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Add RAM from OWC to my Mac Pro?

MythicFrost

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,944
40
Australia
Hey, I have an early 08 Mac Pro (8-core), I've got 10GB RAM, 4x 2GB and 2x 1GB, if I added 4x 4GB ram from OWC (DDR2 800MHz), filling in the two empty slots, and replacing the two 1GB slots, would that be OK, or is the RAM from apple not compatible with the RAM from OWC?

Kind Regards
Me
 
Awesome, thanks a lot..

Do you know if they sell the ATI Radeon HD 4870's? they're pretty expensive from Apple.. I've had a look, and seem to only see older graphics cards.

Kind Regards
Me
 
K thanks, I'll search for it, on the chance I can't find it, can you post the link to that thread?

Kind Regards
Me
 
OWC is awesome. They sell certified RAM and have great selection and customer service. No wonder they've been along for such a long time.
 
Thanks for the link, it looks like it's very risky flashing the ATI card, so I probably won't try, but I have a question, if I do do it, can I do it while my Mac is on, using Windows XP in Parallels 4.0?

Does anyone know any site that sells the NVidia Quadro FX 5600 1.5GB for Mac? I've found some in eBay, but I don't exactly trust I'm getting what I'm paying for.

Kind Regards
Me
 
MythicFrost said:
Thanks for the link, it looks like it's very risky flashing the ATI card, so I probably won't try, but I have a question, if I do do it, can I do it while my Mac is on, using Windows XP in Parallels 4.0?

Does anyone know any site that sells the NVidia Quadro FX 5600 1.5GB for Mac? I've found some in eBay, but I don't exactly trust I'm getting what I'm paying for.

Kind Regards
Me
Click to expand...
It's quite easy, really. Just follow this guide and you'll do fine. I had mine flashed and up and running 10 minutes after taking it out of the box.

http://web.me.com/jacobcroft/4870Flash/4870Flash.html

Be sure to flash it using the method described (use DOS boot disc). Do NOT flash it in windows.
 
I used Winflash in a friend's computer and it did work, but using it in a VM while OS X is running? That sounds quite unwise. Best to stick with DOS and ATIflash, I think.
 
The only thing I have a problem with is, installing Windows on BootCamp, I'd rather not do that, maybe I could just pay the guy to flash em for me, and ship them here. (hehe)
Edit: oh and it can't run two 30i monitors :'(

I only have a 23i, if I got a 30i, I'd want it to work with two *cries*

Thanks for all your help everyone, much appreciated!

Kind Regards
 
MythicFrost said:
The only thing I have a problem with is, installing Windows on BootCamp, I'd rather not do that, maybe I could just pay the guy to flash em for me, and ship them here. (hehe)
Edit: oh and it can't run two 30i monitors :'(

I only have a 23i, if I got a 30i, I'd want it to work with two *cries*

Thanks for all your help everyone, much appreciated!

Kind Regards
Click to expand...

Flashed XFX cards can run a 30" monitor and a 23" monitor. It can't run two 30" screens though. Basically the top port remains Dual Link DVI compatible but the bottom port gets downgraded for some unknown reason to Single Link DVI.
 
MythicFrost said:
I see, is the speed of the card the same as if it was bought from apple the 512MB version?

Kind Regards
Click to expand...

The bandwidth is currently limited to PCIe 1.x speeds instead of PCIe 2.0 speeds for some unknown reason. However, this has very little impact - if any, for most applications. The only ones that can see a bit of performance degradation here are ones that constantly transfer info back and forwards across the bus, i.e. Mudbox.

In terms of the actual card, Apple actually underclocks their cards a little bit so the flashed cards are actually a bit faster.
 
They do it for stability. If its under clocked it performs under specs and thus saving hardware of the card.

You can't flash the card in parallels or fusion. its impossible because both parallels and fusion abstract hardware from you. Flashing is very low level stuff and best run under DOS as its most stable. Windows has a higher chance of crapping out so even though you can use winflash to flash it i would still do it in DOS. also be careful because if something happens during flash, your card can stop working. essentially it will be a video card without any ROM on it. So best advice is to boot into DOS, follow directions, don't do anything else on the computer until flash is finished and don't touch power cable. I did that once when i was flashing my X1900. Everything was going great until i accidentally touched the power cable to my dell computer and it fell out since it wasn't inserted all the way in. End result was a nice $200 doorstop.

alex
 
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