Is Mac Pro 2006 too old for DP8?

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Re: Is Mac Pro 2006 too old for DP8?

Post by James Steele »

mikehalloran wrote:
JMVideo wrote:e-snobben... the only time I've every had click/pops issues was when I wasn't using uniform RAM in my Macs.

You say you have 9GB of RAM. This immediately strikes me as a red flag because you obviously don't have matched pairs.

You should be using an even assortment of matched DIMMS (from the same manufacturer) in each slot. For example... 4 4GB DIMMS = 16GB RAM, or 2 8GB DIMMS = 16GB RAM. You're asking for trouble if you start mixing up your RAM like having 2 GB in some slots and 4 or 8 in the others.

Matched pairs = happy Mac.
Apple would disagree with that assessment. RAM must be installed in matched pairs but this v.1.1 machine came from Apple with 2 half-g sticks in the first slot pair.
So is what you're saying that it's fine to have an ODD number of GB of RAM? Because I've done that too. It is my understanding thought that you do have to install them in sort of "opposing" pairs-- that is if you install 1GB in slot 1 of the bottom riser, you need to put 1GB in slot 1 of the top riser and so on. I know all this is on the Apple site somewhere.
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Re: Is Mac Pro 2006 too old for DP8?

Post by rickorick »

Here is what happened to me. I have a 1,1 machine that had 4 gigs of ram 2 in the top riser
and 2 in the bottom, I got 4 more in 2 gig apiece, I thought I should put one in the top and one in the bottom but when I did that the new ram didn't show up. So I put both in the top riser and
then they showed up, so now I have 6 gigs in the top riser and 2 in the bottom and it works,
so I think the matched pairs need to be on the same riser.
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Re: Is Mac Pro 2006 too old for DP8?

Post by James Steele »

rickorick wrote:Here is what happened to me. I have a 1,1 machine that had 4 gigs of ram 2 in the top riser
and 2 in the bottom, I got 4 more in 2 gig apiece, I thought I should put one in the top and one in the bottom but when I did that the new ram didn't show up. So I put both in the top riser and
then they showed up, so now I have 6 gigs in the top riser and 2 in the bottom and it works,
so I think the matched pairs need to be on the same riser.
You may be right. Honestly, I was too lazy to go looking for a PDF to answer this question since I no longer use my MacPro 1,1.
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Re: Is Mac Pro 2006 too old for DP8?

Post by mikehalloran »

So is what you're saying that it's fine to have an ODD number of GB of RAM? Because I've done that too. It is my understanding thought that you do have to install them in sort of "opposing" pairs-- that is if you install 1GB in slot 1 of the bottom riser, you need to put 1GB in slot 1 of the top riser and so on. I know all this is on the Apple site somewhere.
Exactly. All Macs that require matched pairs work that way. I never tossed the original pair of 256M sticks from my G5 - it ran with 6.5G of RAM.

On my iMac, there are 4 slots. One of my banks has a pair of 2G sticks while the other has a pair of 8G for a total of 20G.

The exception is if you use 16G sticks on some models, all slots must match. OWC has good info on this.

BTW, if the pairs don't match, neither side will work at all.

If, however, one side of a stick goes bad, the corresponding side on the other stick stops functioning (can also be the riser that holds the stick). Say you have a pair of 2G sticks (4G) and one day you see 2G instead. The profiler will show each stick as being 1G only.

Not all Mac Pros require matched pairs anymore including the nMP. There is evidence to suggest that it is still a good idea, however.
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Re: Is Mac Pro 2006 too old for DP8?

Post by Tomas E »

Ok guys, here comes the memory specs. You tell me if there's something wrong. :)

I've bought the 2 GBs from an Apple retailer with a good reputation.

"Tom" means "empty"
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 1:

Storlek: 512 MB
Typ: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Hastighet: 667 MHz
Status: OK
Tillverkare: 0x80AD
Artikelnummer: 0x48594D5035363441373242503844322D5935
Serienummer: 0x58200410

DIMM Riser A/DIMM 2:

Storlek: 512 MB
Typ: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Hastighet: 667 MHz
Status: OK
Tillverkare: 0x80AD
Artikelnummer: 0x48594D5035363441373242503844322D5935
Serienummer: 0x5820410A

DIMM Riser B/DIMM 1:

Storlek: 2 GB
Typ: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Hastighet: 667 MHz
Status: OK
Tillverkare: 0x830B
Artikelnummer: 0x4D3244324737325455344E4134422D334320
Serienummer: 0xF5530361

DIMM Riser B/DIMM 2:

Storlek: 2 GB
Typ: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Hastighet: 667 MHz
Status: OK
Tillverkare: 0x830B
Artikelnummer: 0x4D3244324737325455344E4134422D334320
Serienummer: 0x03490363

DIMM Riser A/DIMM 3:

