What will happen if you put more than 16 gigs of ram in a 2011 iMac?

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Level 1

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What will happen if you put more than 16 gigs of ram in a 2011 iMac?

Hi there,

I've just purchased two 8 GB RAM cards, which gives me a total of 16. Apple says this is the 2011 iMac's limit, but I still have two more slots, and two 2 GB RAM cards which add up to a total of 4. So in total, I would have 20 GB of RAM. So my question is, what if I put all 20 GB into my iMac? Would it be okay? Would it start? Would it kill it?

Sorry if my question is confusing!!

Thanks!

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5), Mid 2011 iMac

Posted on Jun 23, 2016 1:22 PM

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Answer 1

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Jun 23, 2016 1:35 PM in response to ejetmonorail

According to memory advisor tool in Crucialyou can have up to 32GB. RAM sticks installed in pairs are best.

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Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

156,968 points

Jun 23, 2016 1:35 PM in response to ejetmonorail

Would it be okay? Would it start? Would it kill it?

Yes, probably, and no, respectively.

Installing more memory than specified can have unpredictable results, but it cannot damage anything. If something strange should occur, nonstandard hardware modifications are the first thing you should suspect. Retain your iMac's original RAM in preparation for that unlikely event.

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