Buying Advice: More RAM?

[dmw007]

Happy t hear the latest news of increased performance. I usually restart mine once a week.

Thanks wdlove

Restarting once a week is probably a good idea.
I would leave my Power Mac on 24/7 (folding of course), but my parents frown on that idea. Anyway...guess it beats having to pay the electric bill...

 

[FFTT]

O.K. I'm jealous!

I want to add a pair of 1 GB sticks to G5 when budget permits.

I currently have 2 pairs of Apple 256 RAM sticks getting me 1 GB
and I don't know if I'm better off leaving them in place
then adding the additonal RAM in the next slots or if it's
better to place the 1 GB sticks in the primary slots.
Does it matter?

 

[dmw007]

O.K. I'm jealous!

I want to add a pair of 1 GB sticks to G5 when budget permits.

I currently have 2 pairs of Apple 256 RAM sticks getting me 1 GB
and I don't know if I'm better off leaving them in place
then adding the additonal RAM in the next slots or if it's
better to place the 1 GB sticks in the primary slots.
Does it matter?

No, it probably does not matter. But I would probably still stick the 2x1GB sticks in the first/primary slots just to be safe.

I might also be interested in those 2x256MB Dimms if the price is right...let me know.

 

[FFTT]

I'll probably end up keeping them bringing my system up to 3 GB's.

I also got hosed for $150 buying the extra two sticks from Apple when I
ordered my system.

Impatience is costly!

 

[dmw007]

I'll probably end up keeping them bringing my system up to 3 GB's.

I also got hosed for $150 buying the extra two sticks from Apple when I
ordered my system.

Impatience is costly!

Ya keep them, I thought that you had the Rev C 2GHz DP Power Mac G5 (4 dimms) not the Rev B 2GHz DP Power Mac G5 (8 dimms). I thought that you would have had to discard your old RAM sticks...sorry.

 

[Bob_Barker]

Some people ar particular about brands, but I haven't noticed a huge performance difference between Apple Certified Ram and the cheap stuff off of Newegg or OWC.

But getting more RAM is ALWAYS the right thing to do.

 

[dmw007]

Some people ar particular about brands, but have noticed a huge performance difference between Apple Certified Ram and the cheap stuff off of Newegg or OWC.

But getting more RAM is ALWAYS the right thing to do.

I have to agree with you there Bob_Barker-

1) Buying "higher" quality RAM is a smart move.

2) Getting more RAM is always a smart choice.

Glad that I decided against OWC's "el cheapo" RAM since you reported having problems with them. Not what I would have wanted in my Power Mac.

 

[Bob_Barker]

I left out a word in my post. What I meant was I HAVE NOT seen any real performance difference between apple certified and OWC/Newegg stuff. I've heard by things about the Rosewill brand, but I have not encountered any problems myself.

The warranty would be the real draw for me to Crucial. I think if you have a working DIMM at any price, performance is probably similar.

 

[dmw007]

I left out a word in my post. What I meant was I HAVE NOT seen any real performance difference between apple certified and OWC/Newegg stuff. I've heard by things about the Rosewill brand, but I have not encountered any problems myself.

The warranty would be the real draw for me to Crucial. I think if you have a working DIMM at any price, performance is probably similar.

Well in that case, sorry that I took your meaning wrong.

Yes, I would imagine that one stick of RAM will be equal in quality and performance to another stick of RAM that is the same type (i.e.- DDR400, PC133, etc...).

But I just feel better buying from a more reputable manufacturer; Provides me more peace of mind (and a warranty).

 

[JasonGough]

Sounds cool, i think i'll go get 2 gigs of crucial when i get my PowerMac.

Unless apple up the standard Memory, which they realy should.

How does the Apple Memory compare to the Crucial stuff anyway? is the Apple RAM any better or is it just more expensive for the sake of it?

 

[dmw007]

Sounds cool, i think i'll go get 2 gigs of crucial when i get my PowerMac.

Unless apple up the standard Memory, which they realy should.

How does the Apple Memory compare to the Crucial stuff anyway? is the Apple RAM any better or is it just more expensive for the sake of it?

Apple RAM in the Power Mac G5 (mine anyway) is from Hynix, and is really no different than any other types of RAM out there- its just that Apples prices for their RAM are way outta whack. I would think that Crucial RAM is just as good (if not better) than the RAM that Apple includes in a Power Mac (or in any Mac for that matter).

So yes, going with 2GB of RAM from Crucial for your Power Mac would be a good idea.

 

[wdlove]

Apple RAM in the Power Mac G5 (mine anyway) is from Hynix, and is really no different than any other types of RAM out there- its just that Apples prices for their RAM are way outta whack. I would think that Crucial RAM is just as good (if not better) than the RAM that Apple includes in a Power Mac (or in any Mac for that matter).

So yes, going with 2GB of RAM from Crucial for your Power Mac would be a good idea.

The majority on this forum highly recommend Crucial. The lifetime warranty is important. Like everything else you get what you pay for.

dmw007, have you thought about downloading a free AIM from AOL. That is what works for me with iChat.

