Upgrade Memory to 32GB RAM - Mac mini 2012

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Upgrade Memory to 32GB RAM - Mac mini 2012

I own a Apple Mac mini "Core i7" 2.3 (Late 2012) a I7-3720QM

Many owners of a Mac mini 2012 ask if we can upgrade the RAM to 32GB...

Well the i7 CPU supports 32GB over two channels...

Memory Specifications

Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type) 32 GB
Memory Types DDR3/L/-RS 1333/1600
Max # of Memory Channels 2
Max Memory Bandwidth 25.6 GB/s

So I have decided to purchase from Hong Kong two sets of 16Gb since that was the only place I could find to buy then for £215.

So it will take a couple of weeks before they arrive and as soon as I have received the merchandise you will be the first to know whether or not the Mac mini from 2012 can support RAM up to 32GB...

So seeing you soon

Posted on Jun 1, 2021 7:50 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

windowsuserinbox Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 1, 2021 10:49 PM in response to den.thed

I disagree with you... Intel's specifications tell another story.

I wait for the memory modules to arrive since it does not cost me anything to try since I can always return them for a refund.

It is something to keep me occupied and on another thing if my 16Gb Ram currently installed on my Mac mini 2012 and as you said it yourself for Mac to be picky both my memory module are from Crucial therefore working fully and I also talk about the 1 x 2TB Samsung SSD and the other which is a x 4TB Samsung SSD both installed on the Mac mini 2012 all of what I mentioned here are not Apple products yet they all work perfectly... VMWare Fusion gives me readings of 1300Mgbs speeds when reading the Samsung SSD used as the hard drive for the virtual machines

So once again this contradict what you said "Plus like all Mac's, the Mac Mini's are very picky and will only run on modules that are specifically designed for Mac's." :-)

Please don't forget that in 2012 there were no 16Gb memory modules so it wasn't possible at the time to test this theory

Wait all until I have ran the test this way we will have a certainty over the matter lol

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

82,042 points

Jun 1, 2021 9:53 PM in response to windowsuserinbox

No the Late 2012 Mac Mini only supports 16GB of 1600MHz DDR3 PC4-12800 RAM.

see > https://support.apple.com/kb/SP659?locale=en_US

and > https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/mac-mini

Plus like all Mac's, the Mac Mini's are very picky and will only run on modules that are specifically designed for Mac's.

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Answer 3

Jun 2, 2021 4:22 AM in response to windowsuserinbox

The RAM controller and firmware in the 2012 Mini limit

the RAM to 16 GB regardless of what the processor is capable of.

This has been verified by many vendors one of which, OWC,

is considered very, very credible when it comes to Macs

and RAM capabilities and in many cases will note that a Mac

can use more RAM than specified. Howard in the case of the 2012

Mini they too spec only 16 GB RAM limit on the 2012 version.

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Answer 4

den.thed

Level 10

82,042 points

Jun 2, 2021 6:38 AM in response to windowsuserinbox

As mentioned, it is the Memory Controller and not the Intel chip that is the deciding factor.

We have two working Late 2012 Mac Mini's with upgraded SSDs and 16GB that are great machines. The one that my wife uses has a 960GB PNY SSD and the one that we use as a media and file server now has dual Crucial 1T SSDs. Over the years, both have had a verity of different HDD, SSD drive combinations and RAM configurations, but nether have ever been able to go over 16GB of RAM.

Good luck on you endeavor, please let us how it works out.

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Answer 5

Jun 2, 2021 10:59 AM in response to windowsuserinbox

windowsuserinbox wrote:

...

So once again this contradict what you said "Plus like all Mac's, the Mac Mini's are very picky and will only run on modules that are specifically designed for Mac's." :-)...

@den.thed was talking about memory modules. SSDs are not

memory modules!

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Upgrade Memory to 32GB RAM - Mac mini 2012

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