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6GB in MacBook (Pro); Yes it works. - 8GB... well...

DoFoT9 said:
i think it works but it causes either
a) stability issues
b) performance issues.

:(
Click to expand...

It'll boot. It just won't be able to access over 4GB. It crashes and that model isn't 64-bit enabled for the Kernel so I haven't been able to test it out in 64-bit.
 
Is it possible to have 5GB? I currently have 2x1GB, i want to get 1x4GB Card so when they get cheaper/need one i don't need to totally throw away 2x2GB but just throw away 1x1GB one and add another 4GB, what's the best ram for a MBP?
 
DoFoT9 said:
do you have access to that application that forces the OS to boot 64-bit?
Click to expand...

Nope. Is there one?

Alvi said:
Is it possible to have 5GB? I currently have 2x1GB, i want to get 1x4GB Card so when they get cheaper/need one i don't need to totally throw away 2x2GB but just throw away 1x1GB one and add another 4GB, what's the best ram for a MBP?
Click to expand...

Yes. The max is 6GB. You can have any number below that.
 
Question Answered Please?!

Hi,

I need to know something I have a black macbook early '08 2.4 ghz running snow leopard. I want to upgrade to 6gb ram.

I need to know- what combination will work for me?
for instance say I use 4gb and 2gb - do they both have to be ddr2 6400 or 5300? Should the 4gb stick be 6400 or 5300? I dont think the model supports dual-memory channel (I may be wrong)..but what combinations can I use for this exactly?
 
maveric07777 said:
Hi,

I need to know something I have a black macbook early '08 2.4 ghz running snow leopard. I want to upgrade to 6gb ram.

I need to know- what combination will work for me?
for instance say I use 4gb and 2gb - do they both have to be ddr2 6400 or 5300? Should the 4gb stick be 6400 or 5300? I dont think the model supports dual-memory channel (I may be wrong)..but what combinations can I use for this exactly?
Click to expand...

The OWC site will tell you if your MB will take 6GB. The mem upgrade capability is very model specific.

JohnG
 
just upped my march 2009 17" unibody to 8gb Ram

i got transcend 4gb x2 DDR3 1333, its backwards compatible so runs at 1067

i also got a 640gb WD drive, the 1tb wasnt available in taiwan yet :(

all my apps open way faster now,,especially shake and nuke :)

just hold 6 and 4 down when u boot, if your mac is 64 bit and has snow leopard it will start in 64bit mode
 
Upgrading a Rev. C MacBook Pro to max spec.

I could do with some advice on upgrading a Rev. C MacBook Pro.

1. I just fitted a 500GB HD but the system has slowed down a bit. I put a 500GB one in because it was quite cheap at £55, but I may consider downsizing that to 320 or even 250 as the original HD was 120 anyway, so anything above that is a bonus.

2. I wish to upgrade to the max RAM that will work efficiently on my machine. (I'm going to presume that if I increase the RAM then my system will be able to handle the new 500GB HD a bit better? If not then I'll downsize the HD as I've already said.) I checked through this thread but I couldn't find a reference to upgrading the RAM for a Rev. C MacBook Pro. Can someone please point me in the right direction? Also, how do I find out what type of chips I will need?

I'm still on OSX 10.4 and will be wanting to put 10.6 on asap, so assume that any advice you give will be for a Rev. C MacBook Pro, OSX 10.6

Many thanks. :)
 
InDaMode said:
I could do with some advice on upgrading a Rev. C MacBook Pro.

1. I just fitted a 500GB HD but the system has slowed down a bit. I put a 500GB one in because it was quite cheap at £55, but I may consider downsizing that to 320 or even 250 as the original HD was 120 anyway, so anything above that is a bonus.

2. I wish to upgrade to the max RAM that will work efficiently on my machine. (I'm going to presume that if I increase the RAM then my system will be able to handle the new 500GB HD a bit better? If not then I'll downsize the HD as I've already said.) I checked through this thread but I couldn't find a reference to upgrading the RAM for a Rev. C MacBook Pro. Can someone please point me in the right direction? Also, how do I find out what type of chips I will need?

I'm still on OSX 10.4 and will be wanting to put 10.6 on asap, so assume that any advice you give will be for a Rev. C MacBook Pro, OSX 10.6

Many thanks. :)
Click to expand...

Which one is Rev C? What is your screen size, cpu speed and graphics card?
 
ayeying said:
For those, you can put 2x 2GB ram for 4GB total but only 3GB can be accessed. It's a hardware limitation.
Click to expand...
OK thanks. So I may as well replace one of the 1GB with a 2GB = 3GB? I'll see what that does in terms or performance WRT the 500GB HD I've just fitted also. I'm thinking I'm still going to need to reduce that down to 320 or 250. But we'll see.
 
