Well that didn't last long. The FB-DIMM RAM with ECC that Crucial had listed for upgrading the new Mac Pros has been pulled and not replaced. My guess is that our concerns were valid about the lack of a heatsink on it vs the Apple counterpart.
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Crucial Pulls Mac Pro RAM!
- Thread starter eyeluvmyimac
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eyeluvmyimac said:
I posted this in another thread but thought I'd follow up here too. I got this response from Crucial Customer Support them shortly before they pulled the memory. I had asked them if they met Apples thermal disipation requirements with their memory offerings.
"We are sorry to inform you that we are experiencing an inconsistency with the current heat spreaders on our Mac 1GB FBDIMM modules after extended system use. While we rectify this, we have canceled all shipments of these modules until we can provide a more advanced heat spreader that resolves the problem."
Interesting -- good spot, and thank you for posting it!
So is there a general specification that is used outside of the Mac world for the RAM that the MP uses, or is Apple getting something proprietary?
So is there a general specification that is used outside of the Mac world for the RAM that the MP uses, or is Apple getting something proprietary?
Yeah mine is supposed to be here any minute, called crucial and they told me they won't refund shipping. I am really starting to not like them. Anyway they said there is NO replacement part and I need to buy it from Apple. Not good.
Well I think we figured out how apple is getting away with pricing the Mac Pro so cheap. They are making the money back on the ram. If crucial is not going to make a mac pro ram chip at all you know something is up. I knew the deal on this mac was too good to be true. Now to fork over a whopping $700 for 2gb of ram. Man those are 1995 prices.
Well got the crucial ram an hour ago and put it in the mac pro. Works no problem. I put some ram heatsinks on it and its good to go. Still testing it though. Will report if there is a problem.
macenforcer said:
Where did you get the ram heat sinks? (and how do you install them?) I didn't even know you could buy those...
You can get OC spreaders like this but Apple's sinks look pretty specialised. I was wondering about the innards of the Mac Pros, whether that would cause issues with third-party memory and whether it would be a common point of failure even with Apple RAM - I'm suspecting it might be. The equivalent Dells have a fan that blows directly on the memory slots, and sitting with both the Precision 690 and 490 here, neither are as noisy as I'd feared. I'm sure the Mac Pro would be more silent... but more reliable???
I put 4 each on the ram. This is what I used:
Newegg VGA ram heatsinks
They are adhesive and I just stuck them to the crucial heatspreader.
These are arriving tomorrow:
Newegg Ram heatsinks Copper
Will see how these work tonight and slap on the coppers tomorrow for added protection.
Newegg VGA ram heatsinks
They are adhesive and I just stuck them to the crucial heatspreader.
These are arriving tomorrow:
Newegg Ram heatsinks Copper
Will see how these work tonight and slap on the coppers tomorrow for added protection.
Yeah. So I received my dimms from Crucial this morning, and then later received the email:
Looking at the dimms that came in the machine, they have some pretty serious heatsinks on them, at least 1/2 an inch, on both sides. I'm not surprised the thin little "head spreaders" on the Crucial dimms aren't sufficient..
So, what are the other options at this point? Do any of the other 3rd party memory provides have the desired heatsinks on their dimms?
Looking at prices, what I've seen are (for a pair of 1GB sticks):
Apple $700
OtherWorldComputing $560
Datamem $380
(Crucial was $344)
That's a fairly wide distribution in price..
Has anyone bought the dimms from Datamem and can report whether they look like they have enough heatsink on them?
We are sorry to inform you that we are experiencing an inconsistency with the current heat spreaders on our Mac 1GB FBDIMM modules after extended system use. While we rectify this, we have canceled all shipments of these modules until we can provide a more advanced heat spreader that resolves the problem.
We will issue credit back for your purchase price including any shipping charge and in the time being, please contact Apple directly for this particular memory upgrade. For other Mac memory upgrades, you can consult the Crucial Web site or speak to a customer service representative. You will also be receiving an email from UPS that will include a link to the UPS website that will allow you to print labels to send the memory back under our account.
We will issue credit back for your purchase price including any shipping charge and in the time being, please contact Apple directly for this particular memory upgrade. For other Mac memory upgrades, you can consult the Crucial Web site or speak to a customer service representative. You will also be receiving an email from UPS that will include a link to the UPS website that will allow you to print labels to send the memory back under our account.
Looking at the dimms that came in the machine, they have some pretty serious heatsinks on them, at least 1/2 an inch, on both sides. I'm not surprised the thin little "head spreaders" on the Crucial dimms aren't sufficient..
So, what are the other options at this point? Do any of the other 3rd party memory provides have the desired heatsinks on their dimms?
Looking at prices, what I've seen are (for a pair of 1GB sticks):
Apple $700
OtherWorldComputing $560
Datamem $380
(Crucial was $344)
That's a fairly wide distribution in price..
Has anyone bought the dimms from Datamem and can report whether they look like they have enough heatsink on them?
My crucial dimms work great. Try em out. Beats paying double for em. Worst case cenerio... you get the 1gb dimms and pull the heatspreaders off of the apple ram and put it on the aftermarket. At least you will have 2gb for alot less than the apple cost and when heatspreaders that are up to apples standards become available seperately you can buy them and put them back on.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=43&products_id=635
Those are some good little heatsinks.
Finding some old heatsinks and modifying them would also be an option. I am sure the heatspreaders on the crucial and kingston might "work" however give them a touch while they are running and let us know how hot they feel.
There is clearly a reason for such large heatsinks as these rams have their own processor on them.
I wouldn't buy ram from them until they have this issue sorted out or assure that it is not a problem.
Those are some good little heatsinks.
Finding some old heatsinks and modifying them would also be an option. I am sure the heatspreaders on the crucial and kingston might "work" however give them a touch while they are running and let us know how hot they feel.
There is clearly a reason for such large heatsinks as these rams have their own processor on them.
I wouldn't buy ram from them until they have this issue sorted out or assure that it is not a problem.
http://www.frozencpu.com/ram-06.html?id=aer2z2UV
Another good option.
http://www.frozencpu.com/ram-19.html?id=aer2z2UV
Those are a little larger
Another good option.
http://www.frozencpu.com/ram-19.html?id=aer2z2UV
Those are a little larger
quruli said:http://www.frozencpu.com/ram-06.html?id=aer2z2UV
Another good option.
http://www.frozencpu.com/ram-19.html?id=aer2z2UV
Those are a little larger
Best one yet.
bousozoku said:
Too expensive... for me at least.
This appears to be what Apple is using. http://www.nanya.com/e-htm/D-E-HTM/e/products/60 ball DDR2 FBDIMM.htm
Based on the image from PowerMax here http://www.powermax.com/articles_reviews/article.php?id=32, Apple is using NANYA memory modules which are discussed in this PDF from Nanya's website: http://www.nanya.com/attach_file/ddr2_fbdimm_512mb_die_a.pdf
In the Doc it says that the heat spreaders are designed by Nanya, so they are custom to Nanya modules. However, I don't think one can get there hands on these, at least in the states.
I am going to email someone at Nanya and see if these heat spreaders can be purchased from them for a reasonable price. Can't hurt to ask.
From the manufactuers I have found so far that are selling FBDIMMS which include: Apacer, Nanya, Kingston, AData, Smart, Crucial, ATP. Only Nanya is using such large heatsinks.
UPDATE:
Some part numbers from Tyan's recommended memory page. http://www.tyan.com/support/html/memory_s5372.html
Intels recommended manufactuers: http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reseller/asmo-na/eng/products/server/processors/250634.htm