Where to buy G4 RAM...?

I need more RAM memory for my beloved ol’ G4, but I can’t find a vendor that still sells the appropriate chips.

I have a G4 400 PCI tower running OSX 10.5.8. Its speed is currently 1.5 GHz thanks to a processor upgrade that I installed a few years back... when I also expanded the RAM to...

2 - 512 MB SDRAMs
and
2 - 128 MB SDRAMs

Now I want to replace the two old 128s with two new 512s... but I can’t find a vendor who still stocks and sells these RAM upgrades.

T’ve tried all the usual sources (memoryamerica.com, crucial.com, macmemory.com, memorystock.com etc.) — all suggested by an approptiate Google search — but no luck. They’re all out of stock and it doesn’t appear that they’ll be getting more.

Can anyone suggest a source that would still have old RAM on the shelves? TIA! —Ted E.

G4, Mac OS X (10.5.8), Greatly expanded and updated.

Posted on Feb 26, 2011 2:23 PM

18 replies

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Mar 2, 2011 5:05 AM in response to Community User

Be careful. Kingston has a ValueRAM I'd stay clear of. Otherwise Kingston RAM that is specified for the Mac Model, and not just meeting the written specs is good. I.e. don't just buy any PC100 if your Mac supports PC100, get some that actually mentions your model and vintage of the model.

TedE Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 3, 2011 3:37 PM in response to TedE

Happy ending...

My new 512 RAM sticks arrived today... I swapped out my two old 128s in slots 3 and 4... one at a time, with fingers crossed (and grounded)... and bingo! Works like a charm.

Bottom line: I am now maxed out at four 512 RAM modules, for a grand total of 2 GB of hard-working working SDRAM. All vendors' description pages were wrong — a PCI G4 CAcanN, in fact, exploit AGP-only RAM sticks. The restrictions applied only under OS9. Times change. Outdated specs, sadly, don't.

In any case, the ”impossible“ upgrade seems to have solved my slow web page painting problem, but that will take a bit more surfing to really verify.

All I'd like to know now is why this Apple forum crashes Safari and I have to use Firefox... but that's a question for another day, and another forum.

Thanks again, everybody! --Ted E.

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Mar 3, 2011 3:42 PM in response to TedE

Great to hear my 1st reply was correct. 🙂

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Where to buy G4 RAM...?