Memory upgrade for 2009 Mac Pro

eddiek · Oct 2, 2009, 12:10 AM

I have a '09 2.26 octo with 6 gb ram standard. I'm finally deciding to upgrade the RAM but don't want to spend a ton if possible. Is there a benefit/downside to just upgrading 1-2gb stick or 2-2gbs as opposed to replacing all of the 1gb sticks with 2 gb sticks? I've seen the benchmarks for the various memory configs but nothing where things get added piecemeal. Thx.

gugucom · Oct 2, 2009, 12:19 AM

The way I understand the technology the reasonable options are 6, 12, 24 GB. All other configs are detrimental to optimum speed. This because both CPUs have three QPIs which means everything goes by 6. As you can only have 1, 2 or 4 GB sticks at reasonable cost those are the preferred options.

nullx86 · Oct 2, 2009, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eddiek

I have a '09 2.26 octo with 6 gb ram standard. I'm finally deciding to upgrade the RAM but don't want to spend a ton if possible. Is there a benefit/downside to just upgrading 1-2gb stick or 2-2gbs as opposed to replacing all of the 1gb sticks with 2 gb sticks? I've seen the benchmarks for the various memory configs but nothing where things get added piecemeal. Thx.

When the i7s came out, they added tri-channel, instead of dual channel. So with dual channel you'd want stuff in pairs (example: 4GB would either be 2X2GB or 4X1GB). With tri-channel, its the same concept, just in threes (3x2GB = 6GB, 6x2GB = 12GB, 3x1GB=3GB, 6x1GB=6GB and so on). Tri and dual channel are way better if you are running some intensive apps like Photoshop. If you just randomly add memory and lose tri-channel, your going to hurt yourself when you try to do some intensive apps.

eddiek · Oct 2, 2009, 12:48 AM

So pretty much from what I'm gathering here, there's no significant benefit to adding 4gb via 2x2gb sticks and just going 12 gb instead via 6x2gb? I guess the difference is $113 for 2x2 vs. $326 to replace all of them?

Oct 2, 2009, 12:10 AM	#1
eddiek macrumors newbie Join Date: Oct 2007	Memory upgrade for 2009 Mac Pro I have a '09 2.26 octo with 6 gb ram standard. I'm finally deciding to upgrade the RAM but don't want to spend a ton if possible. Is there a benefit/downside to just upgrading 1-2gb stick or 2-2gbs as opposed to replacing all of the 1gb sticks with 2 gb sticks? I've seen the benchmarks for the various memory configs but nothing where things get added piecemeal. Thx.
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Oct 2, 2009, 12:19 AM	#2
gugucom macrumors 68020 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Munich, Germany	The way I understand the technology the reasonable options are 6, 12, 24 GB. All other configs are detrimental to optimum speed. This because both CPUs have three QPIs which means everything goes by 6. As you can only have 1, 2 or 4 GB sticks at reasonable cost those are the preferred options. __________________ MP4,1●3,33GHz Octad●2*160GB SSD●12GB RAM●Blu-Ray●FireDTV-S2●SL/Vista64 uMBP●SL/Vista64 TC 2TB iPhone●16GB
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Oct 2, 2009, 12:48 AM	#4
eddiek Thread Starter macrumors newbie Join Date: Oct 2007	So pretty much from what I'm gathering here, there's no significant benefit to adding 4gb via 2x2gb sticks and just going 12 gb instead via 6x2gb? I guess the difference is $113 for 2x2 vs. $326 to replace all of them?
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