Storlek: 2 GB
Typ: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Hastighet: 667 MHz
Status: OK
Tillverkare: 0x830B
Artikelnummer: 0x4D3244324737325455344E4134422D334320
Serienummer: 0xE5A93C43

DIMM Riser A/DIMM 4:

Storlek: 2 GB
Typ: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Hastighet: 667 MHz
Status: OK
Tillverkare: 0x830B
Artikelnummer: 0x4D3244324737325455344E4134422D334320
Serienummer: 0xF8A83C45

DIMM Riser B/DIMM 3:

Storlek: Tom
Typ: Tom
Hastighet: Tom
Status: Tom
Tillverkare: Tom
Artikelnummer: Tom
Serienummer: Tom

DIMM Riser B/DIMM 4:

Storlek: Tom
Typ: Tom
Hastighet: Tom
Status: Tom
Tillverkare: Tom
Artikelnummer: Tom
Serienummer: Tom
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Re: Is Mac Pro 2006 too old for DP8?

Post by Tomas E »

I could of course try removing the 512 MBs and move the ones from riser A DIMM 3 and 4 to those slots. I rarely use all of it. Would that do any harm?
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Re: Is Mac Pro 2006 too old for DP8?

Post by James Steele »

I just found the following info here:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/m ... e-ram.html

RAM Upgrade Instructions


As is printed on the inside of the door of the Mac Pro, FB-DIMMs must be installed in a particular order.

The default configuration shipped with a pair of 512 MB FB-DIMMs installed in the first and second slots (towards the "gold fingers" in the top riser card), which leaves six slots free. The next pair of FB-DIMMs must be installed in the first and second slots of the bottom riser card, the next pair in the remaining slots of the top riser card (slots three and four), and finally the last pair in the last two slots (three and four) of the bottom riser card.
So it looks like you did this exactly the right way. I was wrong in my earlier recollection.
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Re: Is Mac Pro 2006 too old for DP8?

Post by mikehalloran »

e-snobben wrote:I could of course try removing the 512 MBs and move the ones from riser A DIMM 3 and 4 to those slots. I rarely use all of it. Would that do any harm?
No but it probably won't solve the problem.

OTOH, if any of the factory sticks is having thermal overload issues, there it is.

This is best tested when warm by a tool such as TechTool. If you had AppleCare, you have a copy and can update it free at micromat.com
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Re: Is Mac Pro 2006 too old for DP8?

Post by JMVideo »

Hmmm, interesting. I was unaware of Apple's recommendation to leave in the 1GB of factory RAM.

I can only speak from personal experience, but I have a 2006 1,1 Mac and it's been working fine WITHOUT the 2 512MB DIMMS for about 6 years now. I installed 16GB of matched pairs and this machine runs like a champ w/ DP7 through a 424 card out to a 1296.

Prior to this, I had several pieces of un-matched RAM in this machine, and it was click/pop city.
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Re: Is Mac Pro 2006 too old for DP8?

Post by mikehalloran »

I was unaware of Apple's recommendation to leave in the 1GB of factory RAM.
That's not quite what it means. The factory RAM meets all the specs. If you have two spare slots, use it. Apple does recommend that smaller factory RAM occupy the first two slots.

These were known for the fact that inexpensive PC RAM could drop in and work - until it got too hot and caused all sorts of problems.
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Re: Is Mac Pro 2006 too old for DP8?

Post by Tomas E »

mikehalloran wrote:
e-snobben wrote:I could of course try removing the 512 MBs and move the ones from riser A DIMM 3 and 4 to those slots. I rarely use all of it. Would that do any harm?
No but it probably won't solve the problem.

OTOH, if any of the factory sticks is having thermal overload issues, there it is.

This is best tested when warm by a tool such as TechTool. If you had AppleCare, you have a copy and can update it free at micromat.com
Thanks for your advice! I did the 90 minutes memory test with TechTool Pro and they passed.
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Re: Is Mac Pro 2006 too old for DP8?

Post by Tomas E »

Could a discharged battery be the cause? Since I always get the time from the internet I have totally forgotten about replacing it, even though I have had to restart sometimes due to malfunction. I won't be doing any recordings for a while, but the finder seems a bit faster in responding now that I've got a new one. Therefore I came to think of this issue.
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Re: Is Mac Pro 2006 too old for DP8?

Post by mikehalloran »

e-snobben wrote:Could a discharged battery be the cause? Since I always get the time from the internet I have totally forgotten about replacing it, even though I have had to restart sometimes due to malfunction. I won't be doing any recordings for a while, but the finder seems a bit faster in responding now that I've got a new one. Therefore I came to think of this issue.
Possible but a bad battery can cause so many other problems that audio issues aren't usually considered. Fortunately they are easy to replace in a MacPro.

I replace batteries every three years except in iMacs where you have to pull the screen to get to it. I'm thinking of replacing the HD in my iMac with an SSD later this year - I'll make certain that the tech replaces that C2032 battery while he's in there. Cheap insurance.
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