Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I want my 4GB of RAM to cost $700 not $1400!! How much longer?
- Thread starter YoYoMa
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Yeah, good luck with that. Especially since it was rumored Intel isn't going to be supporting FB-DIMMS soon, thus not giving manufacturers the need to manufacture them in mass quantities thus making them more expensive. Not sure if it's true though.
There's just no way I can justify that price. It's completely outragous!! $1400 for 4 GB?!?!?! What is this, five years ago??? How are you guys justifying it? It's almost 75% the price of the whole computer, and the computer is far from cheap!!
hal0n said:site your source on that.
Here ya go...
source
YoYoMa said:
Some of us actually use our macines to make money and not for playing gmaes (at least not 100% of the time). The productivity we gain can justify the expense, I get it paid for in one project session, and it's claimed on my taxes as a business expense.
Just buy kingston ram and the maxupgrades heatsinks. The total would have been $800 a couple of weeks ago but I just noticed even newegg has been raising the prices. 4 gigs of kingston would run $800 now plus heatsinks it would be $960. You'd still save over $400.
Wow Moviecutter, way to judge someone with absolutely no basis. Who the hell needs 4 GB of RAM for games anyway?
Damado-- That Kingston RAM sounds like my best bet. Are those $140 worth of heatsinks the same ones the Apple and Crucial RAM use?
Damado-- That Kingston RAM sounds like my best bet. Are those $140 worth of heatsinks the same ones the Apple and Crucial RAM use?
YoYoMa said:
Senbei posted a link on another thread. It's at maxupgrades.com The sinks are $40/stick. They aren't the exact same ones as apple, but they actually look even better. I think the fins are actually longer and the mounting system looks better with those screws at the tips.
It's crazy how the prices have been going up on the RAM. The kingstons used to be $163 per gig and now they're up to $192.
Or you could just order 4GB from OWC or TransIntl or DMS or Crucial for close to $960 and get a better warranty than Kingston's.
milozauckerman said:
Kingston's is lifetime and the heatspreaders come off without removing the warranty stickers.
But yeah, if you can get preinstalled heatsinks within $50-100 I'd go with factory installed ones.
I got my kingstons before b/c nothing else was available and apple was like twice the price. They have been flawless for me.
$1000 is still too much for me. I think I'll wait about a month and hope for a bit of a change. The value propostion is the part that's killing me though. I was willing, but reluctant to fork over $750 for RAM, but $1400??? $1000??? Those prices are way too hard to swallow, expecially for when I decide to resell the computer and they become worth two hundred at the very most.
here's the date
7 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 13 hours, and 2 mins.
also bye the time the ram cost that you could have $1400 and buy more ram.
7 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 13 hours, and 2 mins.
also bye the time the ram cost that you could have $1400 and buy more ram.
I bought 2 sticks of these Crucial FB-DIMMs Thursday when they were $170 each (now $186). At current memory (rising) prices, the MaxSinks don't make any economic sense (but they do look good) as it will cost the same as memory with the larger heat spreader already attached.
I'm going to try these copper Thermaltakes once I get the memory next week (but I have to wait to test since I don't have my Mac Pro yet ). A set of 4 (so I could get 4 heat sinks per FB-DIMM) cost $34. The copper spreaders should be able to clip over the existing Crucial ones (unless they can be removed w/o voiding the warranty) and there is thermal tape to attach the heat sinks onto the copper heat spreader. These things are heftier than I thought; the heat spreaders are pretty thick and heavy (larger picture below).
I'm going to try these copper Thermaltakes once I get the memory next week (but I have to wait to test since I don't have my Mac Pro yet
). A set of 4 (so I could get 4 heat sinks per FB-DIMM) cost $34. The copper spreaders should be able to clip over the existing Crucial ones (unless they can be removed w/o voiding the warranty) and there is thermal tape to attach the heat sinks onto the copper heat spreader. These things are heftier than I thought; the heat spreaders are pretty thick and heavy (larger picture below).
This high end server quality RAM is a new ballgame for just about all of us.
Those Apple required oversized heat spreaders have just about every supplier
scrambling to find qualifying DIMMS.
