New Macbook Ram Matching?

drflynndrflynn
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Hey there,



I just got the new $1500 macbook in black. Its quite the machine as compared to my powerbook 1.67. I do have a question about the ram.



I have a 1 gig stick of apple ddr2 5300 ready from my intel mac mini. I want to put it into my current machine. I would replace one of the 256 chips and hopefully have 1.5 gigs.



I have however heard that you need to have 2 of the same sized ram modules. Will I blow up my new computer if I install it? Will it not work at all? Should I just go get another 1 gig stick?



Thanks!

Ryan Flynn

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    concentricityconcentricity Posts: 434member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by DrFlynn

    Hey there,



    I just got the new $1500 macbook in black. Its quite the machine as compared to my powerbook 1.67. I do have a question about the ram.



    I have a 1 gig stick of apple ddr2 5300 ready from my intel mac mini. I want to put it into my current machine. I would replace one of the 256 chips and hopefully have 1.5 gigs.



    I have however heard that you need to have 2 of the same sized ram modules. Will I blow up my new computer if I install it? Will it not work at all? Should I just go get another 1 gig stick?



    Thanks!

    Ryan Flynn



    Well, first of all, 256MB plus 1GB equals 1.25GB, not 1.5. And yes, you should get another 1GB stick. The reason for matching pairs is that the memory then works in dual channel mode, effectively doubling the bandwidth. This is actually useful in any Intel Mac with GMA950 graphics. No, the computer won't "blow up" if you use an un-matched pair, it just cuts the effective memory throughput in half. Plus, you'll be much happier with a full 2GB of RAM in that baby.
  • Reply 2 of 14
    drflynndrflynn Posts: 28member
    Yes yes it does equal 1.25. pardon the brain fart.



    Would I be better to stick with the 256 + 256



    or go with the 1gb +256 until my other 1 gig arrives.



    Yours,

    Ryan
  • Reply 3 of 14
    sandausandau Posts: 1,230member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by DrFlynn

    Yes yes it does equal 1.25. pardon the brain fart.



    Would I be better to stick with the 256 + 256



    or go with the 1gb +256 until my other 1 gig arrives.



    Yours,

    Ryan



    try it out, see what it does. ram is an easy install under the battery. run a few apps both ways and see what you like.
  • Reply 4 of 14
    glossgloss Posts: 506member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by sandau

    try it out, see what it does. ram is an easy install under the battery. run a few apps both ways and see what you like.



    I concur. A RAM swap is a 3 minute operation assuming you have a teeny-tiny PC screwdriver.



    Be sure to report back.
  • Reply 5 of 14
    drflynndrflynn Posts: 28member
    Well I did it. And I had no luck getting the computer to boot. It appears the form factor of this ram cannot fit into the macbook or maybe there is another problem. The sleep light just blinks when I tried to power up. It worked just fine with the intel imac and mini.



    Well I guess I need to upgrade. 512 is really not nearly enough to take advantage of the 2ghz core due. I have found that running safari, ichat and some widgets will leave you with about 50 megs of breathing room and that is probably being eaten up by the gpu.



    Any deals on ram that you guys are aware of?



    Ryan
  • Reply 6 of 14
    sandausandau Posts: 1,230member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by DrFlynn

    Well I did it. And I had no luck getting the computer to boot. It appears the form factor of this ram cannot fit into the macbook or maybe there is another problem. The sleep light just blinks when I tried to power up. It worked just fine with the intel imac and mini.



    Well I guess I need to upgrade. 512 is really not nearly enough to take advantage of the 2ghz core due. I have found that running safari, ichat and some widgets will leave you with about 50 megs of breathing room and that is probably being eaten up by the gpu.



    Any deals on ram that you guys are aware of?



    Ryan



    I bought some from newegg, ~$89 per gig. I based my purchase decision on the reviews from other intel Mac owners that said it worked.... but I have less confidence in this purchase than the crucial ram I bought for the iMac, which was a crazy $149 or more per gig. (which works flawlessly, btw)



    Try reseating the ram, in the iMac you have to push a little harder than you want to or would like to, and I'd expect the MacBook to be the same. It has a goofy/crappy ram holder, poor design imho.
  • Reply 7 of 14
    netdognetdog Posts: 244member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by DrFlynn

    Well I did it. And I had no luck getting the computer to boot. It appears the form factor of this ram cannot fit into the macbook or maybe there is another problem. The sleep light just blinks when I tried to power up. It worked just fine with the intel imac and mini.



    Well I guess I need to upgrade. 512 is really not nearly enough to take advantage of the 2ghz core due. I have found that running safari, ichat and some widgets will leave you with about 50 megs of breathing room and that is probably being eaten up by the gpu.



    Any deals on ram that you guys are aware of?



    Ryan



    That is strange as I confirmed at Apple today that the parts are identical.
  • Reply 8 of 14
    drflynndrflynn Posts: 28member
    Well,



    This Time I pressed a little harder and the ram in. Everything seems to be functioning just fine. I did take noticeably longer to boot up this time. I am going to buy another 1 gig stick just so I know its running to its full potential.



    At this point running a 1 gig chip along with the 256 is just fine. As I recall, I had an ibook with a built in 256. I believe it was a 1.25 GHZ g4. It had a shared video card and ran with uneven ram without a problem. Maybe I am just misinformed.



    Yours,

    Ryan
  • Reply 9 of 14
    drflynndrflynn Posts: 28member
    Ok. This is the deal. The computer is MUCH faster with the additional ram. Granted the speed of the ram may be cut in half... this is way better than trying to use it with 512.



    I put my order in for another 1 gig stick. I am excited to see how it performs.



    Yours,

    Ryan
  • Reply 10 of 14
    drflynndrflynn Posts: 28member
    *update* I have tried to install photoshop 4 times and it keeps freezing. Im guessing its the ram.



    Ryan
  • Reply 11 of 14
    tman87tman87 Posts: 10member
    Well, I bought a 512MB Transcend JetRam chip from Newegg for like $36 and I've had no problems for 2 weeks or so. 2x 512mb 1.83mbp. Should be same ram i think
  • Reply 12 of 14
    drflynndrflynn Posts: 28member
    same ram but different issue. On the macbook its needs to match size.
  • Reply 13 of 14
    skatmanskatman Posts: 609member
    Even with unmatched sticks, you're still running in dual mode.

    Even with matched sticks, you're not running at maximum bandwidth all the time... just sometimes. It doesn't work like quaite like striping on RAID 0 disk arrays.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    drflynndrflynn Posts: 28member
    Well this is the deal



    I tested my ram with the following configurations:



    dual 256= installed photoshop fine



    1 gig and a 256= freezes every time and the kernel crashes resulting in restart



    dual 1 gig = installed photoshop and runs fine





    This is one black macbook owner's test results



    Yours,

    Ryan
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