Should We Still Install Matched Pairs of RAM?












2















When I say "still", I'm not actually talking about current generation Macs. I'm specifically talking about 2012's. Is there still benefit to installing matched pairs or are those days long gone?



I have two 2012 Macs with 4 GB each. I just got my hands on 8 GB from a 2012 iMac. So the question is, which Mac do I upgrade to 8 GB?



...but I could also do 2 GB + 4 GB in each Mac, bringing each Mac to 6 GB.
Way back when, it was always said to install in matched pairs, otherwise the RAM run's "slow". But is this still the case by 2012? Even if it is true, just how much slower is it? It still may be worthwhile to run unmatched pairs to get an extra 2 GB in each machine.










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  • Matched pairs are ideal, but the difference is super minimal. The extra 2 GB of memory afforded by a 2G + 4G config will outdo any advantages offered by a 2G + 2G config. (A more important thing to know is that if you install two sticks of RAM which are rated for different speeds, your computer will operate all RAM at the speed of the slowest stick.)

    – Wowfunhappy
    2 hours ago


















2















When I say "still", I'm not actually talking about current generation Macs. I'm specifically talking about 2012's. Is there still benefit to installing matched pairs or are those days long gone?



I have two 2012 Macs with 4 GB each. I just got my hands on 8 GB from a 2012 iMac. So the question is, which Mac do I upgrade to 8 GB?



...but I could also do 2 GB + 4 GB in each Mac, bringing each Mac to 6 GB.
Way back when, it was always said to install in matched pairs, otherwise the RAM run's "slow". But is this still the case by 2012? Even if it is true, just how much slower is it? It still may be worthwhile to run unmatched pairs to get an extra 2 GB in each machine.










share|improve this question























  • Matched pairs are ideal, but the difference is super minimal. The extra 2 GB of memory afforded by a 2G + 4G config will outdo any advantages offered by a 2G + 2G config. (A more important thing to know is that if you install two sticks of RAM which are rated for different speeds, your computer will operate all RAM at the speed of the slowest stick.)

    – Wowfunhappy
    2 hours ago
















2












2








2








When I say "still", I'm not actually talking about current generation Macs. I'm specifically talking about 2012's. Is there still benefit to installing matched pairs or are those days long gone?



I have two 2012 Macs with 4 GB each. I just got my hands on 8 GB from a 2012 iMac. So the question is, which Mac do I upgrade to 8 GB?



...but I could also do 2 GB + 4 GB in each Mac, bringing each Mac to 6 GB.
Way back when, it was always said to install in matched pairs, otherwise the RAM run's "slow". But is this still the case by 2012? Even if it is true, just how much slower is it? It still may be worthwhile to run unmatched pairs to get an extra 2 GB in each machine.










share|improve this question














When I say "still", I'm not actually talking about current generation Macs. I'm specifically talking about 2012's. Is there still benefit to installing matched pairs or are those days long gone?



I have two 2012 Macs with 4 GB each. I just got my hands on 8 GB from a 2012 iMac. So the question is, which Mac do I upgrade to 8 GB?



...but I could also do 2 GB + 4 GB in each Mac, bringing each Mac to 6 GB.
Way back when, it was always said to install in matched pairs, otherwise the RAM run's "slow". But is this still the case by 2012? Even if it is true, just how much slower is it? It still may be worthwhile to run unmatched pairs to get an extra 2 GB in each machine.







macbook memory mac-mini






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asked 2 hours ago









l008coml008com

1,745515




1,745515













  • Matched pairs are ideal, but the difference is super minimal. The extra 2 GB of memory afforded by a 2G + 4G config will outdo any advantages offered by a 2G + 2G config. (A more important thing to know is that if you install two sticks of RAM which are rated for different speeds, your computer will operate all RAM at the speed of the slowest stick.)

    – Wowfunhappy
    2 hours ago





















  • Matched pairs are ideal, but the difference is super minimal. The extra 2 GB of memory afforded by a 2G + 4G config will outdo any advantages offered by a 2G + 2G config. (A more important thing to know is that if you install two sticks of RAM which are rated for different speeds, your computer will operate all RAM at the speed of the slowest stick.)

    – Wowfunhappy
    2 hours ago



















Matched pairs are ideal, but the difference is super minimal. The extra 2 GB of memory afforded by a 2G + 4G config will outdo any advantages offered by a 2G + 2G config. (A more important thing to know is that if you install two sticks of RAM which are rated for different speeds, your computer will operate all RAM at the speed of the slowest stick.)

– Wowfunhappy
2 hours ago







Matched pairs are ideal, but the difference is super minimal. The extra 2 GB of memory afforded by a 2G + 4G config will outdo any advantages offered by a 2G + 2G config. (A more important thing to know is that if you install two sticks of RAM which are rated for different speeds, your computer will operate all RAM at the speed of the slowest stick.)

– Wowfunhappy
2 hours ago












1 Answer
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No - even in the core 2 days, it was almost always faster to have more RAM that wasn’t matched compared to less RAM that was matched. I believe the penalty was 3% range - so you could test it in a benchmark, but real world - more RAM wins.



These days, the memory controllers are so good, I don’t think you can even benchmark differences due to a mix of memory sizes or locations.






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  • How would you benchmark RAM? That's a good idea, I'm curious to see the difference.

    – l008com
    1 hour ago











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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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active

oldest

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active

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active

oldest

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2














No - even in the core 2 days, it was almost always faster to have more RAM that wasn’t matched compared to less RAM that was matched. I believe the penalty was 3% range - so you could test it in a benchmark, but real world - more RAM wins.



These days, the memory controllers are so good, I don’t think you can even benchmark differences due to a mix of memory sizes or locations.






share|improve this answer
























  • How would you benchmark RAM? That's a good idea, I'm curious to see the difference.

    – l008com
    1 hour ago
















2














No - even in the core 2 days, it was almost always faster to have more RAM that wasn’t matched compared to less RAM that was matched. I believe the penalty was 3% range - so you could test it in a benchmark, but real world - more RAM wins.



These days, the memory controllers are so good, I don’t think you can even benchmark differences due to a mix of memory sizes or locations.






share|improve this answer
























  • How would you benchmark RAM? That's a good idea, I'm curious to see the difference.

    – l008com
    1 hour ago














2












2








2







No - even in the core 2 days, it was almost always faster to have more RAM that wasn’t matched compared to less RAM that was matched. I believe the penalty was 3% range - so you could test it in a benchmark, but real world - more RAM wins.



These days, the memory controllers are so good, I don’t think you can even benchmark differences due to a mix of memory sizes or locations.






share|improve this answer













No - even in the core 2 days, it was almost always faster to have more RAM that wasn’t matched compared to less RAM that was matched. I believe the penalty was 3% range - so you could test it in a benchmark, but real world - more RAM wins.



These days, the memory controllers are so good, I don’t think you can even benchmark differences due to a mix of memory sizes or locations.







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered 1 hour ago









bmikebmike

158k46284613




158k46284613













  • How would you benchmark RAM? That's a good idea, I'm curious to see the difference.

    – l008com
    1 hour ago



















  • How would you benchmark RAM? That's a good idea, I'm curious to see the difference.

    – l008com
    1 hour ago

















How would you benchmark RAM? That's a good idea, I'm curious to see the difference.

– l008com
1 hour ago





How would you benchmark RAM? That's a good idea, I'm curious to see the difference.

– l008com
1 hour ago


















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