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new style ram upgrade problem
I have a strange problem with my 2008 3.2GHz 8-core Mac pro w/ 2GB ram running Leopard. I purchased the new style 4 x 1GB ram upgrade from Kingston. When I install it into dimm slots 2 and 3 on each riser the system profiler only sees 2GB on riser B and nothing on riser A.
If I pull out the ram from dimm slot 3 on each board the profiler sees all that is installed, 4GB. Apple says that the Mac Pro can handle up to 32GB but mine seems to have a limit of 4GB. Am I missing something? Should I have sacrificed a chicken before installing?
I’ve emailed tech support at Kingston to see if they have any suggestions.
cheers,
Greg NosatyCinemontage Productions Inc
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4 Replies
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[Jeremy Garchow] “https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304492 “
That’s not a valid tech article for a 2008 MacPro with new 800 MGHz dimms. Apple has changed the configuration without documenting it very well. Now for some reason when installing six dimms you now have to put 4 sticks on riser A (top) and 2 sticks on riser B (bottom) and voila, 6 GB of ram.
cheers,
Greg NosatyCinemontage Productions Inc
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[Greg Nosaty] “Apple has changed the configuration without documenting it very well. Now for some reason when installing six dimms you now have to put 4 sticks on riser A (top) and 2 sticks on riser B (bottom) and voila, 6 GB of ram.”
From the article:
“To achieve optimal performance when running Final Cut Studio applications, memory DIMM pairs should be installed evenly on both risers.”
And that’s how you would do it in the old Mac Pro. You install the RAM in pairs on each riser. You had it spilt between Riser A and B incorrectly as you said that you had something installed in slot 2 &3, when it should be 1 Gig each in 1&2(A), 1 GIg each in 1&2(B) and 1 gig each in 3&4(A). The MacPro RAM should always be installed in pairs and there’s a weird little diagram right on the MacPro as well. What they are saying in the article is that you should install symmetrical pairs. So instead of 6GB of RAM you should run 4GB (take out 2 Gigs (slots 3&4(A)) or 8 (add two more gigs (slots 3&4(B)). Make sense?
Jeremy
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[Jeremy Garchow] “So instead of 6GB of RAM you should run 4GB (take out 2 Gigs (slots 3&4(A)) or 8 (add two more gigs (slots 3&4(B)). Make sense? “
No, it doesn’t make sense! Symmetrical pairs means, in my opinion, one stick on A and one stick on B. NOT 4 on A and 2 on B but that’s what works indeed.
But none of this matters because the article you quoted was dated in 2007. The 2008 dimms are different beasts and require consumers to wait longer, pay more money and jump through flaming hoops while reading the new blogs, forums, discussions, chats and eventually the new manuals before they get what they paid for!
cheers,
Greg NosatyCinemontage Productions Inc
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