64GB RAM in 2006 Mac Pro (2,1)

[EmlynDewar]

I use the above configuration in mine, 8 x 4gb Crucial sticks I'd pulled from an old server, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Glad to have seen this thread, as I've been looking for a PCI-e adapter for an M2 SSD.
Lycom DT120 will have to be purchased.

 

[mani girafe]

if you want some memory 8 / 16 / 32 gigas memory kit for MAC 1,1 / 2,1 , i have a lot of bank

 

[outatime]

...

 

[Pballer]

I just upgraded my Mac Pro1,1 to 2,1. Will this ram work?
64GB 8x 8GB PC2-5300F FB DIMM 667MHz

 

[CapnDavey]

I just upgraded my Mac Pro1,1 to 2,1. Will this ram work?
64GB 8x 8GB PC2-5300F FB DIMM 667MHz

yes but it will run hotter then ram with large heat sinks

 

[grooby]

I saw an individual who pulled the heatsinks off of his original 667MHz FB DIMMS to reapply the thermal paste. Makes me think if you have the correct speed and spec RAM one could surmise that just swapping the heatsinks from Apple certified DIMMS to non certified DIMMs you would have the same results. I'm guessing the folks who as selling the 8GB FB DIMMs with the correct heatsinks have done just that.

I did this when I was upgrading my rams to 32GB. Bought the RAMs off eBay, swap the heat sinks, re-insert back to the tray. So far so good.

 

[weckart]

I did this when I was upgrading my rams to 32GB. Bought the RAMs off eBay, swap the heat sinks, re-insert back to the tray. So far so good.

I did the same using fresh thermal pads on the chips but the original Apple heatsinks weren't a good fit, only partly covering the 2 rows of chips on either side. A bit of a messy job. I got fed up at the end and just inserted the last RAM stick with its skinny heatspreader. Not a massive difference in temps after all that as FB-DIMMs just run hot regardless.

 

[SamirPD]

There was a company at one point that was selling just heatsinks for the ram.

I've noticed the heatspreader design even on the non-apple ram can have differences in temperature. I saw at least 5C difference between the two different designs when testing fbdimms in my Dell PowerEdge 2950. Something to consider if temperature/noise is an issue.

 

[jonwatso]

I thought I would write a quick update for people who are curious about upgrading to 64GB of Ram in these wonderful old machines. I ended up going with Samsung Ram (same specs as mentioned above) as they seemed to be slightly better built.

The machine runs great, but like others have stated there is no real benefit for adding this much ram, 32GB is more than enough. The ram runs at about 80 Degrees Celsius 24/7 however it doesn't seem to cause the ram any harm. No Dimm errors when rebooting whilst the ram is hot (I had this issue with the 32GB ram I had installed where I would get dim errors and only some of the ram would be detected).

 

[SamirPD]

I thought I would write a quick update for people who are curious about upgrading to 64GB of Ram in these wonderful old machines. I ended up going with Samsung Ram (same specs as mentioned above) as they seemed to be slightly better built.

The machine runs great, but like others have stated there is no real benefit for adding this much ram, 32GB is more than enough. The ram runs at about 80 Degrees Celsius 24/7 however it doesn't seem to cause the ram any harm. No Dimm errors when rebooting whilst the ram is hot (I had this issue with the 32GB ram I had installed where I would get dim errors and only some of the ram would be detected).

This is really great to hear.

In my experiments with Samsung and Micron heatspreader designs with 4gb memory in my Dell PowerEdge 2950, the Samsung ran noticeably cooler; so it doesn't surprise me that it works well in the MacPro even without the genuine Apple heatspreaders. And those temps sound about right too as FBDIMMs run quite hot compared to any other type of memory--don't try to pull them out after any intense work or you'll burn yourself!

 

[arkieboy72472]

Just to show you all where we are at in 2019, look at OP's prices and do a search now. They are almost a third of the price they were. Not bad, though I have no idea what to do with 64GB of ram. You could install windows 10 pro and run a half dozen VM's I guess

 

[ssgbryan]

Or you can have a number of applications open at the same time and never get memory constrained. I am at 96Gb myself - when my system fires up in the morning, I'll have a dozen or so apps opened and option-tab between them as needed.

 

[pullman]

I tried server RAM in my cMP3,1 and it caused fans to run extremely fast and loud.

Does that also happen with server RAM in a 1,1/2,1? I have one that I will use as an always-on home server and want it to run cool.

 

[mani girafe]

 

[Itsreeselol]

2006 Mac Pro (MacPro1,1)
Flushed to 2,1 firmware
Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 [Purchased January 2, 2014 for $468]
Two Xeon X5355’s [Purchased February 25, 2014 for $45]
--> Upgraded to Xeon X5365's [Purchased November 12, 2015 for $90]
Macosxbootloader v3.1
OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
64GB RAM (8 x 8GB) [Purchased November 18, 2015 for $199]
- - - - -

Caution:
The type of DIMM that works in 2006 Mac Pro is PC2-5300F 2Rx4 FB-DIMM ECC.
(1) The F after 5300 (or FB in FB-DIMM) means that the module is Fully Buffered.
(2) DO NOT get PC2-5300P DIMM’s. These parity modules are incompatible with MacPro1,1; both physically and electrically.

On eBay, use a search string like "64GB (8x8GB) PC2-5300F FB-DIMM”. I just did (November 21, 2015), and $176 is the lowest price at which you can get 64GB right at this moment.
Here are the search results.

How did you get El Capitan on it??

 

[Macschrauber]

How did you get El Capitan on it??

2006/2007 Mac Pro (1,1/2,1) and OS X El Capitan