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2009 Mac Pro Memory Revelations

WonderSausage

WonderSausage

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 3, 2008
74
3
The 2009 Mac Pro boots and runs perfectly with NON-ECC DDR3.

I pulled out all of my OWC RAM and put in two Corsair DDR3-1600 2GB non-ECC DIMMs. It works fine.

The memory did NOT get configured as DDR3-1333. This part isn't conclusive though, because as overclocker's RAM this Corsair does not necessarily have JEDEC SPD programming for 1333. Still a good 75% probability that the Mac Pro will not run at 1333.

"Mr. 2009 Mac Pro first unboxing" WonderSausage
 
it (meaning the octad) has to support 4gb... otherwise they couldn't advertise 32gb capacity with eight slots. are you talking about the quad?
 
WonderSausage said:
The memory did NOT get configured as DDR3-1333. This part isn't conclusive though, because as overclocker's RAM this Corsair does not necessarily have JEDEC SPD programming for 1333.
Click to expand...

If you can install Windows, run CPU-Z and it will read the SPD off of the RAM.

That's amazing though, I didn't think Xeon processors would run without ECC RAM.

Very interesting find!

I'm curious, in ASP, what does it say for your memory? Does it still say "OK"? I'm not sure how it can tell if its OK if there is no possible checking/correcting on non-ecc memory.
 
WonderSausage said:
The 2009 Mac Pro boots and runs perfectly with NON-ECC DDR3.

The memory did NOT get configured as DDR3-1333. This part isn't conclusive though, because as overclocker's RAM this Corsair does not necessarily have JEDEC SPD programming for 1333. Still a good 75% probability that the Mac Pro will not run at 1333.

"Mr. 2009 Mac Pro first unboxing" WonderSausage
Click to expand...

Well supposedly if you have the dual 2.66 or the 2.93 8 core Xeon you should be able to utilize 1333 Mhz DDR 3 memory because the Xeon can support this...I'm not sure however if the motherboard that the Mac Pro uses somehow restricts this.
 
WonderSausage said:
The 2009 Mac Pro boots and runs perfectly with NON-ECC DDR3.

I pulled out all of my OWC RAM and put in two Corsair DDR3-1600 2GB non-ECC DIMMs. It works fine.

The memory did NOT get configured as DDR3-1333. This part isn't conclusive though, because as overclocker's RAM this Corsair does not necessarily have JEDEC SPD programming for 1333. Still a good 75% probability that the Mac Pro will not run at 1333.

"Mr. 2009 Mac Pro first unboxing" WonderSausage
Click to expand...

OCZ offers an SPD programming tool (google SPD-z). If you know what timings the RAM can use at 1333 you could program the SPD with it. Failing support for 1333 you could alternatively program the SPD for super low latency 1066 timings.
 
music3 said:
Well supposedly if you have the dual 2.66 or the 2.93 8 core Xeon you should be able to utilize 1333 Mhz DDR 3 memory because the Xeon can support this...I'm not sure however if the motherboard that the Mac Pro uses somehow restricts this.
Click to expand...

music3,

WonderSausage has a 2.93 GHz dual CPU system and his 1600 MHz memory runs at 1066 MHz.

As I have suggested all along, Apple is not likely to advertise the specs at 1066 MHz if they planned on supporting 1333 MHz, regardless of what the CPUs actually support.

S-
 
Thanks Sidewinder for pointing that out. This is rather disappointing news especially since those Xeons are capable of running with faster memory. I was hoping that Apple was simply advertising 1066 Mhz DDR 3 memory because that is what they included and what they would sell but I didn't realize the Mac Pro was incapable of running 1333 Mhz.
 
Man this is a huge let down, I wonder if you would be able to use the higher RAM in the next not so far update, especially when the 3.2ghz is released.
 
jjahshik32 said:
Man this is a huge let down, I wonder if you would be able to use the higher RAM in the next not so far update, especially when the 3.2ghz is released.
Click to expand...

Don't get too upset just yet. As WonderSausage said:

"This part isn't conclusive though, because as overclocker's RAM this Corsair does not necessarily have JEDEC SPD programming for 1333."

S-
 
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