Chosen Solution
I bought this model with the basic two sticks of 4GB RAM. It has been sufficient for almost all my purposes, but if I can cost-effectively upgrade, it would be helpful. My question is just whether this RAM for sale on iFixit (PC4-19200 4 GB RAM Chip) can be added alongside the original RAM to upgrade to 12 or 16GB. I would have assumed that it could be, except that the product description only mentions that one can “replace” RAM with the part. Has anyone successfully used this same part to expand the memory in this iMac?
Standard RAM:8 GBMaximum RAM:64 GB* RAM Type:PC4-19200 DDR4*Min. RAM Speed:2400 MHz Details:Supports 2400 MHz PC4-19200 DDR4 SDRAM SO-DIMMs (260-pin). Details:*By default, 8 GB of RAM is installed as two 4 GB memory modules (and two slots are unoccupied). For some curious reason, Apple only permits this model to be configured at the time of purchase with 16 GB or 32 GB of RAM for an extra US$200 or US$600, respectively. However, as first determined by OWC, it can support up to 64 GB of RAM with four 16 GB memory modules. Here’s a video on how to install it: Third one down: https://9to5mac.com/2017/08/01/review-en…
I see what causes the confusion. In my experience, different types of RAM may be used inside a machine. My guess is, they assume you’d use this part as a replacement, as opposed to an addition. Generally speaking, you would want to stick to the same manufacturer and ensure that each DIMM has similar capacity. That is, however, not a rule written in stone. So, in short, I’ll say that you should be able to upgrade the RAM on your machine with the one you’ve looked at (assuming it is compatible with your particular model). Cheers!
