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128 GB of RAM in new Mac Pro late 2013

mward333

mward333

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 24, 2004
575
34
I'm still on the lookout for a 128 GB configuration of RAM for the new Mac Pro but no luck so far. The only RAM I've seen that looks close are these:

http://www.pc-wholesale.com/46w0761.html

http://h30094.www3.hp.com/product.aspx?sku=10724005&mfg_part=708643-S21

I've talked to both companies, and I also talked to a Senior Engineer at Apple, but nobody will say whether these (or any other config) will work in the new Mac Pro. If I'm going to order 4 sticks of 32 GB of RAM, I would love someone to either (1) verify that they have tested it in the new Mac Pro and it works, or (2) to allow me to return the RAM without a restock fee.

I've checked all of the usual places on the web for buying RAM, e.g., Crucial, NewEgg, OWC/Macsales, Ramjet, etc. I've also looked directly at many manufacturers' webpages. If anyone out there can provide some advice, I am willing to listen. I think I might have to just wait a couple more months until the RAM at this spec goes into higher levels of production and gets tested on the new Mac Pro.

There is one place that looks very promising:
http://macramdirect.com/macpro.html
and they have a 128 GB configuration listed for the late 2013 Mac Pro, but they said that they are still testing it extensively, and it will be ready, perhaps, in March 2014.

Any other suggestions? Thank you.
P.S. Everyone asks why so much RAM. I'm a scientist who does a lot of symbolic computing, and I can utilize this much RAM in a single-threaded computation that does not distribute well over a cluster of nodes.
 
Interesting. I heard owc is also doing some testing. I think the cost of these ram would be prohibitive for many. By the way, do u really need mac for your research? I am asking this because there are better options in the pc world that can accommodate 128gb+ ram
 
ozbimmer said:
Interesting. I heard owc is also doing some testing. I think the cost of these ram would be prohibitive for many. By the way, do u really need mac for your research? I am asking this because there are better options in the pc world that can accommodate 128gb+ ram
Click to expand...

Sure, I could buy a PC or even something rack-mounted, or even some nodes in a much large cluster at our university. However, this Mac is part of a federal grant that involved undergraduates who are using Macs and doing some large data analysis. So, in short, yes, we really want it to be a Mac.
 
mward333 said:
P.S. Everyone asks why so much RAM. I'm a scientist who does a lot of symbolic computing, and I can utilize this much RAM in a single-threaded computation that does not distribute well over a cluster of nodes.
Click to expand...
No suggestions, but I love that you are able to use up this much RAM. You aren't messing around here.
 
iMerik said:
No suggestions, but I love that you are able to use up this much RAM. You aren't messing around here.
Click to expand...

You are right! Last summer, one of our IT guys setup a large machine (128 GB? 256 GB? Can't recall....) just for me and one of my students to run some computations that required similar amounts of RAM.

Back in early 2007 when I bought a machine with 16 GB of RAM, everyone thought I was crazy, but I was already toying with getting 32 GB of RAM at that time.... but the price was astronomically high. So I settled for 16 GB back then, and it was a lot.
 
iizmoo said:
You can get 768GB with one of these

http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C600/X9DRE-TF_.cfm

Yeah, it's technically 1.5TB, but I haven't seen 64GB sticks yet...

If you put OSX in it, does that count as a mac? Or does the grant mention you have to buy it as a whole machine?

What about buying a mini and the take the ssd out and put it into that thing?
Click to expand...

Wow! Thanks for the suggestion.

I think I could not convince my department or the granting agency to do something like putting Mac OS X 10.9 on a machine that is not technically a Mac. That would raise some eyebrows! I.e., I cannot create a Hackintosh for my grant.
 
motegi said:
what is the max ram allowed for the nMP?
Click to expand...

Apple only sells it in configurations up to 64 GB, but Apple does have documentation that states Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) can use 128 GB of RAM, and based on my discussions with Apple, I do not think anything on the logic board would prevent 128 GB from being recognized in the new Mac Pro, but of course Apple does not state that latter part officially.
 
motegi said:
what is the max ram allowed for the nMP?
Click to expand...

Apple support 64GB which is probably all they cared to test. 256GB probably works on the machine with 4x64GB, Mavericks supports 128GB so 4x32GB will probably work in OS X. Just have to wait for people to test it. 32GB 1866MHz DIMMs aren't flooding in to retail channels either although they are available and you can get 1333MHz and 1600MHz ones cheaper.
 
Umbongo said:
Apple support 64GB which is probably all they cared to test. 256GB probably works on the machine with 4x64GB, Mavericks supports 128GB so 4x32GB will probably work in OS X. Just have to wait for people to test it. 32GB 1866MHz DIMMs aren't flooding in to retail channels either although they are available and you can get 1333MHz and 1600MHz ones cheaper.
Click to expand...

I'd love to know who is selling 32 GB RAM sticks at 1866MHz that have the same specs as for the new Mac Pro. You said "they are available". Do you have a suggested place to buy them? I posted (in my first post in this thread) the only places I had found. Your suggestions would be welcome!!
 
I suggest you look at the Mac Pro 5,1 as an option instead of the new Mac Pro.

