RAM Upgrade iMac question

I have a 27" mid 2011 iMac. I would like to upgrade memory. It has 4 slots, with 2 gig in 2 of the slots.

Question 1: First thought was to upgrade to 8gig but while I'm doing it might as well go all the way up to 16 gig. Is this overkill?

Question 2: Whatever the final decision turns out, is it best to just use the first 2 slots? (2 x 4gig or 2 x 8 gig)

Or, is it more effiecient to spread it out to all 4 slots? (4 x 2 gig, 4 x 4gig)

stonebase said:

Question 1: First thought was to upgrade to 8gig but while I'm doing it might as well go all the way up to 16 gig. Is this overkill?

Click to expand...

It actually depends on why you're upgrading the ram in the first place.

The 16gig upgrade costs 2x the 8gig upgrade (so it's a linear increase)...so it all depends on your budget.

stonebase said:

Question 2: Whatever the final decision turns out, is it best to just use the first 2 slots? (2 x 4gig or 2 x 8 gig)

Or, is it more effiecient to spread it out to all 4 slots? (4 x 2 gig, 4 x 4gig)

Click to expand...

Doesn't matter.

Don't forget. If you do the 8 gig upgrade (2 x 4gig)...you don't need to remove the 2 x 2gig of ram that's currently in there. So you will have a total of 12gig of ram.

- Nick

Went the 2x4GB to make 12Gb with my iMac and works a treat. Somewhere along the line have to meet the happy point of performance v cost.

Thanks for the info. Cost isn't the issue whether I spent $100 or $200. I guess I what I was asking is will I see a linear increase in performance going from 8 to 16 gig. I was thinking there was some point due to the limitations of the machine (chip, hard drive, etc) that no matter how much additional memory was added no further benefit would be realized.

I do appreciate the input about adding 2 x 4gig to make a 12gig configuration. I thought I read somewhere a few years ago that the RAM had to be "balanced" where you had to have multiples of the same size RAM to optimize performance. This idea of just adding the additional memory is most helpful.

Thanks again.

stonebase said:

I guess I what I was asking is will I see a linear increase in performance going from 8 to 16 gig.

Click to expand...

Adding ram does not really "increase performance" directly. More ram simply eliminates bottlenecks. Depending what you do on your computer...increasing the ram from 4gig to 8gig, or 4gig to 12gig, or 4gig to 16gig...may not result in any sort of increases.

Increasing the ram from 4gig to 8gig may make the computer feel a bit snappier. But beyond that...you may notice nothing.

For example...if all you do is e-mail and internet browsing...increases in ram beyond 4gig may have no effect.

Cpu and gpu performance is what it is.

stonebase said:

I thought I read somewhere a few years ago that the RAM had to be "balanced" where you had to have multiples of the same size RAM to optimize performance.

Click to expand...

Things change.

- Nick

Thanks Nick....I'm going to give it a try up to 12gig. I do alot of spreadsheets and word documents along with the internet activities. Opening a large iPhoto or iTunes library is always a challenge too while performing other tasks. Even if its a little snapier it will be well worth the 100 bucks spent. Appreciate all your help.

stonebase said:

Thanks Nick....I'm going to give it a try up to 12gig. I do alot of spreadsheets and word documents along with the internet activities. Opening a large iPhoto or iTunes library is always a challenge too while performing other tasks. Even if its a little snapier it will be well worth the 100 bucks spent. Appreciate all your help.

Click to expand...

You're welcome.

Usually the biggest benefits of more ram are:

- Able to open more apps at the same time without slowdowns.
- More ram is able to be allocated to programs that need it (usually ram hungry apps from Adobe).
- And (if you familiar with the utility program "Activity Monitor). More ram decreases the rate at which the swap file & page-outs grow. If these get too large...it slows the computer down (which can be easily resolved by rebooting the computer).

* Nick