Upgrading the stock RAM in a Mac Pro

[bossass]

So, if my MP has the stock 1gb and I add a 2gb kit (2x1gb), I don't have to take the original 1gb out, right? I thought not, but this dude I know insisted I'd have to, I guess cause he thought I'd have to have sticks of all the same capacity.

Any truth to this? I hope not. I'd like to have 3gb via 2x512mb and 2x1gb.

 

[alfogator]

They will work, memory has to be matched in pairs, but you won't get quad-channel so it will be slightly slower than having memory matched in double pairs.

 

[slughead]

They will work, memory has to be matched in pairs, but you won't get quad-channel so it will be slightly slower than having memory matched in double pairs.

Memory does NOT have to be in matched pairs!

It's not dual channel!

And by the way, quad channel does not add much speed.

 

[alfogator]

From http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacPro_MemoryDIMM_DIY.pdf :

"DIMMs must be installed in pairs of equal size from the same vendor."

 

[eMagine]

Memory does NOT have to be in matched pairs!

It's not dual channel!

And by the way, quad channel does not add much speed.

oh yeah they do!

 

[slughead]

Interesting theory, but my friend is using a 512 stick plus a 1 gig stick in his mac pro.

1.5 gigs.

The manual is probably wrong.

 

[kwood]

Interesting theory, but my friend is using a 512 stick plus a 1 gig stick in his mac pro.

1.5 gigs.

The manual is probably wrong.

Matched Pairs is something that has been around since the PowerMac G5. The Manual is not wrong, nor are the pictures on the inside of the Mac Pro Case.

 

[slughead]

Matched Pairs is something that has been around since the PowerMac G5. The Manual is not wrong, nor are the pictures on the inside of the Mac Pro Case.

Please note that the chips MUST be installed in pairs, but they do NOT have to be MATCHED pairs.

The mobo can only detect an even number of chips. They do not have to be matched pairs because the mobo is NOT dual channel.

Therefore the case photo is correct, the manual is wrong.

 

[slughead]

Oh and as for quad channel

http://www.barefeats.com/quad09.html

Though the Xbench memory fill rate test showed a 34% gain, it doesn't necessarily translate to faster application speeds. We ran some typical tests from our suite of real world tests (iMovie render effect, Final Cut Pro render clip, Cinebench CPU render, Motion render RAM preview, iMaginator Core Image morph). None of them showed any gains from Quad Channel mode.

Anandtech did some testing with real world apps using dual and quad channel memory configurations, too. Of their 15 real world tests, only 2 showed any gains from Quad channel configuration.

 

[slughead]

you know on a pc, this question doesnt exist... you just put your sticks of ram in , and it works! oh you proprietary hardware macboys

Yeah, the intel 5000x motherboard is proprietary now?

And PS: I build PCs. Dual Channel slots require pairs just like the mac pros do.. and unlike the macs, the DC boards DO require matched pairs.

That's not even 'proprietary' per se... that's like saying RAID is proprietary because you need more than one drive.

You wanna get on apple about something, rant about video cards.. I may even back you up.

......

oh wait you're probably joking, nobody's this stupid

 

[slughead]

oh just testing you, dual channel doesnt actually add that much performance anyway so if it means you can have higher memory vs dual channel, go for higher memory

That's what I've been saying!

Nobody ever listens to me.