Mixing Ram brands in MAC Pro

[Mark Maness]

Definitely NOT recommended! This will cause serious issues with FCP. RAM is cheap. Buy same sizes from same manufacturer.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com

[Chris Linke]

Wayne, could you clarify your statement? What precisely is “not recommended”? The buying of non-Mac RAM?

Chris Linke
PRC Digital Media
http://www.prcdigital.com

[Bj Ahlen]

There is absolutely no problem whatsoever mixing Apple RAM with good quality, in-spec RAM from for example OWC, as long as you do it the right way.

Here’s how Apple says to do it for an original or 8-core Mac Pro.

(I expect they have the same how-to for the late-2010 Mac Pro also.)

This has worked flawlessly for me (and many others) for years, and I saved a ton of money compared to getting it all from Cupertino.

[Scott Sheriff]

I’m going to disagree with Wayne on this one.
Depends on where you buy it.
MAC doesn’t make the RAM sticks, they buy then from a vendor. Actually several vendors. This is a common practice in electronics mfg.
So if you get the same spec memory stick, from a reliable vendor, your probably fine. Some 3rd party retailers may be selling ‘B’ stock, or non-spec knock-offs, so you need to do your homework.
It is just a myth that these components are somehow ‘matched’ to your machine, or your computer will ‘know’ if they are not OEM. The computer will know the mfg, which is burnt into the chips, but it will not reject the memory, as long as it is in spec, since Apple doesn’t know what vendors product is going in what machine.
At around 180% mark-up over 3rd party vendors, this is a myth that Apple has an interest in keeping alive. Look at the new Macs. 32GB from Apple-$3,500, 32GB from OWC-$1279.
The 2 memory sticks that came with my octo, from Mac, had an Apple sticker on them, and looked identical. But had different mfg numbers, when you looked in the sys profiler, which means they came from different mfg.
A friend bought an octo (same series) about 8 months after I did, and both her factory memory sticks matched in the sys profiler, but they were different mfg numbers from either of mine from Apple.
I have had no problems with OWC memory sticks. The heat sink, edge, hold down tab, everything is identical to Mac. When checked on the sys profiler, I have 8x2GB sticks, with 3 different mfg numbers. Three of my OWC sticks matched what came with my OEM, and the other three matched my friends OEM memory.
Anecdotally, it would seem that there are 3 mfg’s of qualified memory, at least in the 2GB config for ’08 octo cores.
Having matching size sticks in all the slots, or if you can’t fill them all, having them in the proper slots is a lot more important, than where they came from.

Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com

[Mark Maness]

Now, I never said anything about buying all of you memory from Apple. But mixing 512 with 1 or 2 gig bars from different manufacturers will cause render issues, sluggishness, the dreaded “Gerneral Error” message that is seen sometimes and overall weirdness within FCP only.

This fact. Do a search on Apple support site for optimal RAM specs for FCP. Apple would not realase a tech bulletin for fun.

By the way, when I’m talking buying RAM, ONLY buy from buy from certified Mac dealers such as Macmall so you get the correctly spec’d RAM for your system.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com

[Scott Sheriff]

Wayne,
My bad. I didn’t get the mixing sizes from your post. Which I agree with. I thought you were saying to use only Apple sticks, and not mix mfg. There seems to be this constant rumor that ‘Apple’ sticks somehow either deliver better performance, or that other MFG will cause errors. I know there are some knock-offs that have insufficiency heat sinks, and perhaps this is the basis for this thinking.

Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com

[Richard Cooper]

So it sounds to me like mixing brands, as long as they are to “spec” and good quality brands is OK…. but definitely stay away from mixing RAM “sizes”. i.e mixing a 2 gig stick with 1 gig sticks.

Thanks for the info everyone. I will pass it on.

Richard Cooper
FrostLine Productions, LLC
Anchorage, Alaska
http://www.frostlineproductions.com

[Don Walker]

When I bought my MacPro, I bought 8 gigs of Ram from Crucial. I took out the 2gig that Apple put in, and put one 4gig in slot 1 Riser A, and another 4 gig in slot 1 Riser B. According to the Apple paper I did this wrong…… right? Do both sticks need to go into Riser A.?

If after getting my 8 gigs right, I decided to put my “Apple” 1 gig sticks back in the machine giving it 10 gigs, I would be asking for trouble……. right?

don walker
Texarkana Texas

John 3:16

[Bj Ahlen]

Read the Apple support document I linked to above.

Apple says that pairs have to match, other than that you can mix manufacturers and sizes [as long as the specs are fulfilled].

I did just that, adding 4x2GB sticks from OWC to the 2x1GB sticks that came with my Mac Pro.

This has worked perfectly for two years so far, and others have had the same experience.

There is no surprise here, as Apple explicitly says this is OK.

Just read what Apple says for your particular version of Mac Pro.

[Mark Maness]

Still, its more than like going to catch up with you some day at the worst time. You’ll loose RT and your render files will mysteriously disappear.

Just ask others… FCP works much better in consistent sizes like 4,8,12,16,32 gigs. Anything else may look like it works but filters will have odd behaviours and RT will most likely work barely. Some days everything will be fine. It can cause these odd errors that pop-up from time to time.

My best suggestion is to replace the Apple RAM with someone whose properly spec’d for your particular Mac. It can be from Crucial, Kensington, any konwn brand name. AND the must be of the same sizing. This really has an effect when working with XDCAM HD and ProRes422.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com