MP 7,1 Mac Pro (2019) Upgrading the RAM for Photo editing

[harryhood]

Just got the new Mac Pro (2019). It's the base model.

• 3.5GHz 8‑core Intel Xeon W processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz
• 32GB (4x8GB) of DDR4 ECC memory

I'm looking at 'pimpin' it out with lots of ram. I primarily do Photo Edition in Lightroom. I shoot in raw with a Hasselblad X1D so the files are huge, 150mb each.

What kind of ram/what amount of ram should I go with to really push the power of the Mac Pro?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

 

[fuchsdh]

Realistically any amount of RAM will help, since you can throw additional cache onto RAM instead of paging to a scratch disk. The question really is how much money you have to burn, since you'll get proportionately less benefit from upgrades the more RAM you get.

If at all possible, I'd just buy RAM with a return policy and see if you're maxing utilization with your workflow. 96GB (6x16GB) seems like a good place to start. Sorry I can't give you more useful feedback than that. My camera is still a midrange DSLR from 2014 so RAW files aren't huge.

 

[chfilm]

Is ram really the bottleneck here, or VRAM more so?
I’d also suggest 96, but what GPU did you get?
I find my Lightroom fills up the 32gb on the Vega II super quickly. I wonder how it would be on the Vega Duo...

 

[harryhood]

Thanks for the input. Does it really matter what kind of ram I get?

2933MHz LRDIMM vs 2933MHz RDIMM Memory vs 2666MHz LRDIMM vs 2666MHz RDIMM etc..

2019 Apple Mac Pro Memory Upgrades from OWC

Easily upgrade the memory of your 2019 Apple Mac Pro up to 1.5TB. OWC memory kits are 100% Apple compatible and backed by a lifetime OWC warranty.

eshop.macsales.com

 

[chfilm]

I think 2933Mhz RDimm for configs under 384 gb if I’m not mistaken...

 

[AidenShaw]

Thanks for the input. Does it really matter what kind of ram I get?

2933MHz LRDIMM vs 2933MHz RDIMM Memory vs 2666MHz LRDIMM vs 2666MHz RDIMM etc..

2019 Apple Mac Pro Memory Upgrades from OWC

Easily upgrade the memory of your 2019 Apple Mac Pro up to 1.5TB. OWC memory kits are 100% Apple compatible and backed by a lifetime OWC warranty.

eshop.macsales.com

Be careful to understand the rules for (not) mixing RDIMM and LRDIMM modules.

 

[fuchsdh]

Thanks for the input. Does it really matter what kind of ram I get?

2933MHz LRDIMM vs 2933MHz RDIMM Memory vs 2666MHz LRDIMM vs 2666MHz RDIMM etc..

2019 Apple Mac Pro Memory Upgrades from OWC

Easily upgrade the memory of your 2019 Apple Mac Pro up to 1.5TB. OWC memory kits are 100% Apple compatible and backed by a lifetime OWC warranty.

eshop.macsales.com

The sticks that come with your machine are 2933MHz RDIMMS (they run at 2666MHz but the price difference is negligible so you might as well just get the 2933 ones.) You can use either registered or unregistered memory but you can't mix types. Not using the "optimal" configurations (6 or 12 DIMM slots filled) hurts performance, but not in any significant way.

Is ram really the bottleneck here, or VRAM more so?
I’d also suggest 96, but what GPU did you get?
I find my Lightroom fills up the 32gb on the Vega II super quickly. I wonder how it would be on the Vega Duo...

Last I checked Adobe had only started adding real video acceleration to LR in the last year, and it's not on all tools. I imagine in the future more and more of the program will be GPU-accelerated but graphics cards are upgradeable so I dunno if it makes sense to pay extra now for comparatively little bang for your buck until down the road.

 

[AidenShaw]

You can use either registered or unregistered memory

LRDIMMs are also registered. Unregistered DIMMs are UDIMMs.

The 7,1 does not support UDIMMs. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210405

 

[stoobysnax]

Does anyone know if you can simply double up the stock ram? (ie. buy another 4x8GB DDR4 ECC and put it in with the stock 32GB, making it 64 GB on 8 sticks)?

Is this an issue at all?

 

[fuchsdh]

It won’t be as fast but it can run with eight sticks.