How to buy RAM for my new Mac Pro

Tritonemusic · Post by **Tritonemusic** » Fri May 23, 2008 4:53 pm

Hey, NERDS!

So here's the deal...

I have a new 8-core Mac Pro 2.8. I currently have four 1 GB memory sticks (total of 4 GB RAM). I would like to add at LEAST another 4 GB.

I know that Mac Pros should have matched pairs.

I'd like to get your views and opinions.

Here is a recent email I received from someone with Datamem.com (DMS). Great company, by the way.

Our belief is that it is better to have more RAM than to have matched sets of 4. The machine seems to run faster with more RAM rather than the 256-bit wide memory architecture

I can't really afford to spend too much more on RAM. Does anyone have a recommendation on how to approach my next purchase? Man, I hope this makes sense.

Thanks for your time!

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Fri May 23, 2008 9:07 pm

Hey Six:

Hobbit nerd chiming in here...

I had some serious pondering to do when I got my Quad 3G. Long story short, I opted off the bat to go with 4 x 2GB sticks just so that I could upgrade to the max 16GB later on as it made sense to do so.

I would wonder on an 8 Core that I'd go with 1GB sticks to max it out at 8GB, then to later have to swap out for 2GB or even 4GB sticks should that be the eventual plan, but that's strictly a matter of how one wants to upgrade.

As for performance, the Intels definitely run better with more than 4GB on larger projects-- meaning those projects with lots of VIs and convolutions involved. We're way past the point where 48 tracks of audio should be a concern at all with the newer machines, if that's how some define what a "larger project is". Magic Dave calls 6GB "luxurious" for DP-- but for me there's so much more involved than *just* DP-- another long story.

Some talk about running large projects on older machines, but I doubt they were running @ 24/96, for example. Nor could they have run many instances of something like Altiverb on a machine that held 2GB or less. Times have changed.

Before I go further with RAM, I want to see if DP6 uses memory more efficiently/effectively than DP5 seems to. I also want to continue observations with how virtual memory swaps pages in and out in DP6. A 32-bit app can access 4GB, according to MOTU (2.5-3GB, according to others). But the page swapping and streaming seem to be less volatile with 6-8GB installed.

Some other places to shop:

http://www.datamemorysystems.com/apple-memory.asp

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/

http://www.crucial.com/index.aspx?gclid ... 0524040720

Tritonemusic · Post by **Tritonemusic** » Sat May 24, 2008 1:30 pm

Thanks so much for your time, Frodo. I really appreciate it. I still don't know what I'll do...I think I'll wait a month (to get more funds) and buy more RAM, as opposed to less. When I figure it all out, I'll post back, in case you're interested. Thanks again, man!

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sat May 24, 2008 4:02 pm

Yeah, 6. Be sure to post an update when you get it figured out. It's a real ordeal that catches many by surprise. There are different approaches to dong this, and mine is only one of them. You might discover another approach for your purposes which will most likely help someone else down the road.

It's really odd, these 8-Cores. We're only partially informed on the entire multi core functionality thingy. Some of that has to do with whether or not software is truly optimized for these CPUs. We don't know if/how developers are cutting corners to make their software work-- if something is truly running native or tapping into Rosetta as a stop gap, etc. It makes it hard to determine what's really best for the machine before one even gets to the point when they can determine what's best for their own workflow or their wallets!

Good luck with it!