iMac dual chanel memory ?

nascarnate326nascarnate326
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I have a alum iMac with 1gb of pc5300. Friend of mine got shipped some of that for his Mac Pro on accident. Long story short he got the correct ram for his computer and told me I could have this. My question is, is it worth getting two sticks of 2gb so that dual channel works, or will my machine be fine(and faster) with the original 1gb chip and the 2gb chip hes giving me?



I dont know alot about dual channel so figured this would be a good spot to pick some peoples brain.



thanks





edit, crap i spelled channel wrong...my bad

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    bbwibbwi Posts: 812member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nascarnate326 View Post


    I have a alum iMac with 1gb of pc5300. Friend of mine got shipped some of that for his Mac Pro on accident. Long story short he got the correct ram for his computer and told me I could have this. My question is, is it worth getting two sticks of 2gb so that dual channel works, or will my machine be fine(and faster) with the original 1gb chip and the 2gb chip hes giving me?



    I dont know alot about dual channel so figured this would be a good spot to pick some peoples brain.



    thanks





    edit, crap i spelled channel wrong...my bad



    Dual channel with work with 1gig in one bank and 2 in the other for a total of 3gig of RAM. The only reason you should upgrade your original 1 gig chip is if you are a heavy graphics user (like Aperature, Final Cut, etc) or you notice that you're maxing out the 3 gig RAM. Otherwise, dual channel works as long as all memory slots are full.
  • Reply 2 of 3
    nascarnate326nascarnate326 Posts: 130member
    All I use my computer for is iChat, and iTunes. I dont need half the power this thing needs. I used to have a G4 iMac but the lcd died....and the new ones look so pretty. Thanks, Ill get the chip and get it in.
  • Reply 3 of 3
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bbwi View Post


    Dual channel with work with 1gig in one bank and 2 in the other for a total of 3gig of RAM. The only reason you should upgrade your original 1 gig chip is if you are a heavy graphics user (like Aperature, Final Cut, etc) or you notice that you're maxing out the 3 gig RAM. Otherwise, dual channel works as long as all memory slots are full.



    I thought Dual channel works when slots contain matching sticks, i.e. same speed and density (size), but according to Intel, the speed doesn.t matter, which I find odd.
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