat panel imacs. i know RAM is RAM, but i would think if Apple is sending the paste to authorized dealers, then it must be something to consider.

03-18-2003, 08:59 PM

ok well its not too hard. i did it myself yesterday and it took about 10 mins. its pretty easy to do, but i went ahead and put new heat paste on there just in case i do need warranty work and they dont suspect anything. 512mb. wOOt!

03-18-2003, 09:12 PM

Cool, what kinda stuff did you use? I haven't done it yet. Basically cause I've been in homebuying hell.

03-19-2003, 11:47 AM

i dont know the name of the glue, but i can find it out. i got it from an apple service rep. it only goes on one place. kinda cool to see the inside of the iMac though. talk about engineering

03-22-2003, 03:37 PM

How's the RAM treating you? I know when I went 256 to 768 it was a huge difference....

05-14-2003, 02:15 PM

MacAddikt, you find out the name of this goop? I got a stick of RAM I wanna put in, but I don't wanna fry my baby

05-31-2003, 03:10 PM

Ok, went to Radio Shack and but some heatsink compound, which is the same Silicone based stuff you probably used. Put a little on both pieces, smeared it around a little bit, and not I am back up with 1GB of RAM. I had 768 before, but I had an extra stick of RAM hanging around, and I was bored

It took quite a while to boot back up, so I was kinda freaking. But it came up, and everything is like it was, except now I got a little more RAM

06-01-2003, 02:03 AM

I notice, that the more RAM you have the longer it takes the system to boot up.