InDaMode said:
OK thanks. So I may as well replace one of the 1GB with a 2GB = 3GB? I'll see what that does in terms or performance WRT the 500GB HD I've just fitted also. I'm thinking I'm still going to need to reduce that down to 320 or 250. But we'll see.
Click to expand...

The amount of RAM you have should have no bearing on how quick your hard disk is. More RAM would increase performance because your Mac would have to rely less on the slower hard disk but in other words, if you upgrade your hard disk to a larger capacity but things seem slower, more RAM shouldn't mean your computer is "more comfortable" with the larger hard disk. So any problems shouldn't be due to the larger capacity but more of a particular model being slower.

A larger, newer hard disk should be quicker in general though so what you're observing is quite surprising. Do you know who manufactures and what models your hard disks are?
 
The HD is a WD Scorpio Blue. Like this, but 500GB http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WD-320GB-2-5-...K_Computing_HardDrives_RL&hash=item414eb35a6e

I'm thinking that because my MacBook Pro was made late 2006 it wasn't designed to be working with such a large volume, as it was configured to work with a 120GB. Is this thinking incorrect?

I have no other knowledge to say why it's slowed down after fitting the 500GB HD. I cloned the old drive to this new one before fitting, so I'd think the OS has remained the same. I'm still on 10.4 and will be getting 10.6 asap, maybe this will help?
 
Specifically the model is: WD5000BEVT

Performance Specifications
Rotational Speed 5,400 RPM (nominal)
Buffer Size 8 MB
Average Latency 5.50 ms (nominal)
Seek Times
Read Seek Time 12.0 ms
Track-To-Track Seek Time 2.0 ms (average)
Transfer Rates
Buffer To Host (Serial ATA) 3 Gb/s (Max)
Physical Specifications
Formatted Capacity 500,107 MB
Capacity 500 GB
Interface SATA 3 Gb/s
User Sectors Per Drive 976,773,168
 
InDaMode said:
The HD is a WD Scorpio Blue. Like this, but 500GB http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WD-320GB-2-5-...K_Computing_HardDrives_RL&hash=item414eb35a6e

I'm thinking that because my MacBook Pro was made late 2006 it wasn't designed to be working with such a large volume, as it was configured to work with a 120GB. Is this thinking incorrect?

I have no other knowledge to say why it's slowed down after fitting the 500GB HD. I cloned the old drive to this new one before fitting, so I'd think the OS has remained the same. I'm still on 10.4 and will be getting 10.6 asap, maybe this will help?
Click to expand...

That's the same hard disk I'm using albeit on a more recent machine. It's a very good hard disk and should certainly be faster than your 120GB.

Still, yes, that thinking is incorrect. Mac aren't designed to work optimally only on a specific hard drive capacity.

What is it exactly that makes you think your computer has slowed down? The problem is that I'm not sure what is the cause of this slow down so I can't say with certainty if 10.6 will help. It MIGHT so give it a try.
 
Oh it's deffo slowed down; takes twice as long to boot and firefox keeps crashing when I have many windows open. I've also just been using Ableton for an hour or so and it's well stuttery, yet the CPU usage meter (within Albleton) is still low at around 15%. I've basically been doing the same things I normally do and noticed a significant difference in performance, say it's down to 50-65% of it's normal speed. Even typing this message is slow to display as I type.

I fitted the HD a couple of weeks ago and noticed this lack in performance straight away. Also the HD is almost constantly wirring around, even when I'm not really doing anything. Do you know of a way I could do a performance test on the HD? Either as it's connected or in a USB caddy. I may also be able to test it by fitting it into my friends 2008 MacBook, as a process of elimination.

I will be upgrading the RAM and OSX regardless, so if I can get it back to the speed I was used to then great. Otherwise, as I said, I don't mind getting a smaller size HD.

I think I might put the original HD back, just so I know for sure whether the loss of performance is related to the new HD or not. And I'll get back to you if that's ok? I appreciate your time and help already, many thanks. :)
 
Ah, I see. I guess what you're experiencing can be consistent with a hard disk issue. It's possible that you got a dud hard disk.

X-Bench, which you can get at http://www.xbench.com/ is a Mac benchmark tool which includes tests for the hard disk.

And good idea on using the process of elimination on your own and a friend's Mac even though I imagine it can be a big pain to swap hard disks.

You're very welcome and too kind; I wish I was of bigger help.
 
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