Before i order a Macpro....

[^squirrel^]

Hi all,

I'm finally ditching my gaming pc and getting a Macpro. The parts im was going to upgrade were the GPU to the X1900XT and add Bluetooth and Wireless.

I have seen some post where peope have advised they should include 2gb of ram. All i'm going to use the machine for is gaming in XP and in OSX i'll be using iPhoto, iTunes and a little bit of iMovie. I was thinking of getting it with just 1gb and then see how it goes?

But.....then i see a post that crucial have pulled their ram for the Macpro. I'm sure it'll appear again and i hope it will be cheaper than what Apple are charging for 2gb (£200 extra).

Well before i order what do you think all?

Many thanks

Darren

 

[BlizzardBomb]

Well if you can afford it 2GB would be better.

 

[omfgninja]

I cant recite the exact technical details off the top of my head, but using 4 sticks of ram in there (2 gigs = 4 x 512 Sticks) actualy inceases the speed of the memory.
By adding in an extra gig you effectively double the memory bandwith. This will definetly be noticeable in alot of applications, especialy games.
If you cant afford it now, you could always add thouse 2 extra sticks later.

 

[^squirrel^]

I cant recite the exact technical details off the top of my head, but using 4 sticks of ram in there (2 gigs = 4 x 512 Sticks) actualy inceases the speed of the memory.
By adding in an extra gig you effectively double the memory bandwith. This will definetly be noticeable in alot of applications, especialy games.
If you cant afford it now, you could always add thouse 2 extra sticks later.

Well i think i could make do with 1gb for now. But does anyone know when Crucial or any other manufacturers will start selling memory for the Macpro. I'm sure it will be cheaper than Apple.

 

[BlizzardBomb]

I cant recite the exact technical details off the top of my head, but using 4 sticks of ram in there (2 gigs = 4 x 512 Sticks) actualy inceases the speed of the memory.
By adding in an extra gig you effectively double the memory bandwith. This will definetly be noticeable in alot of applications, especialy games.
If you cant afford it now, you could always add thouse 2 extra sticks later.

At first I didn't believe you but then...

Mac Pro uses 667MHz DDR2 fully buffered ECC memory, a new industry-standard memory technology that allows for more memory capacity, higher speeds, and better reliability. To take full advantage of the 256-bit wide memory architecture, four or more FB-DIMMs should be installed in Mac Pro.

I see. Whether this is marketing crap to get you to buy more RAM or fact...

 

[cjkihlbom]

I see. Whether this is marketing crap to get you to buy more RAM or fact...

It's fact. The Mac Pro has 4 memory channels, so if you only have 2 memory sticks you're only using half its memory bandwidth. So definitely get 4.

 

[CANEHDN]

Do it. You will regret it if you don't. I've seen a lot of threads where people see poor performance because they've used less than the 2GB.

 

[Willis]

i'd hold off and wait for apple to release BootCamp drivers for the MacPro so you can run XP.

Its a bit tricky at the moment to use it properly

 

[Shadow]

Get as much as you can afford. Its what I did with my MacBook-I got a 1.83GHz with 2GB RAM, instead of 2GHz with 1GB. It owns.

 

[CyberDoberman]

Hi all,

I'm finally ditching my gaming pc and getting a Macpro. The parts im was going to upgrade were the GPU to the X1900XT and add Bluetooth and Wireless.

I have seen some post where peope have advised they should include 2gb of ram. All i'm going to use the machine for is gaming in XP and in OSX i'll be using iPhoto, iTunes and a little bit of iMovie. I was thinking of getting it with just 1gb and then see how it goes?

But.....then i see a post that crucial have pulled their ram for the Macpro. I'm sure it'll appear again and i hope it will be cheaper than what Apple are charging for 2gb (£200 extra).

Well before i order what do you think all?

Many thanks

Darren

Definitely get 2 GB of Ram.

I have a 2.3Ghz Dual Core Single CPU G5...

And just got the MacPro 2.66 Stock Config with 1 Gig.

I stripped the G5 down to 1 Gig (it had 3 in it), and benchmarked a ton...

The MacPro walked all over it.

Funny Thing.

I then added RAID 0 to the G5, added the 3 Gigs of Ram... and the year and a half old G5 TROUNCED the MacPro in stock config.

So, just IMAGINE what the MacPro would do with that kinda ram and HDD

 

[CyberDoberman]

Also, with OSX, iPhoto, iTunes, and a few other apps (tiny utilities) open, I was down to 14 MEGABYTES of ram FREE!!!!



MORE RAM MORE RAM MORE RAM! Unlike Windows (for the average user), more ram really DOES = MUCH FASTER SPEED!!!

 

[eva01]

Also, with OSX, iPhoto, iTunes, and a few other apps (tiny utilities) open, I was down to 14 MEGABYTES of ram FREE!!!!



MORE RAM MORE RAM MORE RAM! Unlike Windows (for the average user), more ram really DOES = MUCH FASTER SPEED!!!

amount of RAM free means nothing in OSX for the most part. Page outs is what matters and numerous pageouts all at once.

Or if your pageouts is remotely close to your pageins

 

[fblack]

Well i think i could make do with 1gb for now. But does anyone know when Crucial or any other manufacturers will start selling memory for the Macpro. I'm sure it will be cheaper than Apple.

