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8 Gb RAM in SR MBP?

iToaster

iToaster

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 3, 2007
1,742
0
In front of my MacBook Pro
I know this has been asked before, but when manufacturers begin spitting out 4Gb chips and such (they don't now, but correct me if I'm wrong), my MBP will be able to address and use all 8 of these Gbs, right? Also, with 8Gbs of RAM this puppy will be a beast wont it?
 
iToaster said:
I know this has been asked before, but when manufacturers begin spitting out 4Gb chips and such (they don't now, but correct me if I'm wrong), my MBP will be able to address and use all 8 of these Gbs, right? Also, with 8Gbs of RAM this puppy will be a beast wont it?
Click to expand...

I doubt it. I would be surprised if the SR MBP could ever address more than the current 4GB maximum.
 
Ah yes, but I read somewhere that the SR chip set could address 8Gbs of RAM, but it's not advertised because nobody makes a 4Gb laptop chip yet. However, this question popped up when I wondered if there might be something in the way Apple constructs the MBP (if they mess with anything). Either way, if it does, I'll get a pair when they're available.
 
iToaster said:
I know this has been asked before, but when manufacturers begin spitting out 4Gb chips and such (they don't now, but correct me if I'm wrong), my MBP will be able to address and use all 8 of these Gbs, right? Also, with 8Gbs of RAM this puppy will be a beast wont it?
Click to expand...

There will never be 4gb memory modules. We will be seeing DDR3 modules soon and what is probably going to happen is DDR2 modules will cease.

You won't see much improvements beyond 2gb really, speaking as someone who got 4gb and am wondering what the fuss is all about. It is like putting 2gb of memory onto a 486-DX.
 
iW00t said:
There will never be 4gb memory modules. We will be seeing DDR3 modules soon and what is probably going to happen is DDR2 modules will cease.

You won't see much improvements beyond 2gb really, speaking as someone who got 4gb and am wondering what the fuss is all about. It is like putting 2gb of memory onto a 486-DX.
Click to expand...

Or not. Oh well... what would happen if I put a DDR3 module in it?
 
it would be like trying to stick a square peg into a round hole. it wouldnt work.

what the heck do you need 8gb ram for anyways? or are you just trying to max it out just for the hell of it? chances are, even if it COULD address 8gb, you'd never ever be able to use it all.
 
I think Aperture could use four, and Azureus could use two and VMWare Fusion would like the other two :)

Yes, I want eight!!!
 
Isn't it also a matter of whether the motherboard/mainboard (whichever you want to call it) can handle that amount of RAM?
 
Osarkon said:
Isn't it also a matter of whether the motherboard/mainboard (whichever you want to call it) can handle that amount of RAM?
Click to expand...

We know that this motherboard uses the memory controller called 'Santa Rosa' and that Intel has said that Santa Rosa is capable of using 8GB. We dont know if theyre going to fit in the slots, or be restricted by any other means. We dont know if theyll work, and no one has yet manufactured any! This is possibly the reason Apple has said that our laptops can only use 4GB.
 
iToaster said:
I know this has been asked before, but when manufacturers begin spitting out 4Gb chips and such (they don't now, but correct me if I'm wrong), my MBP will be able to address and use all 8 of these Gbs, right? Also, with 8Gbs of RAM this puppy will be a beast wont it?
Click to expand...

There is no reason why this should not work. By the time 4GB chips are possible (please write GB = GigaByte and not Gb = Gigabit), there will be huge amounts of 64 bit systems around, so surely manufacturers will make those 4GB chips compatible with current designs to make money.

The Santa Rosa platform has no restriction to 4GB total, and it can handle chips of different sizes, so there is no reason why it shouldn't handle two 4GB chips.
 
iW00t said:
You won't see much improvements beyond 2gb really, speaking as someone who got 4gb and am wondering what the fuss is all about. It is like putting 2gb of memory onto a 486-DX.
Click to expand...

Are you joking?

2GBs of RAM is the bare minimum for doing anything useful. I should know, that is all I have and I struggle sometimes using Final Cut Studio (especially with Motion).
 
I'm holding out for 4 cores and 32GB of RAM in an iMac. It will be sooner than we think (even if it isn't today).
 
You won't see a difference unless you actually utilize a lot of GB's. Like if you have a 2GB RAM comp and you only use 1Gb it's the same as having an 8Gb Comp and using 1Gb. It's just that theres more available
 
Zel said:
We dont know if theyll work, and no one has yet manufactured any! This is possibly the reason Apple has said that our laptops can only use 4GB.
Click to expand...

Intel has stated that, when 4gig chips become available, they should work. However, since they don't exist, they couldn't test them yet, so they left it at 4gigs max, not 8.
 
I can see needing more ram for 3d intensive rendering (such as I do sometimes for architectural projects) hence why 2GB is really the minimum for a pro machine (our school computers get bogged down running just sketchup or autocad 2006 and they have pentium Ds [3.4ghz iirc] and 2gb of ram) 4GB is definitely preferable to help out the machine as much as possible, 8 would be a dream:D
 
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