Why the big jump in memory prices?

Am thinking of putting some extra memory in my 20" intel imac.

It's got 1gig in at the moment.

Looking at crucial there are several options listed.

They've got a 2gig kit (2 x 1gig) at £82. This would get me to 2gig as I would have to ditch what I have.

They've got a 2gig (1 x 2gig) at £210! This would get me to 2.5gig as I could keep one of the existing 512mb.

Or there would be a 2gig and a 1gig which would be about £250. 3gig total - the max!

Is the extra £130 it would cost me for the 2.5gig option worth it for only 512mb more memory than the 2gig option?

I can't say I've noticed any slowdown or need for extra ram yet I am just planning ahead.

Would rendering in Imovie be quicker or is it done in realtime (to render 10mins takes 10min)?

Prices will go up as you get denser RAM modules. You have to keep in mind that RAM manufacturers have to stuff TWICE the amount of RAM into the same space, which increases manufacturing costs dramatically. This would obviously explain the huge price difference from 2x1GB modules and a single 2GB module.

As for it being worth it, I would have to say no. It's not that you won't see a benefit from the extra 512MB, it's that you won't see 130 pounds worth of a benefit.

I suggest just getting yourself the 2x1GB modules, ditch the 512MB stick, and save a bundle of cash. :black:

Yeah, there is a huge price difference between a 1Gb stick and a 2Gb stick. I recommend the 2 X 1GB option, that's the best RAM for Buck deal IMHO.

Pulse-8 said:

Yeah, there is a huge price difference between a 1Gb stick and a 2Gb stick. I recommend the 2 X 1GB option, that's the best RAM for Buck deal IMHO.

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Agreed with both Pulse and Kash.

Some prices are lower though then when I first bought this last gen iMac G5 isight. A 2GB module at that time from Crucial was $750 and $450 from New Egg. That has come down a bit! Yet at the same time a 1GB was around $100.

The only thing that concerns me is the tech dude at the local Apple Store trying to blame my 3rd party RAM for any future problem I may or may not have with my iMac ... so my contingency plan is I've kept my Apple fitted RAM 512Mb X 2, for that situation - swap 'em back in. I could sell them later I guess ... but I know I wouldn't get much for them ..

Pulse-8 said:

The only thing that concerns me is the tech dude at the local Apple Store trying to blame my 3rd party RAM for any future problem I may or may not have with my iMac ... so my contingency plan is I've kept my Apple fitted RAM 512Mb X 2, for that situation - swap 'em back in. I could sell them later I guess ... but I know I wouldn't get much for them ..

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That is a very good idea just in case. Around 2 months ago after almost a year of NEVER one crash, my iMac G5 Kernel Panicked. Scared me. OS was all messed up but finally got to the desktop and backed up the user folder. Reinstalled and all seemed fine till one month later. Did it again but no damage then again with many programs messed up and plists all corrupted. Put in the DVD and ran the Apple HardWare test. Bingo, 1GB Corsair DDR2 had errors. Ran it many times and same issues. Took it out and all was fine. Did an archive and Install and it's back to being DEAD stable again like a good Mac should! I was shocked as normally Corsair is VERY good ram and it took almost a year to show up. Bought some Kingston and it's happy again.

So keep the original RAM just in case!!!

dtravis7 said:

That is a very good idea just in case. Around 2 months ago after almost a year of NEVER one crash, my iMac G5 Kernel Panicked. Scared me. OS was all messed up but finally got to the desktop and backed up the user folder. Reinstalled and all seemed fine till one month later. Did it again but no damage then again with many programs messed up and plists all corrupted. Put in the DVD and ran the Apple HardWare test. Bingo, 1GB Corsair DDR2 had errors. Ran it many times and same issues. Took it out and all was fine. Did an archive and Install and it's back to being DEAD stable again like a good Mac should! I was shocked as normally Corsair is VERY good ram and it took almost a year to show up. Bought some Kingston and it's happy again.

So keep the original RAM just in case!!!

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Definatly a big time bummer there Dennis, but on the other hand just so some don't get the idea that Corsair is bad ram, I have been using Corsair ram for about 10 years in a varitie of systems and have never had a bad one. I had 2 gigs of it in the Intel Pc water cooled gamer i built 6 years ago and it is still working fine today. I had 2 gigs of it in my Amd64 watercooled gamer i built 5 years ago that still works fine today. I have had 4 gigs of it in my Mac Pro for over a year without a hitch and a gig of it in my wifes G5 machine that works fine.

Knowing you and how you manage to get everything there is out of a computer i have no doubt that any ram with even the slightest imperfection in it would fail where others could probably run it for years with no problems...(G)

The other item to look at is supply and demand. There are more 1GB sticks available than there are 2GB sticks.

If it doesn't matter yet, wait... Prices will continue to fall.