Mac Pro 4.1 Memory upgrade. Don't see that much difference..

[BrioBriss]

I was wondering about this since last year when I upgraded my memory. I actually upgraded for 4X 4GO instead of 1GO everywhere, so I'm now with 20GO overall. The thing is, I didn't really saw a difference when I upgraded, and to be honest I still didn't really see one (sometimes a couple of applications running at the same time (Premiere/Photoshop/After Effects/Maya and it's still slow). I was wondering if it's because I needed to upgrade something else to affect the performances of the RAM or anything else I can do to see a result, or it's actually normal and it's just an impression?

Here's what it looks like:

Thanks!

 

[DPUser]

4,1 will not run RAM faster than 1066 no matter how fast your RAM is. Look into flashing the EFI to 5,1 and upgrading your CPU(s) to one that can use the higher RAM speed, then resetting SMC/PRAM.

 

[MacVidCards]

Have done the 4,1 to 5,1 flash on a couple machines now.

My dear friend "Paul" in San Diego figured this out, quite a useful hack.

But with both, I had to use a CPU and RAM that supported 1333 and then it still required a PRAM reset to show up.

With 12 cores at 3.33Ghz and an SSD boot drive and a GTX 580 3GB, you don't wait for much.

 

[Loa]

Hello,

You didn't see any performance increase either because you didn't need more ram, or because you didn't get enough. My guess is the latter with the apps you mentionned. 20GB for four major apps is quite little.

Also, don't bother with flashing the firmware just to get faster RAM, it won't make any real world difference. More ram is always better than faster ram.

Loa

 

[BrioBriss]

Hello,

You didn't see any performance increase either because you didn't need more ram, or because you didn't get enough. My guess is the latter with the apps you mentionned. 20GB for four major apps is quite little.

Also, don't bother with flashing the firmware just to get faster RAM, it won't make any real world difference. More ram is always better than faster ram.

Loa

Well since the RAM I actually added didn't seems to works at his full potential due to the CPU, I guess I'm better not buying more RAM and upgrade the CPU here.

 

[DPUser]

Have done the 4,1 to 5,1 flash on a couple machines now.

My dear friend "Paul" in San Diego figured this out, quite a useful hack.

But with both, I had to use a CPU and RAM that supported 1333 and then it still required a PRAM reset to show up.

With 12 cores at 3.33Ghz and an SSD boot drive and a GTX 580 3GB, you don't wait for much.

I love "Paul", and so does my 2009 "5,1" hex Mac Pro!

 

[derbothaus]

More RAM does not make your computer faster. It makes it go farther.

 

[Loa]

More RAM does not make your computer faster.

True, but in a sense, more RAM *will* make it go faster if the lack of RAM was slowing it down.

Loa

 

[PowerPCMacMan]

Even so..

1333 mhz DDR3 and 1066 DDR3 yield very negligible differences.. unless one is using scientific number crunching software and or anything requiring such applications.

If one is using their mac pro for regular everyday use, then the differences are minute, at best.

In the PowerPC days, I thought more memory was better as it increased performance of a PowerPC mac.. Doesn't seem relevant anymore in the Intel world of Macs.