Increase Performance with Memory Upgrade

Hello everyone new to the forum!

I was wondering if anyone has tried the Corsair low Latency Memory and does it increase performance?

I saw this video http://www.channelflip.com/2008/06/25/mac-laptop-memory-boost/

and the performance looks good. Price is decent $94 at newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233066&Tpk=vsa4gsdskit667c4

Please let me know if you have tried it on a MacBook Pro or iMac and if your system is faster. Thank You

macFBoy,

I haven't tried this memory on my Macbook, but I have used the equivalent Corsair 4-4-4-12 in my Windows desktops and I think it works great. Low latency should give you excellent performance, at least when compared to higher timings, so I wouldn't think twice about buying it. The price is OK, too.

Note, I don't know what kind of speed boost you'll get just from the low latency aspect, but you should get it when moving from 1 or 2GB to 4GB RAM and combine it with the low latency...

I think Corsair makes great RAM and I use it all the time on my home-built desktops, but when I upgraded my Macbook to 4GB, Corsair wasn't available in SO-DIMMs, so I bought Mushkin...

Noel

Noels,

Thanks for your help! I've made my decision to go with the Corsair Low Latency Memory.

One more question...

Does anyone know if this will work with Intel Core 2 Duo iMacs?

Thanks

Hang on...

The memory timings are impacted by 2 things. One is the physical speed that the memory can run at, and you're talking about CAS/RAS latency here, and the other is the speed at which is it is asked to run at by the system. This is controlled by the EFI Firmware (in windows speak, the BIOS).

Buying faster memory will not improve the performance unless you have access to the Logicboard settings to ask it to take advantage of this. I don't believe that the Macbook Pro or the iMac have this capability (I may be wrong).

Zoolook said:

Hang on...

The memory timings are impacted by 2 things. One is the physical speed that the memory can run at, and you're talking about CAS/RAS latency here, and the other is the speed at which is it is asked to run at by the system. This is controlled by the EFI Firmware (in windows speak, the BIOS).

Buying faster memory will not improve the performance unless you have access to the Logicboard settings to ask it to take advantage of this. I don't believe that the Macbook Pro or the iMac have this capability (I may be wrong).

Click to expand...

Zoolook,

Won't the 4-4-4-12 work faster than a set with say, 5-5-5-12 or so? Even without access to the BIOS to re-set the timings? I guess that's what I was comparing it to...

Maybe I misunderstand latency.

Noel

Noels,

I just received the Corsair Low Latency Memory. Overall the system seems to run faster and smoother on my MBP. App response times are good no 2 or 3 second halt. I've also confirmed on bootcamp/Vista that the Memory is running at 4-4-4-12 by using CPU-Z and Everest.

Can't wait for the next gen MBP!

Noels said:

Zoolook,

Won't the 4-4-4-12 work faster than a set with say, 5-5-5-12 or so? Even without access to the BIOS to re-set the timings? I guess that's what I was comparing it to...

Maybe I misunderstand latency.

Noel

Click to expand...

Just because a memory stick CAN provide data in 3 cycles, as opposed to 5, doesn't mean it will unless the system is expecting it.



You can see here, the MOBO dictates the memory latency. The specs of the memory simply determine if these speeds can be reached.

Now I may be wrong, and Apple Logic Boards may be able to set this automatically depending on the spec of the memory. I have never actually seen the firmware settings to test this.

But some motherboards do not allow any latency adjustments and it will just read off the SPD(=Serial Presence Detection I think). Also when you look at the Apple Memory it has timings listed. Oh well I'm 100% happy with the memory, so it's cool...

Zoolook,

Thanks for the explanation. I have used RAM settings in my Windows BIOS es, but of course not with my Macbook I assumed, like macFBoy said, that my Mac would adjust timings depending on the memory capability...

Live and learn!

Noel