That model has two processor sockets and 8 memory slots.
 
Pressure said:
I suggest you look at the Mac Pro 5,1 as an option instead of the new Mac Pro.

That model has two processor sockets and 8 memory slots.
Click to expand...

If you can manage to get some refurbished Mac Pro 5,1 then I think it's a good option.
 
mward333 said:
I'd love to know who is selling 32 GB RAM sticks at 1866MHz that have the same specs as for the new Mac Pro. You said "they are available". Do you have a suggested place to buy them? I posted (in my first post in this thread) the only places I had found. Your suggestions would be welcome!!
Click to expand...

You found the best price, from what I've seen, with the HP one. I would think the big three are mostly supplying Dell and HP at the moment rather than pushing retail parts. Maybe wait a month or so and se if someone has tested it and the prices have come down to around $600.

The Samsung part number is M386B4G70BM0-CMA with the number 1, 3 or 4 after it depending on the memory buffer the module is using, although you may not find it included on product pages as they may not be able to guarantee you get a specific one.

The Micron part number is MT72JSZS4G72LZ-1G9

The Hynix part number's are HMT84GL7AMR4A-PB (1.5v) and HMT84GL7AMR4C-PB (1.35v)

beaker7 posted this in another thread: http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=3C5D5610A5CA7304
 
Last edited:
ozbimmer said:
If you can manage to get some refurbished Mac Pro 5,1 then I think it's a good option.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the suggestion! Indeed, I thought a lot about buying a refurbished Mac Pro 5,1 because it has 8 slots (not 4) and 2 slots (not 1) for processors.

----------
Umbongo said:
You found the best price, from what I've seen, with the HP one. I would think the big three are mostly supplying Dell and HP at the moment rather than pushing retail parts. Maybe wait a month or so and se if someone has tested it and the prices have come down to around $600.

The Samsung part number is M386B4G70BM0-CMA with the number 1, 3 or 4 after it depending on the memory buffer the module is using, although you may not find it included on product pages as they may not be able to guarantee you get a specific one.

The Micron part number is MT72JSZS4G72LZ-1G9

The Hynix part number's are HMT84GL7AMR4A-PB (1.5v) and HMT84GL7AMR4C-PB (1.35v)

beaker7 posted this in another thread: http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=3C5D5610A5CA7304
Click to expand...

Umbongo, this is the most helpful post I have read in a very long time. Thank you for your kind reply! I do plan to follow your advice, i.e., I will wait about 1 more month, see if anybody has verified that 64 GB (total) is recognized in the new Mac Pros, and then make my purchase. I've contacted these manufacturers already, but I didn't know any of these part numbers. Thank you again for your helpful information! You did your "good deed" for the day. :) :) Best wishes!
 
Does it make any sense to order a single 32 GB stick and see if it is recognized by the nMP? That would certainly be a small restocking fee.

It also seems like ppl with the MP 5,1's should be able to speak to if 10.9 recognizes 128 GB, since 8x16 is more pedestrian than 4x32.. I know 96 GB is recognized.
 
wesk702 said:
Lol, for that cost why not just buy another nMP? 4K for a 128gigs?
Click to expand...

It's going to realistically be $1,800 to get 128GB instead of 64GB on a 2013 Mac when prices settle in. Not really that obscene if it helps you be more productive. 4GB DIMMs were this price level in 2006.
 
spaz8 said:
Does it make any sense to order a single 32 GB stick and see if it is recognized by the nMP? That would certainly be a small restocking fee.

It also seems like ppl with the MP 5,1's should be able to speak to if 10.9 recognizes 128 GB, since 8x16 is more pedestrian than 4x32.. I know 96 GB is recognized.
Click to expand...

It is known (from Apple documentation) that 10.9 does recognize 128 GB of RAM. I do not have the link handy, but I found this in some Apple documentation. Moreover, it has been achieved in practice by some people on this forum:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1636692/

Here is also some info from MacSales/OWC:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Mac-Pro-Memory#1333-memory/?utm_source=diglloyd-mpg

----------
Umbongo said:
It's going to realistically be $1,800 to get 128GB instead of 64GB on a 2013 Mac when prices settle in. Not really that obscene if it helps you be more productive. 4GB DIMMs were this price level in 2006.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's really not TOO expensive (relatively speaking). Agreed!
 
Good find!!

Apple OSX Mavericks PDF said:
With its 64-bit kernel, OS X is able to address large amounts of physical RAM. OS X Mavericks has been tested to support up to 128GB of physical RAM on qualified Mac computers.
Click to expand...
 
bcuzawd said:
Good find!!
Click to expand...

I can't take the credit for finding this. One of my colleagues (I cannot remember who) pointed me toward this document.

I'm still on the search for someone who will sell me 4 sticks of 32 GB of RAM (for a total of 128 GB) that they have tested in the new Mac Pro. If anyone knows of such a vendor, I am ready to pounce. All input/suggestions are welcome!
 
Your best bet is probably OWC or macramdirect, ask OWC why they don't have it, are they going to etc or pressure macramdirect. Crucial might be another one, if you can talk to an engineer and get them to try. They are perhaps too big to push un-Apple supported parts though.
 
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