If you need it now, you're paying the price for living on the cutting edge.
I doubt we'll see more than a $50.00 per GB drop in price any time soon.
I would read through the XLR8yourmac.com and barefeats.com articles before
buying any memory at these prices.
Those Apple required oversized heat spreaders have just about every supplier
scrambling to find qualifying DIMMS.
If you need it now, you're paying the price for living on the cutting edge.
I doubt we'll see more than a $50.00 per GB drop in price any time soon.
I would read through the XLR8yourmac.com and barefeats.com articles before
buying any memory at these prices.
FB-DIMMs at best should remain 30% above DDR-2 pricing for the next 18 - 24 months. I do not know if that is a cost to a manufacturer statement or a end product statement. I'm guessing it's manufacturing cost because I'm surprised by the 2x price difference but do not expect them to come down to the prices enjoyed today by DDR-2.
FB-DIMMs are basically a DDR-2 DIMM with a buffer chip but into it. This makes DDR-2 less expensive due to volume, with FB-DIMMs being a lower volume chip keeping the pricing up.
FB-DIMMs are basically a DDR-2 DIMM with a buffer chip but into it. This makes DDR-2 less expensive due to volume, with FB-DIMMs being a lower volume chip keeping the pricing up.
YoYoMa said:
My question to you is...why do you NEED 4GB of RAM. I think it's reasonable to assume that if somebody NEEDS that much memory, they can justify the expense. If you don't NEED that much memory, you likely are wasting your money. Just a thought.
PS: reposted to be a little less "rude" since my last post was deleted.
It's not just the RAM, it's all of these hardware upgrades collectively taking their toll on some highly gifted creative Professionals.
The jump from PCI and PCI-X to PCI-e has been tremendously expensive for many
seasoned audio professionals.
The software and the plugins are still dragging behind making all of these upgrades quite expensive.
For those just now getting into Pro gear and those struggling to keep their head above the water, every dollar counts.
"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen"
is hardly a supportive attitude.
Ask any starving artist
The jump from PCI and PCI-X to PCI-e has been tremendously expensive for many
seasoned audio professionals.
The software and the plugins are still dragging behind making all of these upgrades quite expensive.
For those just now getting into Pro gear and those struggling to keep their head above the water, every dollar counts.
"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen"
is hardly a supportive attitude.
Ask any starving artist
Starving artists aren't buying Mac Pros with 4GB of RAM, they aren't even thinking about it. They're buying what they can afford. My audio guy can do EVERYTHING with a 733 Mhz G4 Quicksilver. He runs Pro Tools to record bands, voiceovers and other audio for documentary films, commercials, and corporate productions. I ask him why he doesn't upgrade to the latest and greatest. He always tells me he doesn't need to. Those that do are very likely to be able to afford the expense, or at least justify it with the knowledge that they can pay for it with projects already in the pipeline. I was a starving artist once until I found the right clients and charged a good rate for my work. I worked with what I had, which was anywhere from an iMac G3 to a Power Mac G4 until I started making enough money to justify the expenses that came with the luxury of "faster and better". It's not a matter of "get out of the kitchen" it's a matter of "use the microwave until you can afford a gas range."
Thank for all the advice. I'll probably buy about 2GB in a few weeks and keep an eye on the prices for the future.
Thanks for all the advice. I'll probably buy about 2GB in a few weeks and keep an eye on the prices for the future.
You can pretend to not see a reason for this thread all you want to, but the truth of the matter is that not everyone that wants 4GB of memory makes a living off of their computer.
In fact, if the only way to justify the cost of purchasing Mac Pro memory is by being in business with your computer then that completely proves the point the price is too damn high.
Thanks for all the advice. I'll probably buy about 2GB in a few weeks and keep an eye on the prices for the future.
You can pretend to not see a reason for this thread all you want to, but the truth of the matter is that not everyone that wants 4GB of memory makes a living off of their computer.
In fact, if the only way to justify the cost of purchasing Mac Pro memory is by being in business with your computer then that completely proves the point the price is too damn high.
