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Adding memory to 6GB (6x1GB) Mac Pro 2.26

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xEradx

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 2, 2009
24
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Someone bought me the new Two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon with 6GB (6x1GB) ram. I never upgrade memory through apple because of the price. But it would have been worth it to upgrade to 8GB (4x2GB) [Add $100.00]. But its too late now. My plan is to slowly get to 16GB (8x2GB) and the day that's not enough memory I will get a new MP. Never plan on putting 32GB in this Machine.

So they say to install in pairs and on both cards. So you would need at least 4 sticks. What about in my case where I have only 2 free spots and it would not be worth it to buy 2 more 1GB stick and have no more room left. Can I get 2x2GB and add to my 6x1GB sticks? Or do I have to take out all my memory and get 4x2GB? That would seem like such a waste!
I use the machine for Final Cut Studio 2.
 
xEradx said:
Someone bought me the new Two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon with 6GB (6x1GB) ram. I never upgrade memory through apple because of the price. But it would have been worth it to upgrade to 8GB (4x2GB) [Add $100.00]. But its too late now. My plan is to slowly get to 16GB (8x2GB) and the day that's not enough memory I will get a new MP. Never plan on putting 32GB in this Machine.

So they say to install in pairs and on both cards. So you would need at least 4 sticks. What about in my case where I have only 2 free spots and it would not be worth it to buy 2 more 1GB stick and have no more room left. Can I get 2x2GB and add to my 6x1GB sticks? Or do I have to take out all my memory and get 4x2GB? That would seem like such a waste!
I use the machine for Final Cut Studio 2.
Click to expand...

yes, you can add 2GB sticks in the open slots.
 
speeds?

cmaier said:
yes, you can add 2GB sticks in the open slots.
Click to expand...

Will it make a speed difference to add the 2x2GB in the open slots? If there is, is it such a small diff that no one could really tell or would the difference not be as big as the gain of adding 4GB of memory???
Does that make since?
 
xEradx said:
Will it make a speed difference to add the 2x2GB in the open slots? If there is, is it such a small diff that no one could really tell or would the difference not be as big as the gain of adding 4GB of memory???
Does that make since?
Click to expand...

It's impossible to answer this question without knowing how much memory your apps use on average. Adding sticks to the fourth slot reduces average bandwidth, but if you need more than 6GB for your software then the speed improvement caused by not having to swap to disk will more than make up for it.

Personally, I'm planning on populating all four pairs of slots when my system arrives.
 
galstaph said:
keep in mind this machine has a sweet spot for triple channel memory configurations 6 (1x6), 12(2x6), 24(4x6). You get a higher bandwidth through the memory in triple channel than dual channel see barefeats
Click to expand...

yes, but my point is if you actually need more memory than is physically available, you are much better off having it, even if the fourth slot has to drop to single channel; single channel is thousands of times faster than paging to disk.
 
cmaier said:
It's impossible to answer this question without knowing how much memory your apps use on average. Adding sticks to the fourth slot reduces average bandwidth, but if you need more than 6GB for your software then the speed improvement caused by not having to swap to disk will more than make up for it.

Personally, I'm planning on populating all four pairs of slots when my system arrives.
Click to expand...

How are you populating all slots? 8x1GB? 6x1GB & 2x2GB or 8x2GB?
 
galstaph said:
keep in mind this machine has a sweet spot for triple channel memory configurations 6 (1x6), 12(2x6), 24(4x6). You get a higher bandwidth through the memory in triple channel than dual channel see barefeats
Click to expand...

Great Link! I understand now.
But now even more bummed that I have the 1GB sticks! :( If I add 2x2GB it will help when using Motion, but slow things down for other apps that don't need 10GB. So I guess I will make the 6GB work until I can afford to get 6x2GB.
 
xEradx said:
Great Link! I understand now.
But now even more bummed that I have the 1GB sticks! :( If I add 2x2GB it will help when using Motion, but slow things down for other apps that don't need 10GB. So I guess I will make the 6GB work until I can afford to get 6x2GB.
Click to expand...

