Memory Madness: advice needed

[LostMoose]

Hey guys,

I just inherited a MacPro 1,1 (2x2.66 dual-core, 4gb RAM, X1900) and I had a question regarding the best place to get memory for this rig... I do a lot of rendering in v-ray while I'm at school and I plan on using the MP primarily for that purpose, a sort of rendering hog if you will- It doesn't need to be blazing fast, it just needs to be able to render efficiently while I work on other tasks on my MBP.

I am already planning on upgrading to the Quad-core Xeon 5355s, doing the EFI upgrade (1,1 to 2,1) for the processor support, etc. The second thing I want to upgrade is the memory- The two options I'm seeing are as follows:

1) buy 8gb from OWC, pop those suckers in there for a total of 12gb (4x1gb, 4x2gb) spending about $215. (Will this seriously affect any the system, mixing 1gb and 2gb sticks?)

2) Purchasing a kit like this: 16gb - 8x2gb (eBay), spending just about the same amount of money upfront and then trading in the old 4gb and making some small change.

My question: Do any of you have experience buying a kit like the one listed above from eBay? It seems like a good deal, I would spend twice that on a 16gb kit from somewhere else and I'm not looking to break the bank, this is a MP 1,1 I'm upgrading after all. I'm just looking to put in a little $$ to create a situation where I can efficiently multi-task on project deadlines for the next two years or so.

Thanks!

 

[mkokimoto]

I bought some generic FBDDR2 for a dell poweredge 2900 for less than half that.

My initial plan was to get a used poweredge or other server with the x5355's and ram in it to strip for parts but shipping is prohibitively expensive. If you're stateside you can probably find them for cheap.

 

[LostMoose]

Hmm... that could definitely be a good option. Though I think my question falls along the lines of is it worth the risk? (Buying a 16gb kit from a more or less unknown source or paying the same amount for half of the memory from a more reputable source). I'm not entirely sure how finicky the MP's are about what kind of memory one puts in them... I feel like I have read a decent amount on the forums that buying crappy memory for an Apple product isn't ideal.

 

[Mr.Noisy]

Buy the memory from a reputable dealer, I upgraded mine using Kingston, I like yourself got my hands on a MP 1,1 and upgraded the RAM, apart from that and adding the HD5770 Graphics card it's screams along nicely, the old MP is a nice bit of Kit and customising it is pretty easy, it still has a nice little fan club....
everyone I know with one seems to give it a nickname, mines The Fat Rat.....

 

[LostMoose]

Cool, thanks for the advice. I have yet to give mine a unique name... the internal drive crapped out the day I got it so I have been running Lion from an old HDD from my original MBP (2006) attached via USB... Time to start upgrading all the parts! I'm sure a name will come after I've spent a hour or so replacing internal parts!

 

[ssgbryan]

Cool, thanks for the advice. I have yet to give mine a unique name... the internal drive crapped out the day I got it so I have been running Lion from an old HDD from my original MBP (2006) attached via USB... Time to start upgrading all the parts! I'm sure a name will come after I've spent a hour or so replacing internal parts!

Replacing parts on a MacPro is incredibly easy. I have a 1,1 and a Dell Xeon workstation from the same time period. The Dell is a nightmare to deal with.

 

[Mr.Noisy]

Cool, thanks for the advice. I have yet to give mine a unique name... the internal drive crapped out the day I got it so I have been running Lion from an old HDD from my original MBP (2006) attached via USB... Time to start upgrading all the parts! I'm sure a name will come after I've spent a hour or so replacing internal parts!

Hdd's are cheap now, mine runs a samsung f1 1tb as the system/boot drive, in bay 2 it has a 320gb scratch disk for photoshop, in bay 3 & 4 are a pair of 1tb western digitals in a raid 01 for tv and movies, externally it has a 4tb raid 01 system via fw800 for lightroom 4, it all runs a smooth as the day it left apple, no issues at all with it, there never has been, the old mac pro's run forever if looked after, enjoy it and have fun naming the wee beastie.......