Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

can i mix 4gb and 8gb off ram together on the imac 27 inch late 2013

can i mix 4gb and 8gb off ram together on the imac 27 inch late 2013 because when i got my imac a few weeks ago it only comes with 8gb 2x4 and if i buy 16gb 2x8 can i slot them in with the 2x4gb to make a total off 24gb can someone tell me please

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Dec 4, 2013 8:35 AM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Dec 4, 2013 8:48 AM

Welcome to Apple Support Communities


Of course. You can do that without any issue, but remember to buy RAM that meets the requirements of your iMac > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5908


After checking that, you can install the amount of RAM you want. Also, you will keep Dual Channel, which will provide you a bit extra performance

19 replies

May 24, 2016 10:12 AM in response to mquiz

It depends on how the architecture of the board is laid out, and how the memory controller is designed to access those slots. As an example, let's say a memory path is 128 bits. On one Mac, a single slot may be a full 128 bit path, but on another, you have to fill two slots (each with a 64 bit stick) to achieve the full 128 bit path. In such a case, the latter will work with only one slot filled, but the data flow will always be cut in half, essentially slowing down any processing using that truncated path.

May 25, 2016 6:20 AM in response to mquiz

mquiz wrote:


Does this mean that my mac could get slower after the upgrade than it was before ?

Or could the perf improvement be only negligible ?

For 35€ I can get a 2nd 8GB ... worth the investment, I guess

Memory intensive operations will be slower. Storage I/O and Network I/O intensive operations will not notice.


If you can afford matched pairs of RAM, it would be better. But if your Mac is currently doing lots of paging and swapping to disk, then more RAM, even if unmatched, would be an improvement.

can i mix 4gb and 8gb off ram together on the imac 27 inch late 2013

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.