Hi all,
I have already installed 12 GB on my machine. I have available two slots to put 4GB in each, the other two slots already have 4GB 1.033 in each. My question is: I'm not finding the 2x4GB 1.033mhz memory to buy, seems that now there's only 1.066mhz available to be purchased (at least in my country). Will I mess up the machine if I mix the frequency? Thanks...
TWO important points:
If your iMac is slow, it is the 11-year old, old-school mechanical hard drive. Ours has the entey-level SATA 3G 7200prm drive, which is still faster than the base storage in later 21.5-inch iMacs. (SATA 3G 5400rpm). Still, today the 100MB/sec write/read speed of the 2011 drive feels sluggish. Ours take a long time to boot and big apps like Office take long to launch.
So before spending money on more RAM for and old Mac, recosider what you expect it to accomplish. If the old HD is slowing you down, all the RAM in the world won't change that,.
Only an internal solid-state drive upgrade can help you 2011 model, and that is a complicated upgrade. NOTE: The oft-mentioned external USB SSD option does not apply to pre-2012 iMacs because they have USB2 ports. The external option might even be slower thatn what you now see, and a complete waste of money.
TWO important points:
If your iMac is slow, it is the 11-year old, old-school mechanical hard drive. Ours has the entey-level SATA 3G 7200prm drive, which is still faster than the base storage in later 21.5-inch iMacs. (SATA 3G 5400rpm). Still, today the 100MB/sec write/read speed of the 2011 drive feels sluggish. Ours take a long time to boot and big apps like Office take long to launch.
So before spending money on more RAM for and old Mac, recosider what you expect it to accomplish. If the old HD is slowing you down, all the RAM in the world won't change that,.
Only an internal solid-state drive upgrade can help you 2011 model, and that is a complicated upgrade. NOTE: The oft-mentioned external USB SSD option does not apply to pre-2012 iMacs because they have USB2 ports. The external option might even be slower thatn what you now see, and a complete waste of money.
How do you get 12 GB of RAM in just two slots? I don't know of any 6 GB modules, ever!
Personally, I wouldn't get any RAM modules other than those from Crucial.com or OWC (MacSales.com). Even though a module may meet the specifications Macs are very sensitive to the quality of modules and the two vendors I mentioned are the premier Mac memory vendors and guarantee that their modules will work in the model intended as they test them.
So you've got two 4 GB modules installed, right? Those must be the two that came with the machine. So get two more 4 GB or 8 GB (as needed) from either Cruial.com or OWC (MacSales.com) and install them in the two empty slots.
I see...
Memory was the cheaper and faster solution at the moment since I can change it myself. An SSD Hard drive is on the list already but prices here are high plus the costs to send somewhere to do the work.
Worth mentioning and not sure if will help with the diagnosis is that I have 170GB left of the original 500 GB so the HD it's not completely full.
Thanks for your help!
The faster RAM will work if it can function at the slower speed. Check if the seller advertises compatibility with your Mac model.
(225393)
It's made by Corsair, and it says compatible, but my question is more like if it's ok to mix the ones I've already installed (1.003mhz)
Yes, it is.
(225395)
Thank you!
Actually, 4 slots on total. Sorry.
Upgrading memory on iMac mid 2011
