RAM for new MacPro

[Jeremy Allen]

I know this is a little off topic for this forum, but I know several of you are using MacPro’s so maybe you can help.

I just received my new 8core MacPro today and I’m looking for additional RAM. I found some on Newegg at a great price but I’m not sure if it will work or not..

RAM link on newegg

the specs for the Apple supplied RAM are:
800 MHz DDR2 fully buffered ECC
FB – DIMM slots.

So does that mean I can’t use a 667MHz stick, or will it just be a bit slower? Anybody know where to get a good deal on RAM for the new 8core MacPro’s?

[Ron Lindeboom]

Get great deals on Mac RAM at Other World Computing, found online at…

https://www.owcomputing.com

Best,

Ron Lindeboom

[Kevin Camp]

[Jeremy Allen] “does that mean I can’t use a 667MHz stick, or will it just be a bit slower?”

you can use the older 667mhz ram in a new macpro, but it will lower the whole bus to 667mhz, so any 800mhz ram you have will operate at 667mhz too…

also note that you should add ram to each riser that the matches the size of the ram in the respective slot on the other riser…. did that make sense..??

here are your slots and risers:

riser a: slot 1
riser a: slot 2
riser a: slot 3
riser a: slot 4
riser b: slot 1
riser b: slot 2
riser b: slot 3
riser b: slot 4

the ram sticks in a1 & a2 (or a3 & a4, or b1 & b2, etc.) need to be matched pairs (they will need to denote this when purchasing). but if you add ram to your mac, to get the best performance, you want to add the same size ram sticks to b1 & b2.

so if the system came with 2x1gb sticks in a1 & a2 you would want to add 2x1gb sticks to b1 & b2 to get the performance benefits of interleaving. now say you want to get more ram and bigger sticks but don’t want to toss your original ram. you could add 4x2gb sticks to a1, a2, b1 and b2, then bump your original 2x1gb sticks to slots a3 & a4.

if you really wanted to get the best performance from your mac, filling all slots is advisable (you can check out benchmarks at barefeats.com), but there is nothing wrong with installing in smaller increments as long as you keep the above upgrading system in mind.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Jeremy Allen]

Thanks for the link Ron, and special thanks to Kevin for the breakdown. It always amazes me when people go out of their way to help a complete stranger 🙂 I’ve been reading this board for years and I only wish I had more time to help with other’s questions.

Kevin, just so I’m completely clear on this… A1 & A2 need to match and B1 & B2 need to mirror that setup, right?

And in your scenario, if I bumped the originals to A3 & A4, would I need to buy another 2x1GB pair for B3 & B4? I know that would be optimal, but could I get by until I could afford 4 more 2 GB sticks and replace the originals all together?

[Jeremy Allen]

Couple more questions…

If I buy this RAM Package, 8GB (4x2GB) for a total of 10GB (with original 2GB installed) will that produce any problems? That would leave me with 2 empty slots for a while.

8 GB package

Or should I just go ahead and get 12GB (6x2GB) so that all of my slots would be filled?

12GB package

[Jeremy Allen]

Just wanted to wrap this up by saying I went with the 8GB package from OWC. Shipping was extremely fast, ordered around 7pm (selected overnight) and it was here by about 9am this morning. I installed the new DIMMs per Kevin’s suggestions and everything seems to be running fine so far. I’m still on my G5 for now, but I’ll be switching em out later today and I can’t wait to put it to the test!

Thanks again for the OWC link Ron. They were a pleasure to deal with and very thorough with packaging and instructions.

[Kevin Camp]

sorry i was out early yesterday so i didn’t see your posts, but i wanted to let you know that your 8gb (4x2gb) setup is good, and it is the way i would have done it. it should give you ample ram for now and still give you room to grow if you find you need to….

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Jeremy Allen]

Thanks again Kevin.