2012 Mac Mini RAM upgrade

[weelzSA]

Hi all.

I am going to purchase a 2012 Mac Mini 2.5GHz dual-core version today. It comes pre-installed with 4 gigs ram (2X2gig) and want to up it to 8gigs from the start. What is the best RAM to get to do this myself and from where? Would prefer Esquire or some other place I can walk in and get today.

Will also be swapping the HDD for a SSD drive so should be nice machine to use.

Thanks in advance.

 

[DuckieZA]

I upped mine to 16GB with RAM purchased from my local PC shop. You could probably also buy it at Incredible Connection.

See this article for the specs: Apple Support article HT5475 Also see: Wikipedia article on Mac Mini

In summary: 1600MHz DDR3 - you'll need 2 x 4GB to get 8GB or 2 x 8GB to get 16GB. Mine cost me around R1100 (16GB)

 

[weelzSA]

I upped mine to 16GB with RAM purchased from my local PC shop. You could probably also buy it at Incredible Connection.

See this article for the specs: Apple Support article HT5475 Also see: Wikiedia article on Mac Mini

In summary: 1600MHz DDR3 - you'll need 2 x 4GB to get 8GB or 2 x 8GB to get 16GB. Mine cost me around R1100 (16GB)

Do you see a major difference with 16gigs? I am going to install a SSD as my main boot drive then connect an external HDD to save my music ect so was going to go for 8gigs but might be better option to go full out if its not too expensive that is.

 

[DuckieZA]

Do you see a major difference with 16gigs? I am going to install a SSD as my main boot drive then connect an external HDD to save my music ect so was going to go for 8gigs but might be better option to go full out if its not too expensive that is.

Not an enormous difference with day-to-day stuff but I run virtual machines with VMWare Fusion and when those fire up then the extra memory definitely makes a huge difference.

I guess for use as a music server, general purpose browsing, apps and so on that 8GB is probably OK. I just know that 4GB is not enough even when I don't run VMs.

 

[surfs-up]

Hi all.

I am going to purchase a 2012 Mac Mini 2.5GHz dual-core version today. It comes pre-installed with 4 gigs ram (2X2gig) and want to up it to 8gigs from the start. What is the best RAM to get to do this myself and from where? Would prefer Esquire or some other place I can walk in and get today.

Will also be swapping the HDD for a SSD drive so should be nice machine to use.

Thanks in advance.

Pity you didn't get the quad core MacMini, if it's performance you are after. I have a dual-core MacMini, and recently bought a new Quad Core MacMini, while on a trip to the USA. The quad core really is amazingly fast - way faster than my dual core. I was getting geekbench scores of around 3500 on my dual core and 12000 on my quad core

 

[weelzSA]

Pity you didn't get the quad core MacMini, if it's performance you are after. I have a dual-core MacMini, and recently bought a new Quad Core MacMini, while on a trip to the USA. The quad core really is amazingly fast - way faster than my dual core. I was getting geekbench scores of around 3500 on my dual core and 12000 on my quad core

I was really considering getting the quad-core version but I couldn't justify spending R2500 more just for a bump in the CPU. I did alot of research and for day to day work ect there wasn't that much of a difference between the two. I rather decided to get an SSD drive and will be upgrading the RAM next month. Most of my work is web design, coding and online work, a little photo editing and then the usual listening to music, movies ect so I am sure it will suite my needs.

 

[weelzSA]

Will either of these two work for the 2012 Mac Mini:

Kingston 4GB

Kingston Hyper X

I want to up the ram to 8gigs so will be getting 2x which ever one. If you know of better ram at the same price or cheaper that would also be great. 16gigs is just too expensive now so the 8gigs will have to do.

 

[DuckieZA]

Will either of these two work for the 2012 Mac Mini:

Kingston 4GB

Kingston Hyper X

I want to up the ram to 8gigs so will be getting 2x which ever one. If you know of better ram at the same price or cheaper that would also be great. 16gigs is just too expensive now so the 8gigs will have to do.

Why don't you look here ... The Mac Mini has limited space inside so I don't think you should take chances.

 

[weelzSA]

Anyone know of a place I can purchase DDR3 1600mhz ram from? I called Esquire but they only stock DDR3 1333mhz and other online places take a few days to deliver and need it quite urgently. Is there a majour difference between 1333mhz and 1600mhz?

Going to try Computer Mania and other "walk-in-shops" but any help would be great. Would 1333 mhz even work in the 2012 Mac Mini?

