MBP RAM upgrade question

maninsuitcase

maninsuitcase

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I have a 13" mid 2012 Macbook Pro which currently has 4GB of RAM. Last night I found my self hitting RAM buffers, system would go slow but running the purge command would sort it all out. This was using lightroom 3 and quickly moving about in loupe mode. I'm guessing the RAM was filling up with previews.

While ideally I'd buy 16GB of Crucial and have done I don't really have £65 to hand.

Can I get a single 8GB stick now to replace 1 or both of the 2GB sticks in there, or am I better off getting a 2x4GB set and accept it's the expensive way of doing it when I finally move to 16GB.

I guess I am worried about miss matching RAM, but I have this in several older Windows machines and it seems to work okay.
 
First of all do you need to go to 16Gb. My rMBP runs well on 8Gb with LR4 and large 28Mb RAW files. I don't know if running unmatched memory on a MBP would cause a problem. I've always matched memory when I've upgraded.

If you do decide to opt for the 2 x 4Gb module route, this is probably a very popular upgrade at the moment, so even if you do upgrade to 16Gb you'll still get a return on the 2 x 4Gb modules
 
I would go with 1x 8GB Crucial now and get another 8GB if you beed it when you have the cash.

I've never had any issues using modules of the same denomination bought at different times from crucial.

Whilst there is normally a benefit to using matched pairs, it's not earth shattering, but you should see a big jump in performance anyway going from 4-8GB. Also, if you are highly likely to want to add another 8GB later down the line, then you may as well keep one slot free and then you won't have to ditch two 4GB modules.
 
MarcM said:
I would go with 1x 8GB Crucial now and get another 8GB if you beed it when you have the cash.

I've never had any issues using modules of the same denomination bought at different times from crucial.

Whilst there is normally a benefit to using matched pairs, it's not earth shattering, but you should see a big jump in performance anyway going from 4-8GB. Also, if you are highly likely to want to add another 8GB later down the line, then you may as well keep one slot free and then you won't have to ditch two 4GB modules.
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Except you'll get half the bandwidth out of a single 8G module compared to two 4G modules. The two channels allow the bus to access both banks of memory simultaneously.

I've never done a test to see if the difference is significant though.
 
Maybe a half way house version: 10Gb comprised of 1 2GB from Apple and an aftermarket 8GB or is that even worse?

The single 8GB is a quid or two cheaper than 2 4GB also but not enough for me to worry.

I guess 8GB will be fine for a fair while, so maybe i am fretting on an upgrade path I won't need for ages, and when I do memory prices will be cheaper.
 
my mac mini seems to be using at least 6-7gb now before I load anything bigger. This is now, not 3 years later. At £60 16GB is an absolute steal and won't get much cheaper any time soon. 2+8 is possible but as it is not paired it will not be optimal and all sort of hell may break loose.
 
Well I never got round to ordering in Jan and last night I figured I'd order the 16GB kit, it's now £99.59 so about 50% more than the old price. Gutting.

Is the price of RAM likely to get any better or am I just stuck with the new price?
 
arad85 said:
It goes up and down depending on supply & demand....
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So worth waiting a week or so and checking periodically or am I not really looking at much of a change? I'm in no rush as I've been managing but if I'm only going to save a tenner I may as well just order it.
 
I've not followed RAM prices recently... Tends to be on a longer scale than a few days though.But don't blame me if you buy today and it's £20 cheaper tomorrow. I find the simplest way is not to look until I next want RAM and then go "ooh.... hasn't the price fallen/risen* a lot in the last 6 months...".

* delete as appropriate depending on price movement ;)
 
maninsuitcase said:
So worth waiting a week or so and checking periodically or am I not really looking at much of a change? I'm in no rush as I've been managing but if I'm only going to save a tenner I may as well just order it.
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For what it's with I paid £90 for that kit 2 months ago, so it's fairly slow fluctuations
 
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