Looking at doing a build (see threads passim); one option takes 1333/1600MHz DDR 3 SODIMMs.

I have (as it happens) a pair of 2Gb SODIMMs from a late 2011 13″ MBP (PC3-10600S) – is there any reason anyone can see why those wouldn’t work?

Things to check: form factor, volts, timings, frequency

Volts must match, timings/frequency must be able to agree or run at the lowest common factor.

Post motherboard/Mac exact specs, please

“PC3-10600” and “DDR3 1333MHz” are two ways of saying the same thing.

Unless your new build requires ECC or Apple do something creative with RAM that I don’t know about, they should work.

That’s what I was hoping for; spec of what I need is a bit vague, but the plan was to go with a MSI Probox23; their recommended RAM options are here but I’m trying to do this on the cheap if poss (recycled RAM/HD).

Mac RAM spec is here.

A double check of RAM voltage is necessary. It looks like the Mac is using 1.35V DIMMS, and in that case it should work [1.5V also should work]…. but some Intel chips from that era use 1.65V RAM too, so if that happens to be what’s fitted to the Mac, then it won’t work.

Can you see the sticker on the RAM – it should say.

http://www.memoryamerica.com/md318ll-a.html

shows 1.35V

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-i7-2.2-15-late-2011-unibody-thunderbolt-specs.html

Is this the model? Can you also give the real identifying code for the machine? EG that above is “MD318LL/A”. I have no idea why Apple make it so hard to see the exact model?!

It’s a 13″ MacBook Pro (Early 2011, not late as I said above, MacBookPro8,1)

The SODIMMs I want to recycle say:

2Gb 1Rx8 PC3-10600S-09-11-B2
M471B5773DH0-CH9 1116

on them The packaging for the Crucial ones that replaced these isn’t enlightening either. I know they’re not DDR3L (low voltage?) unlike the current ones I’m using.

First – a primer

I’m a bit confused about which replaced which.

If you replaced M471B5773DH0-CH9 with some Crucial ones, then you have M471B5773DH0-CH9 for recycling, yes? And the Crucial ones are now in the Mac?

M471B5773DH0-CH9 is 1300MHz with timing 9/9/9/xx [xx as I don’t know the last timing value] It’s either 1.35 or 1.5V.

As usual Apple is making it really hard to actually find the damn specs, but it looks as though you will be able to run that RAM, as the MSI is able to support 1,35 or 1.5v DIMMS. You should try to find the voltage that the sticks want by googling all the identifiers printed.

If you run RAM that needs 1.5 at 1.35 it’s likely you’ll get crashes.
If you run RAM that needs 1.35 at 1.5 it’s likely you’ll break it.

When you are confident, and have installed some RAM:

1) Make a MEMTESTx86+ bootable USB stick and test it on another machine.

2) Wipe the BIOS on the MSI, boot it, perform a “load failsafe defaults”, reboot again, and if boots fine try “load optimised defaults” and reboot again.

3)Check the RAM [and everything else] voltage is set correctly in the BIOS.

4)Set the memory timings by hand for the values you have found and leave the rest on Auto

5)Reboot again, if all looks good and the machine still boots

6)Run MEMTESTx86+ for 8 hours or two passes whichever is longer. If there’s no errors – CONGRATS

Does it fit? Yes. Plug it in. Does it beep a lot? No? Congrats.

Do Macs not read SPD chips or something?

He’s putting the RAM in the MSI, not the other way around.

And almost nothing reads XMP/SPD correctly!

If you replaced M471B5773DH0-CH9 with some Crucial ones, then you have M471B5773DH0-CH9 for recycling, yes? And the Crucial ones are now in the Mac?

Yes, that’s right.

it looks as though you will be able to run that RAM, as the MSI is able to support 1,35 or 1.5v DIMMS.

Samsung datasheet suggests they’re 1.5v – does BIOS usually sense this automatically, or will I have to set manually?

It should set the voltage correctly, though I have even had trouble with that [sorry Cougar]. When I put my RAM in this Motherboard [GA-EX58A-UD7R v2] it decided it needed 1.56v, not 1.5 🙁

Luckily I noticed soonish 🙂

But, yeah, you should be able to correct it sharpish, and if 1.5 is the max the board supports I doubt it’ll default to higher volts.

If you’re lucky you won’t have to set the timings, but again [sorry Cougar] this is usually detected incorrectly [often incorrectly lose/slow* timings are selected].

I would use MEMTESTx86+ if I were you, a little fuss at the beginning of a build is often a way to save lots of time tracking down an annoying bug later…..

Moore be with you 😉

I don’t think I’ve ever had SPD fail to read RAM correctly, though there will be a tendency perhaps to auto-configure conservative settings for maximum stability. There’s usually a “high performance” option or some such in BIOS / EFI. Last time I had to configure RAM manually was about ten years ago.

YMMV of course, and it’s almost certainly better to check and be sure. I was being a little flippant earlier. And Memtest is always a good idea (though if you’ve got RAM issues you’ll generally know about it before the OS install has finished).