Is there a difference in performance between 2x4GB or 4x2GB configurations?

[tharden3]

Hey Bytes Community,

I am purchasing an iMac and i was not sure if the price difference between these two types of RAM was justified for what I would get out of it. Basically, I start with 4GB of RAM, but would like to upgrade to 8GB. They give me two options:

8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB [Add $200.00]

8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB [Add $600.00]

Would I get $400 more in performance for having two 4GB RAMs as apposed to having four 2GB RAMs?

Kind regards,
Tim

[Markus]

It seems the Misc forum doesn't get much traffic. Anyway, I've brought this thread to the attention of the other experts and hopefully someone will stop-by :)

[RedSon]

No you don't get more performance, the point here is that you are only using 2 of your 4 ram slots, so in the future you could add more ram without losing any of your 2GB sticks.

If you get 4x2GB and then decide later that instead of 8GB of ram you want 12GB you would have to give up one of your 2GB sticks and put in a 6GB stick (and I don't think they make 6GB sticks).

[tlhintoq]

I have two identical MacPro machines with only one difference: One has 3 gig, one has 16g.

There is a big difference in speed *once I am doing enough to use up the first 3 gig*

Photoshop, iMovie and so on run noticably faster on the 16g box since they don't have to keep swapping out pages of memory on the HDD. Pretty common sense.

But if you only have a couple apps open: iTunes, Mail, BitTorrent... There is no difference in performance that I can tell.

By the way, as much as I love Apple, you don't have to pay their inflated prices for memory. There is nothing wrong with buying a base model then adding the memory yourself. I have bought memory for decades from Data Memory Systems and never had a problem.

[RedSon]

I agree, I would probably buy the 2x2GB model then find a good retailer of memory and buy 2x4GB. You could by 2x4GB for the price of 1x4GB from apple.

[Atli]

An argument could be made that 4x2GiB sticks could perform better than 2x4GiB sticks. - The 4 smaller chips could be paired of (I forget what they call it) so that each pair is seen as a single chip, splitting incoming data between them thus doubling the speed (in theory). As apposed to only dealing with one chip at a time.

Meaning that if you are not going to be needed the two extra slots the two 4GiB chips would leave empty, you may get more out of the 4 smaller chips.

Disclaimer: I am more software than hardware, so I don't know technical details... But this is how the manual of my motherboard explains it's own version of this feature.

And I agree with tlhintoq and RedSon; avoid buying accessories from Apple... You could send your children to collage for the price difference on some of their products. - Honestly, I was looking at the Mac Mini over here, and I was able to put together a top-of-the-line gaming PC for half the price of that little thing. - Still, I kind of want the Mini xD

[RedSon]

Sex sells. And Apple is sexy.

[drhowarddrfine]

What you are buying with the two sticks is miniaturization , not performance. The speed of the sticks are 1066 and DDR3 spec no matter which you buy but, if you add more memory later, you'll need to throw away the 4 sticks to do that and then add the purchase price of the new ram.

In my case, it takes years before I upgrade a system if at all. My wife just went from 0.5Gb to 2Gb after about 3 years. My son is thinking of going from 4Gb to 16Gb but he'll replace his motherboard, too.

I don't know anything about Mac hardware but I'd just go with the cheaper option and bet you don't touch it for years, if ever.

[tlhintoq]

My wife just went from 0.5Gb to 2Gb after about 3 years.

I think it all depends on use. 512m ram isn't reasonable for someone doing video editing for example. For some people its insufficient for their Photoshop work.

If I were to load a few 18mp images from my DSLR and have them all open at once I could bring 512m to it's knees in a heartbeat.

[RedSon]

It it were me I would go with 2x2GB or 4x2GB. Skip the 2x4GB.