 

[Cassady]

Anyone know of a place I can purchase DDR3 1600mhz ram from? I called Esquire but they only stock DDR3 1333mhz and other online places take a few days to deliver and need it quite urgently. Is there a majour difference between 1333mhz and 1600mhz?

Going to try Computer Mania and other "walk-in-shops" but any help would be great. Would 1333 mhz even work in the 2012 Mac Mini?

I ordered my Corsair DDR3 1600mhz ram for my MBP from Wootware.co.za. No complaints about the service, they were quick to reply to queries, and kept me informed of the progress all along the way. Had my RAM within a few days.... Think they are based in Cape Town as well.

 

[weelzSA]

Is there really a majour difference between 1333mhz and 1600 mhz tho? From what I have read there doesn't seem to be - could someone please confirm this and wether the 1333 mhz ram would work in a 2012 Mac Mini?

 

[weelzSA]

Is it true that only Mac certified DDR3 1600 notebook ram will work when upgrading Macs? I know alot of companies try play that card so they can up the price as soon as they know it is for Macs. I was under the impression any RAM modules (obviously the right size) will work when upgrading the Ram in Macs or was I mistaken?

 

[weelzSA]

I ordered my Corsair DDR3 1600mhz ram for my MBP from Wootware.co.za. No complaints about the service, they were quick to reply to queries, and kept me informed of the progress all along the way. Had my RAM within a few days.... Think they are based in Cape Town as well.

Any chance this is the one you ordered: Corsair 4gig ? I am struggling to find RAM that will work with my Mac Mini...

 

[Priapus]

1333Mhz will work. Will obviously be a little slower. However, I doubt you would notice it, outside of a benchmark test.
Ram does not need to be Mac certified. I upgraded my SOs MBP with 8GB of standard DDR3 memory - it worked just fine.

So, any DDR 3 memory will work - as long as it is the same spec when it comes to pin configuration.

 

[weelzSA]

1333Mhz will work. Will obviously be a little slower. However, I doubt you would notice it, outside of a benchmark test.
Ram does not need to be Mac certified. I upgraded my SOs MBP with 8GB of standard DDR3 memory - it worked just fine.

So, any DDR 3 memory will work - as long as it is the same spec when it comes to pin configuration.

Yeah that is what I thought. The ram I am looking at is the 204pin which is correct as far as I know? I think the Mac Mini 2012 I have only supports DDR3 1600. So I can then buy any DDR3 1600 RAM as long as it is 204pin ect?

 

[Priapus]

Yeah that is what I thought. The ram I am looking at is the 204pin which is correct as far as I know? I think the Mac Mini 2012 I have only supports DDR3 1600. So I can then buy any DDR3 1600 RAM as long as it is 204pin ect?

1600 is it's max bus speed. 1333 (slower) will work fine. Anything faster than 1600 will cause the MacMini to make 3 loud beeps at you and won't boot up.

And yes, 204 pin is correct - so any DDR 3 204 Pin stick that is 1600 or slow, will work.

 

[weelzSA]

1600 is it's max bus speed. 1333 (slower) will work fine. Anything faster than 1600 will cause the MacMini to make 3 loud beeps at you and won't boot up.

And yes, 204 pin is correct - so any DDR 3 204 Pin stick that is 1600 or slow, will work.

Cool, thanks. now to find someone with stock at a reasonable price... Incredible Connection has Patriot 4gig DDR3 1600 for R299 each (only one in stock at Canal Walk) wich is the best price I have seen so far. Would prefer a walk in store as I need it quite urgently.

 

[Priapus]

Good luck with that. Unfortunately I have never been to the Cape, so cannot suggest any shops locally.

 

[weelzSA]

So quick update. Ended up ordering 16gig Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 ram (2 x 8GIG) and 3 seconds later was installed and working perfectly. So hopefully now will take alot more for my RAM to run out.

Am still a little concerend tho about the usage. When I boot up from cold and reach the desktop, Memory Clean tells me I only have 12.83GB free of 16GB - there is absolutely nothing else open, no applications, no browsers ect so not too sure what is using up all the memory. Even now after the machine being on for 30 minutes and 3 tabs open in my browser (chrome) it is still hovering just below 13GB free.

But atleast now can run some VM's without having 23MB Ram left :wtf:

 

[Cassady]

Does Memory Clean's stats correlate with the Activity Monitor? Using the latter, and sorting by memory use, quickly points out where a leak could be happening. Chrome is hungry - but not that hungry...