My First Mac - iMac 27, Upgrade Question

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After my visit to the Apple Store today I have decided I am moving to the Mac platform. I am going to purchase the 27 inch i7 with the standard 4 Gig of memory but want to upgrade. My question is if I purchase another 2 X 4 Gig upgrade sticks to install myself will there be any issues with mixing the RAM? This option would be about the same price as having Apple install just an addition 4 Gig of memory.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro 15" 2014, 2.2GHz i7, 16GB RAM, 250GB SSD, OSX 10.9.5 - iPhone 5s 16gb
You should always try and keep matching Ram sticks, so if you were to buy a pair of matching 4gb sticks then there shouldn't be a problem

- Simon
 
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Simon,

Thank you, my plan would be to buy 2 X 4 Gig sticks from OWC/Mac Sales and just install them when I receive the iMac. Just to be clear, what I want to do is leave the original 2 X 2 Gig sticks in the machine and add the new 2 X 4 Gig sticks, is this doable??

This would give me 12 Gigs instead of the standard 4.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
i7 iMac; 8gb DDR3 ram; ati mobility 4850; 1tb seagate harddrive @7200rpm
You can mix and match the brands, cas latency and clock speed of the modules, but as long as you have matching total amounts of memory in either bank, you will still get dual channel memory. If you don't, it will still work, but you won't get dual channel bandwidth.

The memory controller will do all the downscaling of the clock speed itself.

Now as to why you would want dual channel bandwidth, it's just an unnecessary quality to have. In reality you won't notice any difference in everyday workflow, but you might as well do it.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
2.93 i7 iMac 1TB HD 8GB RAM, Macbook, iPad 64gb Wifi+3G
I would say either upgrade to 8gb or go all the way and get 16gb. Pretty cheap on OWC. I opted to just get 2x2gb as 16gb for me would be overkill.
 
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I would say either upgrade to 8gb or go all the way and get 16gb. Pretty cheap on OWC. I opted to just get 2x2gb as 16gb for me would be overkill.

I may do that but just wanted to give the 12 Gig version a try first to see how it performed. I talked with a tech rep at OWC last night and his comments were as on the board, they see no issue in doing what I am suggesting.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
2.93 i7 iMac 1TB HD 8GB RAM, Macbook, iPad 64gb Wifi+3G
Regardless you will love the 2.93 i7 (If you have not already bought one). I got one last week and it is so quick. Enjoy!
 

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