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User profile for user: abecker
abecker Author
User level: Level 1
51 points

4GB Ram in MacBook Core 2 Duo (Late 2006)

Hello,

Currently I have 2 GB of ram in my macbook (2x1GB), and was looking at upgrading memory. I've heard there was some issues with doing the 3GB or 4GB (only 3.3GB usable) option such as the system just booting up to a black screen.

Who would you reccomend to buy the memory from; either the 2x2GB set or the single 2GB stick. Also, how much is the performance increase worth by using the 4GB dual channel mode instead of 3GB?

Intel iMac 20", Mac OS X (10.4.7), 2GB Ram, 250GB Hard Drive, 256MB Video

Posted on Feb 23, 2008 12:05 AM

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User profile for user: Nick A
Nick A
User level: Level 4
1,522 points

Posted on Feb 23, 2008 3:29 AM

You can put 4 GB in, but OS X will only see 3.2 GB (or something like that), this is due to the chipset. However having 2x2 in means it runs in interleaved dual-channel mode, which theoretically results in higher performance. If you did 2 + 1 it runs in asymmetric dual channel. However there are mixes results on whether running in interleaved dual channel or the fact of simply having more RAM available and running in asymmetric dual channel results in better performance. For example, it is argued, that if you use memory intensive applications, that having 2 + 1 GB would give better performance than only having 1 + 1 GB.

Basically, if you can afford to do so it would be best to get 2x2GB which would essentially give you the interleaved dual channel performance, even if only 3.2 GB is available.

Hope this is helpful.
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User profile for user: Nick A
Nick A
User level: Level 4
1,522 points

Feb 23, 2008 3:29 AM in response to abecker

You can put 4 GB in, but OS X will only see 3.2 GB (or something like that), this is due to the chipset. However having 2x2 in means it runs in interleaved dual-channel mode, which theoretically results in higher performance. If you did 2 + 1 it runs in asymmetric dual channel. However there are mixes results on whether running in interleaved dual channel or the fact of simply having more RAM available and running in asymmetric dual channel results in better performance. For example, it is argued, that if you use memory intensive applications, that having 2 + 1 GB would give better performance than only having 1 + 1 GB.

Basically, if you can afford to do so it would be best to get 2x2GB which would essentially give you the interleaved dual channel performance, even if only 3.2 GB is available.

Hope this is helpful.
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4GB Ram in MacBook Core 2 Duo (Late 2006)

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