 

[Bote]

I have a mac mini that I bought with 256mb. I upgraded last week to 1 gb. It does perform much better. I don't sit and watch the spinning ball nearly as much. However, coming from a windows background I notice that i still don't get the same snappy performance when opening programs that I get with my windows machine running 512mb. Is this related to my slower G4 processor. If I had a G5 iMac or Powermac would it be snappier or is that just the way that OS X is. Yes, I am a recent convert to Mac.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I have a mac mini that I bought with 256mb. I upgraded last week to 1 gb. It does perform much better. I don't sit and watch the spinning ball nearly as much. However, coming from a windows background I notice that i still don't get the same snappy performance when opening programs that I get with my windows machine running 512mb. Is this related to my slower G4 processor. If I had a G5 iMac or Powermac would it be snappier or is that just the way that OS X is. Yes, I am a recent convert to Mac.

Difficult to say, since we don't know what you are comparing to what in terms of hardware or software.

The UI in OSX does tend to be a bit slower than XP as a general rule. But since Windows doesn't feed anything back to the user when programs are launched I always find it difficult to know what's going on or how fast it's happening.

 

[Bote]

Difficult to say, since we don't know what you are comparing to what in terms of hardware or software.

The UI in OSX does tend to be a bit slower than XP as a general rule. But since Windows doesn't feed anything back to the user when programs are launched I always find it difficult to know what's going on or how fast it's happening.

1.7GHz dell. I think that a lot of it is just perception. Things do open quicker on my windows pc but don't necessarily perform their function any better on the windows box. I would wait twice as long for my mac and not really get mad. Atleast I am not spending all that time cleaning internet crap and viruses off of my mac I guess my real question is how much more responsive would a G5 be when compared to a G4 Like say opening My adobe elements. It takes me like 5-7 seconds now.

 

[IJ Reilly]

1.7GHz dell. I think that a lot of it is just perception. Things do open quicker on my windows pc but don't necessarily perform their function any better on the windows box. I would wait twice as long for my mac and not really get mad. Atleast I am not spending all that time cleaning internet crap and viruses off of my mac I guess my real question is how much more responsive would a G5 be when compared to a G4 Like say opening My adobe elements. It takes me like 5-7 seconds now.

I assume the Dell is a P4.

If you have Elements for both Windows and Mac, it might make an interesting experiment to stopwatch opening the same file on both machines. (Make sure both are rebooted before running the tests.) I'd expect the results to be virtually the same; within the margin of error.

The mini does have the disadvantage of a slower (usually 4,800 RPM) hard drive, though. That will hurt in any disk-intensive test. You could speed the mini up by booting it from an external Firewire drive.

 

[Bote]

I assume the Dell is a P4.

If you have Elements for both Windows and Mac, it might make an interesting experiment to stopwatch opening the same file on both machines. (Make sure both are rebooted before running the tests.) I'd expect the results to be virtually the same; within the margin of error.

The mini does have the disadvantage of a slower (usually 4,800 RPM) hard drive, though. That will hurt in any disk-intensive test. You could speed the mini up by booting it from an external Firewire drive.

You know, I completely forgot to factor in the slow harddrive. I do have an external FW HD but that is half full of my backups. I will have to pick up a 7200 RPM hd w/8m cache when the money presents itself. I am sure that will speed things up a bit. Gotta pick up that new iPod first....Thanks for the advice.

 

[dmw007]

You know, I completely forgot to factor in the slow harddrive. I do have an external FW HD but that is half full of my backups. I will have to pick up a 7200 RPM hd w/8m cache when the money presents itself. I am sure that will speed things up a bit. Gotta pick up that new iPod first....Thanks for the advice.

Yes, slapping a 7,200rpm HDD should give you snappier performance.

To answer your previous question, when opening/launching an application my Power Mac G5 does it right away. No delay for me. Although I think that a faster HDD should give you similar results.

 

[Bote]

Yes, slapping a 7,200rpm HDD should give you snappier performance.

To answer your previous question, when opening/launching an application my Power Mac G5 does it right away. No delay for me. Although I think that a faster HDD should give you similar results.

I was assuming that a power mac would open things immediatly. Especially will all that new ram you dropped in there. Sounds like a nice system you got there. I will have to get another HD when my money permits.

 

[dmw007]

I was assuming that a power mac would open things immediatly. Especially will all that new ram you dropped in there. Sounds like a nice system you got there. I will have to get another HD when my money permits.

Thanks, the Power Mac G5's are awesome machines (too expensive, but still awesome). Love it so much. Will never go back to just using a PeeCee.

Glad to hear that you decided to go with a faster HDD.
I think that you are making that right choice.

 

[dmw007]

dmw007, have you thought about downloading a free AIM from AOL. That is what works for me with iChat.

Will do tomorrow.
Can't wait to give iChat a try.

 

[wdlove]

Will do tomorrow.
Can't wait to give iChat a try.

That is great news dmw007. I will look forward to an iChat with you soon.