1.83GHZ Imac Memory Upgrade HELP!

Hello everyone.

I'm sure this topic has been discussed ad naseum, Just bought a used imac. It is an Imac 5,2. Core 2 duo 1.83 GHZ, 512mb of ram.

I am really wanting to upgrade the ram on it but I have read conflicting reports. Does it support 2GB max, or 3 GBmax? I've read several sites that state it will only do 2GB, and also can do 3 GB..... which is it? Need help.

Also, can someone point me to a reputable brand for ram that won't give me any problems. I have heard alot about OWC, but I would be more comfortable with a well know brand like Corsair or Kingston. Thank you.

I have a similar machine and the max Ram it can take is 2Gb, 2 x slots in the bottom that take 1Gb ram chips.......

Although, I have been told that there is a way to do an upgrade on the motherboard for an extra 1Gb chip which would give you 3 Gb, although personally I don't think it is worth it on these machines........

On brand, TBH, I have used numerous brands of RAM over the years and never really noticed any difference although my prefered RAM was always Kingston........

Will this machine run two 1 GB modules in dual channel? Not sure how the motherboard handles this. Thank you.

Will add a bit to that as the higher spec iMac that were out at the same time as yours could actually support 3Gb Ram by putting a 1Gb and 2Gb chip in but if you put 2 x 2Gb chips in the process monitor will only show usage of 3Gb.....

The 1.83 ghz models only supported 2Gb.......

wwusa said:

Will this machine run two 1 GB modules in dual channel? Not sure how the motherboard handles this. Thank you.

Click to expand...

As far as I am aware it will not......

Same as I just mentioned, even if you put 4Gb in the higher spec Mac's it will only run at 3Gb.......

the 1.83 will only run at 2 Gb even if you put bigger chips in.....

I will add that if you put 2 x 2Gb chips into you machine, and then went to the "About this Mac" it will show as 4Gb....but then when you go to the process monitor it will show that you are only using 2Gb.......

2GB with 1GB per slot. Have a look at OWC memory specs and shop around:-


Memory for Apple iMac G5 1.6GHz, 1.8GHz, and 2.0GHz models