Upgrading Ram - What config to buy.

[NealF]

Hello.
I've got a MacPro QuadCore Intel with 3, 1 gig cards.
I'd like to upgrade to 8 gigs total. I tried looking at the chart at DMS but got a bit confused.

Should I be getting rid of the 3 one gigabit cards? What configuration of cards should I get.

Also, is there much advantage to getting more than 8 gigs of ram. Or will this be just peachy?

Thanks.

[kgdrum]

this might be easier: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

i OWC

[NealF]

Thanks.

Do you know if it makes a big difference in performance to have more than 8 gigs ram? I'm probably going to get 2 4 gig modules and use my original 1 gig to bring it up to 10 gigs.
But if getting 16 or more makes a big difference, that's something I'll consider.

[mikehalloran]

One can debate just how effective more than 8G RAM is in 32bit mode - many threads on the subject. The consensus is that more is better but there are diminishing returns - unless you are a big Photoshop user or edit video then there's no such thing as too much.

In 64bit mode, no debate, more is better as your needs increase. Since 4G modules are the best buy/$, not a bad way to go.

Your plan is sound. 10G for now, purchase more as you need later. You wouldn't be wrong to jump to 18 if you use virtual instruments in DP.

[NealF]

Ah. That was helpful.
I also do a lot of video and art on the computer AND use a lot of VI (although, up till now, not that many live since the G5 couldn't handle it.)

So maybe I should consider getting more than 10 right away.

Thanks for the info.

[Surf Whammy]

When I got my 2.8-GHz 8-core Mac Pro a few years ago, I did a bit of research on memory configurations, and the best information I found is that you want to fill all the available memory slots with matched memory pairs, since this maps to highest bandwidth, because (a) everything is matched and (b) all the slots are filled . . .

If I can find the article, I will post a link to it, but there were a lot of test configurations, and my take on it is that filling all the slots with matched pairs of equally valued memory is important, which makes intuitive sense . . .

So, I got the Other World Computing (OWC) upgrade to 8GB (6x1GB matched pairs), since the Mac Pro was the standard lowest-price configuration from Amazon.com and had 2GB (2x1GB) of memory, so the OWC upgrade was 6GB (6x1GB), which filled all the memory slots . . .

At present, I am running Mac OS X 10.6.8 in 64-bit kernel and extensions mode, and Activity Monitor shows that only 4GB of memory is used most of the time, which in part is due to nearly all the applications being 32-bit, although some of the newer IK Multimedia VST plug-ins are 64-bit . . .

And most of the time the 8 cores are utilized at perhaps 10 to 25 percent, which basically maps to the Mac Pro mostly not doing anywhere near what it is capable of doing, so my perspective at present is that 8GB of memory is plenty for Digital Performer 7.23 with a range of VST plug-ins like the Melodyne Editor (Celemony), TrackPlug 5, MultiDynamics 5, and Panorama 5 (Wave Arts), and ARC System, AmpliTube 3.6, CSR Classik Studio Reverb, and T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe (IK Multimedia) . . .

I use Notion 3 (Notion Music) and all the IK Multimedia virtual instruments and associated sound libraries, which I use to create "basic rhythm sections" that I then record in Digital Performer 7.23 via ReWire as soundbites, where for reference Notion 3 is a 32-bit application . . .

Once I get the "basic rhythm section" working nicely, I record real lead guitar and vocals in Digital Performer 7.23, but everything is based on the Notion 3 music notation foundation, which makes it easy to add additional orchestration later, so even when nothing initially comes to mind for orchestration I create a kick drum track and a piano track in Notion 3 that I use as the "click" track and "reference tuning" track in Digital Performer 7.23 so that all the real instruments and singing are synchronized with the music notation in Notion 3 . . .

This is the current song I am developing, and the instruments were mixed with loudspeaker monitoring after doing the ARC System calibration, but the single vocal track was done with headphones and a headphone mix. The vocal harmony is created by the Harmonator in AmpliTube 3.6, which is set to C Phyrgian, and I cloned the vocal track to create a second vocal track so that I could add more effects to it . . .

"(Baby You Were) Only Dreaming" (The Surf Whammys) -- MP3 (9.2MB, 276-kbps [VBR], approximately 4 minutes and 26 seconds)

Most of the time, I can compose and sing a melody in real-time on the fly on the first take, but there is a lot of instrumental counterpoint in the verses, so I did most of the verses as "melodic speaking", which is interesting as an experiment, but I plan to mute the instrumental counterpoint, which I think will make it easier to do an actual melody for the verses, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous!

[mikehalloran]

OWC talks about this. The Mac Pro can take any configuration you throw into it but the highest performance is achieved by matched pairs of RAM.

This is different than your G5 where matched pairs was the only configuration that worked at all.