Mac Pro Graphics, Noise & Memory

[kraftzwerg]

I'm planning to order a Mac Pro and am wondering about two questions - grateful for any help!

1) I fancy an upgrade of the graphics card to the ATI 1900xt, but am hesitant, because its much higher power consumption than the stock model might increase the fan activity of the Mac Pro and thereby the noise level. I'd hate to have a loud system much more than having to live with somewhat slower graphics ...

2) About the RAM: the web page says that there are two bays of 4 slots. Is it important that the 4 slots on one bay are filled with the same memory size, or can one freely mix 512 M and 1 Gig sticks?

Thanx!

 

[iPhil]

2) About the RAM: the web page says that there are two bays of 4 slots. Is it important that the 4 slots on one bay are filled with the same memory size, or can one freely mix 512 M and 1 Gig sticks?

MacPro requires Matched Pairs of Ram to run..

 

[kraftzwerg]

MacPro requires Matched Pairs of Ram to run..

OK, thanks. To get optimal speed is it better to have 4 equal sticks or is there no difference to having 2 different pairs?

 

[kraftzwerg]

To anyone who owns a Mac Pro with ATI 1900xT: is your system quiet?

 

[AvSRoCkCO1067]

To anyone who owns a Mac Pro with ATI 1900xT: is your system quiet?

These configurations of the Mac Pro haven't shipped yet.

 

[kraftzwerg]

These configurations of the Mac Pro haven't shipped yet.

OK, I'll ask again in a little while ...

 

[CANEHDN]

OK, thanks. To get optimal speed is it better to have 4 equal sticks or is there no difference to having 2 different pairs?

No. As long as you match stick for stick you are ok. So you can have 2 1GB sticks and you will be set and ready to go. But it may be cheaper to get 4 512MB sticks versus 2 1GB. Not really sure on that.

 

[alien2108]

Well as far as X1900 goes on PC this is a NOISY card. I rather (for now) have quiet MacPro, that's why I opted for 7600GT with passive cooling (works with XP only, not OS X) as second card.

But new cards from ATI that came yesterday are supposed to be dead quiet at idle (fan doesn't turn). Let's wait on new reviews...

What I opt for my MacPro is graphics card that is quiet when idle (so I can leave comp turned on over night) and some "normal" noise when playing games is ofcourse acceptable...