Mac Pro Ram

Chris T · Post by **Chris T** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 3:57 pm

I recently got a new mac Pro 8-core. On which I'll be running DP5, a ton of softsynths, video, Reason in rewire and possibly other programs in rewire.

It came with 4gigs of RAM from Apple. I wanted to add more to this, since I do some very RAM-intensive audio work, running multiple programs at once.

The installed RAM is 4 1Gig chips. Looking at the chips the manufacturer seems to be "hynix".

Can anyone advise on how best to upgrade this machine to say 8gigs - whether I should go with another 4 1Gig chips, or 2 2Gig chips (which will allow for future expansion)?

I heard that it can slow the computer slightly if you mix up ram chip sizes etc.

Any RAM advice would be most welcomed!

cheers

azusa749a · Post by **azusa749a** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 4:27 pm

I always buy from OWC. Good price and nice support.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Mac-Pro-Memory

chucko58 · Post by **chucko58** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 5:57 pm

You may not need any more RAM. The reports I've seen say that 4 GB should be plenty even for video work.

aitikin · Post by **aitikin** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 8:44 pm

I've run into problems with a Quad Core and 2 gigs. I usually go for Crucial when shopping for RAM. I recommend using the same size dimms for all the ram, but it could just be me.

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:05 am

My go to has always been Data Memory Systems:

http://www.datamemorysystems.com/

Good prices, great customer service and a quality product.

Phil

emulatorloo · Post by **emulatorloo** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:26 am

I will second DATA MEMORY SYSTEMS

== good prices
== fast shipping
== they know macs (many vendors do not)
== lifetime warranty on their RAM

I have used them for at least 5 years and have bought RAM for many (many many) macs from them. (I worked in an IT type job for part of this time)

The one time I had a stick go bad they helped me immediately w a replacement.

http://www.datamemorysystems.com/

---

I like OWC too but have stayed away from them for RAM

Why? Difficult to get them on the phone, difficult to get a quick RMA if need.

I buy other stuff from them all the time though. I will probably get Leopard from them for example:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/105LEOP/

--

Bomberstudios · Post by **Bomberstudios** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:22 pm

oops, double post... deleted.

Bomberstudios · Post by **Bomberstudios** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:24 pm

You would want to fill all 4 slots in the bank with identical DIMMs - this will allow for 256 bit wide channels.

Check the "Activity Monitor" panel is OS X, if the memory "page outs" start climbing to 100,000 or higher, you probably need more RAM.

Read up on 8-core Mac Pro's and RAM utilization; there's something about every processor having some min. amount of RAM allocated to it whether or not it's processing a thread(s). That should give some hints to overall minimum amount of RAM needed.

I'd also see if it makes a difference whether the upper & lower banks have different amounts of RAM, for example if the upper is (4) 1 GB sticks and the lower is (4) 2 GB sticks - will that make a difference? I don't know. I'm using (8) 1 GB sticks.

Another vote for Other World Computer, or www.macsolutions.com which I've used alot in the past.