The MR Front Page article on the nMP release yesterday has numerous links to Apple support documents which will answer most if not all of your questions.
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MP 7,1 3rd Party RAM
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Macshroomer
macrumors 65816
Fairly common knowledge. They've been doing it for years.
Korican100
macrumors 65816
i already have 48gb from apple. not sure what to do from here. either sell the apple sticks, and go full owc, or invest in more apple sticks
Macshroomer
macrumors 65816
Change your order to the minimum (32GB) and buy what you need from either OWC or Crucial. I do believe OWC will offer a rebate for your current sticks. I would go at least 16GB sticks though that way you can add more later and be more effective in your upgrade path.
For example if you go 6x 16GB sticks for 96GB from OWC it would be $649 minus whatever they give you for your 6x 8GB sticks. Then you can still add 6 more later.
Or 4x 32GB sticks would be $799 for a total of 128GB, and you have 8 more slots open for an even bigger upgrade.
Either way I would not pay the premium for Apple ram and it might be cheap insurance to keep the 8GB sticks handy for warranty / backup.
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Stephen.R
Suspended
The base is 4x8GB DIMMs.
You cannot "add" 6 DIMMs: it's not a supported configuration. You can add 2, 4 or 8 (i.e. you can use a total of 4, 6, 8 or 12 DIMMS. Essentially you need a multiple of 4 or a multiple of 6, so that it operates in either quad channel or hex channel mode.
Looking at Crucial's website I see multiple varieties of the same type ( DDR4-2933; RDIMM). One kind is single-ranked vs dual-ranked. One is x4 based vs x8 based. Do these details matter? Or effect compatibility with existing Apple memory?
fuchsdh
macrumors 68020
MisterAndrew
macrumors 68030
When I upgrade the RAM in mine I'll look for Samsung server pulls on eBay. That worked well for my 5,1. That's what's been so great about RAM upgrades for Mac Pros is that we can get used server RAM. I guess it sells cheap because it can't be used in most anything else besides servers.
I don't what rank Apple is sending from the factory, but generally ranks should not be mixed in the same channel. If you are replacing them all, then I would go with all dual rank -- if they are Mac Pro compatible -- and on Crucial's web site they are not in the Mac Memory section although that may not matter. The number of pins should be 288.
Amazing that a commonly known criminal practice would leave no trace on google.
What about the memory being x4 based vs x8 based? What's the deal with that? Just make sure not to mix them in the same channel?
fuchsdh
macrumors 68020
So the alternative is trusting random people on forums versus actual lived customer experience.... I know which I'll take.
And do you know about the “jedec norm”? I see the OWC ram has PC23400 while my crucial dumm of choice has PC4-23466R whatever that means.. nothing about that on the Apple support document...
will it matter? OWC still is pretty expensive compared with other sources..
Basically: is this https://www.crucial.de/deu/de/ct32g4rfd4293 one gonna work? It should?
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thisisnotmyname
macrumors 68020
Looks correct to me, just buy it from someone with a generous return policy just in case 😊
I got the answer to that from Kingston. The x4 & x8 has to do with the type of DRAM chip used to assemble the modules. A short summary of the article:
• No difference in performance
• x4 uses twice as many chips as x8
• x8 is more energy efficient than x4 because half as many chips
• Don't mix the two types in the same channel
Appears then that x8 is the better choice, especially since it might often be cheaper.
Yea, the store that I have in mind offers 14 days return, but they have it on sale right now for 146€ each and my MP is not gonna arrive within that time frame 😉
thisisnotmyname
macrumors 68020
Pay attention to restocking fees as well. You may be able to return within 14 days but if you open the box (or even don't) you could be hit with 15-20% for restock when you return. Not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things but avoid an unpleasant surprise by knowing if that's the case before you buy.
Halfdrac
macrumors newbie
I just order 2x32gb for a 16-core from OWC—$399, 14 days until available. From apples support site it sounds like you can combine it with lower ram size like the 4x8gb as long as you put them in the correct slots—total 96. Do you think it will be bad to mix apple and OWC RAM—i've done it before in iMacs but just wanted to get your thoughts
Anti-OWC peeps:
Would this Samsung 32 gig stick from Newegg work:
https://www.newegg.com/p/1FR-004A-0...d5fQnJENzUCecehtx1hoCXBwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
I was dead set on OWC, but if this works just as well, the savings is substantial.
Would this Samsung 32 gig stick from Newegg work:
https://www.newegg.com/p/1FR-004A-0...d5fQnJENzUCecehtx1hoCXBwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
I was dead set on OWC, but if this works just as well, the savings is substantial.
MisterAndrew
macrumors 68030
Documentation? I have my own reasons for disliking OWC, but it's illegal in the US to sell used as new.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/20.1
MisterAndrew
macrumors 68030
I don't know. They are using the photo for the 32GB DIMM (RDIMM) for both the 64GB and 128GB DIMMs (which are LRDIMMs).
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