I'll stick around and contribute, thanks. Why do you want 4GB of RAM anyway? I'm just curious, because this is a workstation class machine, meaning that the components are naturally expensive and aimed at high end applications. If this were a consumer machine, or used consumer desktop parts, there would be more manufacturing and thus making them far less expensive. Fact is, this ISN'T a consumer machine, and there isn't manufacturing on the scale of lesser components for the pieces for this machine. That's why the RAM is so expensive, that's why the chips are so expensive. These are marketed, built, and sold as PROFESSIONAL machines, thus implying their use for PROFESSIONAL applications. The price is AMAZING for this kind of machine. Don't like it? Buy an iMac.
EDIT: You did a roundabout to answer my question. You don't NEED 4GB of memory. You WANT 4GB of memory. If you NEEDED it and couldn't afford it, I could see the complaining and whining about it being too expensive, but if you WANT it...well, that's a different story. I agree, it's expensive, but you knew you were getting server memory when you got your Mac Pro right? Server memory has, historically, been expensive. Perhaps you should have done your research. I don't have a problem with what people do with their computers. What I DO have a problem with is people complaining about prices of historically expensive type memory when the information about their expense both past and present is readily available prior to their purchase.
EDIT: You did a roundabout to answer my question. You don't NEED 4GB of memory. You WANT 4GB of memory. If you NEEDED it and couldn't afford it, I could see the complaining and whining about it being too expensive, but if you WANT it...well, that's a different story. I agree, it's expensive, but you knew you were getting server memory when you got your Mac Pro right? Server memory has, historically, been expensive. Perhaps you should have done your research. I don't have a problem with what people do with their computers. What I DO have a problem with is people complaining about prices of historically expensive type memory when the information about their expense both past and present is readily available prior to their purchase.
As blunt as his comments are, I kinda have to agree with moviecutter. But, indeed this memory is high priced but it is a new need and the going price is going to reflect that. But this is a professional-class workstation. 4 Gigs is probably more than the average consumer can even utilize. I am working with 2 Gigs right now and am having no problem bouncing back and forth between Dreamweaver, PS, and Imageready. I personally plan on upping my RAM as checks come in from future projects. But if serious multi-tasking with email, iPhoto, internet, and the such, is what you plan on doing I think 4 gigs is overkill. I think the problem with High-end machines is that it attracts the "tech-junkies" who need the newest and best hardware. Now I am no exception but one has to understand what they are getting themselves into before making the purchase. But to be fair I do think we are seeing a bit of price gauging on these heat-sinks but its to be expected in demand driven market.
massiv said:
Precisely. The price of a machine goes beyond the initial cost. This seems to be something people fail to remember. And unfortunately, Apple hasn't produces a mid-range tower for the very small number of people who actually want one, so they convince themselves that they NEED a Mac Pro, and are stuck with a workstation-class machine doing things like games, email, iPhoto, etc. and thus paying the high price of workstation-class components like FB-DIMMS. The same thing occured with the Quad, but buyers were given the choice between Non-ECC and ECC memory. Those utilizing high end applications and server applications bought ECC. Everyone else bought Non-ECC and paid half the price and there was no complaining.
I'm with Yoyoma here. This RAM is grossly overpriced. Crucial showed this by originally having it for sale for much cheaper, they also charge $100 or something extra for heat spreaders worth at most a quarter of that. I wouldn't expect FBDIMMs to be the same price as DDR ram, it is far more complex and I'd expect it to cost more. This much more is a bit crazy though. ECC PC5300 DDR2 ram from Crucial costs $356.99 for a 2GB kit (2x1GB). $499 for the same in the Mac Pro variant. Apple's pricing is not even worth mentioning.
I don't particularly care if people that make professional movies and who earn enough money to easily afford the inflated prices. Mac Pros aren't just meant for those people alone. If someone can afford that amount of money then good on them but they don't have to make people who can't afford those ram prices feel guilty for it.
I don't particularly care if people that make professional movies and who earn enough money to easily afford the inflated prices. Mac Pros aren't just meant for those people alone. If someone can afford that amount of money then good on them but they don't have to make people who can't afford those ram prices feel guilty for it.