You want to expand the RAM for your iMac cheaply?? This is a good decision you probably made at the checkout counter. Because more RAM and more powerful components cost a lot in the Apple Store if you buy them "ex works" would like to have integrated. The 27" Retina iMac has been around since October 2014, but it’s still offered in the version with 8GB of RAM. This new model is available with an i5 or i7 quad-core Haswell processor – and the good news is, it can be upgraded relatively easily (and cheaply)!) expand the memory up to 32 GB.
How much memory fits in the iMac Retina?
The memory processed in the iMac 5K Retina (2014) is a LPDDR3 SDRAM memory, which is supposed to need very little power in standby. For a desktop computer, however, this is a rather unimportant factor. Even the size of the SDRAM memory chips, which fit particularly well in mobile devices, is not really relevant for us if the connections of the slots fit. You can also install a normal SDRAM, if the bars have 204 pins and 1600 MHz. Up to 32 GB of working memory can be achieved with a conversion.
These 2x 8 GB RAM from Crucial are fully compatible with the iMac Retina 2014. With two of these sets from Crucial you’ll get the longed-for 32 GB working memory – found here on Amazon.
How much RAM do I actually need?
If you mainly use simple applications like word processing, surfing the net, listening to music, you’ll certainly get along well with 8 GB. However, if you edit pictures, cut videos, do 3D renderings or often use several programs at the same time, 32 GB of RAM makes life easier for you, since the iMac can keep more in memory and has to swap less to the hard disk. If you don’t have enough RAM in your iMac, the constant swapping of data to the hard disk only slows down performance and makes for annoyingly poor performance – you don’t like to see the beach ball..
Which memory bars and manufacturers are compatible with the 5K iMac??
Here is a small selection of suitable stores with which users have had good experiences. You should not use noname products, because errors in the memory often cause problems on the computer, which you would not attribute directly to a defective memory. Crashes, hangs or also defective files can be the consequence. For this reason I would always use well-known manufacturers like Hynix, Crucial, Samsung, Transcend, Corsair or Kingston. For that reason, you won’t find anything else here as a shopping recommendation.
Depending on how far you want to upgrade your 5K iMac retina, you can now use different allocations. The iMac has a total of 4 slots, each of which can hold a maximum of 8 GB memory bars. For this reason, the maximum capacity is 32 GB (4 x 8 GB). Since it makes no sense from my point of view to upgrade only to 16 GB, I have explicitly listed 8 GB bars here, whereby these always come in a set of two. So you always have to write two (2!) of these sets so you can get to 32 GB: