upgrade G4 Titanium (400) to 1 GIG RAM ?

valeskavaleska
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
great, after hours of reaseach i'm finally really concerned to buy the wrong stuff. can anybody help?

i would like to install 2x512mb on my powerbook. currently i got 2x128mb. some websites mention that 512mb should not be installed in the lower slot, at least not by myself. supposingly apple doesn't recommend it either. but most sites don't mention anything about that, including apples.



and do i have to buy brand ram to be safe? prices are either around $380 or $580. what is the difference? not one picture of those offered rams looks alike.



finally does anybody have experience with upgrading their PB G4 RAM? do you think it made a big difference? is maybe 640MB RAM just as good as 1GIG RAM?



maybe you know a great site that explains the details on buying ram (reliably)?



thanks to anybody who can help,



valeska

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    jeremiah richjeremiah rich Posts: 853member
    Hmm... It can be pretty confusing. I personally have not done that mself, but 1 gig will get you much further than 640 megs... You may be able to find what you are looking for here-

    <a href="http://www.xlr8yourmac.com"; target="_blank">http://www.xlr8yourmac.com</a>;

    Hope this helps!
  • Reply 2 of 6
    valeskavaleska Posts: 4member
    thank you. i think i've seen that one. they offer a 'stacked' version. somehow that sound dangerous.





    anybody else?

    i'm still wondering.



    [ 03-01-2002: Message edited by: valeska ]



    [ 03-01-2002: Message edited by: valeska ]</p>
  • Reply 3 of 6
    stimulistimuli Posts: 564member
    'Stacked' is not more dangerous, it just means they cram more little chips of sweet goodness onto a smaller ram board. To fit 1 Gig into your G4, you need 2 stacked modules. But to be honest, I really doubt you'd get your money's worth out of 1 GB. I'd suggest buying one stacked 512MB, and popping it in. You'll see a noticeable speed improvement.



    When you first load, say, photoshop, it will take just as long to launch, as it is maxing your HD not ram, but any subsequent launches will be hella fast.



    Also, w/ 640 MB, it's unlikely your mac will have to 'page out' or swap to your harddrive to free up ram.



    I say go with 640MB; if you're not sure if you need 1 GB, you don't need it.



    RAM in your machine gets approx 200+ MB/sec, whereas your harddrive gets about 16 MB/sec.



    [ 03-01-2002: Message edited by: stimuli ]</p>
  • Reply 4 of 6
    valeskavaleska Posts: 4member
    cool. that really helped. i think i'll do just what you suggested.

    one thing i did not understand. is my 1oMB HD basically too small to effectively install 1gig?

    what exactly do you mean with :

    'RAM in your machine gets approx 200+ MB/sec, whereas your harddrive gets about 16 MB/sec.' ?



    thanks,



    valeska
  • Reply 5 of 6
    scottibscottib Posts: 381member
    He means throughput: The G4 PB RAM can move 200 MBs per second of data; whereas, your internal drive moves 16 MB a second.



    If the G4 pages out, it's moving to a much slower medium--roughly 12x slower. The more memory one has, the less swapping needed.



    That's why he suggested move to 640 MB to rate the speed; it should feel much faster thatn the 256 installed now.
  • Reply 6 of 6
    valeskavaleska Posts: 4member
    got it.

    thanks for taking the time.



    v
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