2020 5K iMac RAM Upgrade Guide - Save $2100 on 128GB!

2020 5K iMac RAM Upgrade Guide - Save $2100 on 128GB!
4 min read
10 August 2020

If you think Apple overcharges for RAM, you’re absolutely right. They charge $3,000 to go from 32GB of RAM to 192. So in this article, I’ll show you how easy it is to replace it yourself and get 192GB of RAM for only about $700 by using our links down in the video description. I’ll also prove that it works just as good as Apples’ RAM, and we’ll finish it off with a guide on how much RAM we recommend for your specific use-case.

To upgrade the RAM yourself, first unplug the power cable and anything connected to your Mac Pro.2020 5K iMac RAM Upgrade Guide - Save $2100 on 128GB! Then twist the handle at the top of the case and lift it off. Go around to the back and push the unlock switches to release the RAM covers, then pull them off. 2020 5K iMac RAM Upgrade Guide - Save $2100 on 128GB!To remove the factory RAM, push the tabs at each end of the RAM sticks, then carefully pull them straight out. 2020 5K iMac RAM Upgrade Guide - Save $2100 on 128GB!You’ll notice that there’s a notch on the RAM connector that’s offset towards one side of the stick. Before you put in your new RAM, grab the RAM cover and take a look on the inside. You’ll see a diagram that shows you which slot to put your RAM for each configuration. If you’ve got 6 RAM sticks, like most people will, you’ll be placing them into slots 1, 3, 5, 8, 10 and 12. Now grab one of your new RAM sticks and make sure that same notch matches up to the notch on the Mac Pro’s motherboard, then carefully push the RAM stick in. 2020 5K iMac RAM Upgrade Guide - Save $2100 on 128GB!You’ll hear a satisfying click when it’s seated and the tabs on each side will lock into place. Once all of your RAM is in, put the covers back on, as well as the case, and you’re done! 2020 5K iMac RAM Upgrade Guide - Save $2100 on 128GB!As you can see, the RAM shows up perfectly in the configurator and runs at the full 2933Mhz speed that Apple advertises. Now let’s get into our RAM recommendation guide. Keep in mind that we have links to all of the RAM kits down in the description.

Since you’re buying an expensive professional Mac Pro, we think that 96GB for $450 is the perfect amount of RAM for doing music production, photo editing, compressed 4K video editing, and most other professional productivity applications. For those doing specific tasks such as high-resolution RAW video editing, virtual machines, really high-end 3D design or specific apps that can utilize a lot of RAM, we think 192GB for $717 is a really good amount that shouldn’t limit the majority of professionals, and that’s actually what we bought for our Mac Pro.

For those that want to go all out, 384GB for $1434 is honestly the most we’d recommend even if you get the 28-core CPU. In fact, Apple only used up to 384GB of RAM for all of the tests that they ran and showed off on the Mac Pro product page, proving that even Apple thinks that’s enough RAM. We’ve got the links to those great deals on all of those RAM configurations that we recommended in the description. Just make sure to order and use 6 sticks if you want your RAM to run at full 6-channel speed, or use 12 32GB sticks for that massive 384GB configuration. And if you’re worried about those links pointing to the right RAM, Apple actually provides a support page with all of the required RAM specs they recommend, so you can double-check our RAM links to verify that they match up to Apple’s specs. 

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Alex 5.4K
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