New Mac mini 3Gb memory?

wow...I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to Mac's so I'm excited but with a healthy side of skepticism. I've been debating between one of the c2d macminis or the new imacs. Definitely interested to see if this really holds up.

norwscaper said:

wow...I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to Mac's so I'm excited but with a healthy side of skepticism. I've been debating between one of the c2d macminis or the new imacs. Definitely interested to see if this really holds up.

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I do not really need 3GB of RAm now, but that can be a good thing to know you can do it when time comes...

I wonder is it the same as with the MacBooks. The stated limit is 2GB, but they can take 3. Then there is the idea that it is better to have matched RAM, but I saw some test results, Barefeats I think, where they stuck 3GB in a MB and the results showed that it was possible without negative results, but without big gains either.

edit: found the tests, not barefeats:
http://eshop.macsales.com/Reviews/MacBook/Testing/Memory_Benchmarks

psychodad said:

I wonder is it the same as with the MacBooks. The stated limit is 2GB, but they can take 3. Then there is the idea that it is better to have matched RAM, but I saw some test results, Barefeats I think, where they stuck 3GB in a MB and the results showed that it was possible without negative results, but without big gains either.

edit: found the tests, not barefeats:
MacBook Memory Performance Testing - 512MB to 2.0GB, Pairs vs. non-Pairs atOtherWorldComputing.com

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I'm not sure how the paring is really useful here. I can't remember which computer that was said to be better in paring (maybe the iMac G5) of RAM, but tests proved nothing in that way, or was simply marginal.

Yes, the Mini C2D is the same as the MacBook C2D, it will take 3 Gb RAM ( 1Gb + 2 Gb). It should also take 4 Gb (2 x 2 Gb) but only be able to utilize 3.3 Gb of the total.

How much gain you see from the additional RAM depends entirely on which programs you are using, and whether you regularly load up more than 2 Gb worth of OS, applications and data.

Reports are that Photoshop, which has its own virtual memory system, can benefit from 3 Gb RAM all to itself.

meall said:

I'm not sure how the paring is really useful here. I can't remember which computer that was said to be better in paring (maybe the iMac G5) of RAM, but tests proved nothing in that way, or was simply marginal.

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Pairing of RAM in the MacBook and Mac mini is useful because those two models make use of interleaving as neither has dedicated video. If the RAM is unmatched, it cannot make use of interleaving. Interleaved RAM performs better than non-interleaved RAM (when supported). The iMac G5 (or any other model of Mac, for that matter) does not make use interleaved RAM, meaning if the RAM was installed in matching pairs or non-matching pairs, it made exactly zero difference.

yes, but dual-channel memory's performance gain MAY be minimal compared to the larger performance gain had by having more memory.

It depends on if you're running enough software to actually USE the extra RAM.

Waaaaiiiiit a minute - in another thread it seemed there was a motherboard limitation and from what I've seen on the forum sites people are not getting the 2 gigs + 1.

Hmmph guess I"ll get one in tomorrow and resolve this.

Here is your answer from an outfit I trust - Other World Computing is now selling 3 gb memory sets for the mini. They also provide test scores with different RAM configurations in the mini.