It usually does not take them that long. You should not see something like 6 months for them to get it out. Probably in a few weeks. If you look at OWC theyve got ram for macpro but right now lowest configuration is 2g for about $559:

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?model=250&type=Memory&Criteria=&sort=a

But ram prices do fluctuate quite a bit, so you got a keep an eye on that too. Apple's asking $300 for that extra gig of ram, if you can afford it (not including extra tax involved) and cant wait get it now. But if you're a bit of a saver like me you could hold off a for a month or 2, you could save some change. After all you said you're gonna use for itunes etc. So you dont have a ton of overhead right now, and it doesn't sound like you got work related projects that need power and speed pronto

 

[sdshannon]

Definitely get 2 GB of Ram.

I have a 2.3Ghz Dual Core Single CPU G5...

And just got the MacPro 2.66 Stock Config with 1 Gig.

I stripped the G5 down to 1 Gig (it had 3 in it), and benchmarked a ton...

The MacPro walked all over it.

Funny Thing.

I then added RAID 0 to the G5, added the 3 Gigs of Ram... and the year and a half old G5 TROUNCED the MacPro in stock config.

So, just IMAGINE what the MacPro would do with that kinda ram and HDD

what apps were you running that the G5 "trounced" the Mac Pro in?

 

[CyberDoberman]

what apps were you running that the G5 "trounced" the Mac Pro in?

Anything. For example... Launching Photoshop took 3.08 Seconds on the G5.

NINE SECONDS on the Mac Pro.

Ok, I know it's in Emulation...

But pretty much anything on the G5 was faster with the RAID 0 Config and the 3 Gigs of ram vs. the Standard SATA drive on the MacPro and 1 Gig Ram.

Even my XBENCH score was 35% HIGHER on the G5 with that config than the MacPro on the Stock Config.

 

[Zwhaler]

Get as much as you can afford. Its what I did with my MacBook-I got a 1.83GHz with 2GB RAM, instead of 2GHz with 1GB. It owns.

Thats what I plan to do with an iMac I am going to buy. I hope you didn't buy the RAM from apple.

 

[^squirrel^]

Thanks all for your comments so far.

I could buy 2gb, but im not really sure it's worth what Apple are charging. I could wait a couple of months and make do with 1gb and then buy some 3rd party stuff and save a few quid.

 

[^squirrel^]

Thanks all for your comments so far.

I could buy 2gb, but im not really sure it's worth what Apple are charging. I could wait a couple of months and make do with 1gb and then buy some 3rd party stuff and save a few quid.

 

[CyberPrey]

I have the base model Mac Pro... my biggest regret on being a "I gotta have it now" type of person is the fact that 1g of ram just is not cutting it.... I ordered a 2nd gig from Apple, and also the X1900 vid card...

ALTHOUGH, I'm not complaining about the machine... its fast and works well (Yes, the 7300GT does work fairly well.... I am not happy about reducing my screen resolution in games [eg.. wow] but I still have a good framerate and good looks)

 

[Ripmax2000]

Here is a place in the UK that sells Mac Pro memory. They give you a 100 guarantee that it will work

http://www.orcalogic.co.uk/asp/prodtype.asp?prodtype=24952&ft=m&st=2

Remember you will have to buy 2 sticks of whatever you get.

Hope that's useful.

 

[Mr. Mister]

Doesn't look like it has the Apple-spec heatsinks....

 

[speakerwizard]

owc have started selling the mac pro ram with heatsincs but it does cost more than ordering from apple at time of purchase

 

[^squirrel^]

Well maybe i should go with the 2gb of ram then. I wouldn't have thought the apps i'll primararily be using would require 2gb.

 

[Chone]

Anything. For example... Launching Photoshop took 3.08 Seconds on the G5.

NINE SECONDS on the Mac Pro.

Ok, I know it's in Emulation...

But pretty much anything on the G5 was faster with the RAID 0 Config and the 3 Gigs of ram vs. the Standard SATA drive on the MacPro and 1 Gig Ram.

Even my XBENCH score was 35% HIGHER on the G5 with that config than the MacPro on the Stock Config.

Well thats not really a fair comparision, I mean, you are only comparing application open time and thats fairly HD dependant, thats like saying, oh I put a X1900XT on the G5 and it TROUNCED the Mac Pro with a 7300GT playing videogames, see my point?

By the way I've always thought that the day HDD become flash memory or something and become a lot faster (like near RAM-speed) then machine will increase in speed ten fold, HDDs are the slowest part of a computer and they lag them down considerably.

 

[fblack]

Well maybe i should go with the 2gb of ram then. I wouldn't have thought the apps i'll primararily be using would require 2gb.

According to Anandtech the memory used aint that great. Has high latency....

They suggest really moving up your memory to get better performance:

"There are a couple of things you can do to maximize performance and minimize the cost of additional memory on your Mac Pro, and it starts with the number of FB-DIMMs you configure your system with. The Mac Pro ships with a default configuration of 2 x 512MB FB-DIMMs, unfortunately that means that you're only using two of the four available memory channels, cutting your peak theoretical memory bandwidth in half. You'll want to upgrade to at least four FB-DIMMs so that you can run in quad-channel mode..."

http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2811&p=4