A lot of people misunderstand what the barefeats data shows. Even that page says:

"If you have memory installed in all 8 slots of your 8-core Nehalem (or all 4 slots of a 4-core Nehalem), it may not penalize your real world application performance. The vast majority of real world applications do not saturate the memory bandwidth. Plus it's better to drop from triple channel to double channel performance than to run out of memory and start doing virtual memory disk swaps."

Furthermore, even the test in barefeats is misunderstood. It shows two bars - in one, 6x2G, and in the other 8x2G, and it shows MB/s. In other words, it shows bandwidth. The average bandwidth goes down by 33%. But the test accessed 33% more RAM.

The test doesn't show, at all, that you would have reduced performance in apps that only used 12GB. The grey bar test should have been limited to accessing the first 12GB to make that comparison, but it wasn't.
 
Mac Husky said:
Lucky guy. I´m still looking for this "someone" :D

Concerning your question: have a look at OWC data also.
Click to expand...

Yes I am very blessed. This is the second Mac given to me. The first was a 1.66ghz powerbook back in the power PC days. I gave it away march '08. Now someone give me a mac pro! Sweet!
All I can say is be a blessing to people and it will come back around. ;)
 
As a point of reference, When I bought my 3.0 Ghz Mac Pro in late 2007, Apple was recommending that ALL 8 RAM slots were used for maximum speed & performance. I installed 12Gb (4 X 2Gb & 4 X 1Gb) in mine & it smokes. I keep the Activity Monitor going all of the time, & occasionally see a core pegged. Even using Safari! Whenever I use Studio Artist, I'll see all 8 cores using every bit of my RAM.
 
Use the 6GB, when the pageouts creep up, you can add more memory.

Then you can decide how many Benjamins a half second is worth to swap apps faster, or when the pageouts creep up for the active app after a restart and it being the only app running.

Remember on the pageouts, huge uptime, and opening 50 apps will distort the number and generally not affect the currently running app and only gives you a .5-2 sec slowdown while swapping an app into active memory.
 
boogieman said:
So did I go wrong?? I done 6 sticks 2 gigs a piece.
Click to expand...

no, thats great! Put 3 on 1 side and 3 on the other and you have triple channel memory. Thats what I want because 6gb is not enough for what I do but 12gb would be just right.
Only add 2 more sticks if you need more memory, other wise leave it the way it is because it will be faster.
 
what about dual channel? If you need to put them in pairs and equal on each side then could you put 2x1gb & 2x2gb on one side and the same on the other and it be dual channel? It would work like this on a PC.
This would utilize the 1gb sticks I already have and be cheaper than buying 6x2gb.
 
xEradx said:
what about dual channel? If you need to put them in pairs and equal on each side then could you put 2x1gb & 2x2gb on one side and the same on the other and it be dual channel? It would work like this on a PC.
This would utilize the 1gb sticks I already have and be cheaper than buying 6x2gb.
Click to expand...
can anyone answer the question i quoted?
 
Hello to all,

I just have bougth a 2.26..
I basically do FCP, Motion and Shake.

I have been reading this thread and my question is.

What is best

A; 6x1GB + 2x 2GB
B; 4x1GB + 2x 2GB (sacrifice 2GB to keep the 3 channels)

I'm planning to have a full 6x2GB.. but little by little (better said project by project)

Any feedback?
thanks...
 
jjrecort said:
Hello to all,

I just have bougth a 2.26..
I basically do FCP, Motion and Shake.

I have been reading this thread and my question is.

What is best

A; 6x1GB + 2x 2GB
B; 4x1GB + 2x 2GB (sacrifice 2GB to keep the 3 channels)

I'm planning to have a full 6x2GB.. but little by little (better said project by project)

Any feedback?
thanks...
Click to expand...

Both those modes would lose you triple channel mode so between those two, take the first with more RAM.

Ideally though, you'd want 6x2GB.
 
So, if I mix memory sizes even having 3 Memory modules for each Processor I'm still loosing the 3 channels.

So to have the 3 channels all six modules MUST be the same size. rigth?

Well, my aim is to have 6x2GB..obviously... but I will be buying it little by little.. this way I'm not adding 720 EUR at once..

thanks!
 
jjrecort said:
So, if I mix memory sizes even having 3 Memory modules for each Processor I'm still loosing the 3 channels.

So to have the 3 channels all six modules MUST be the same size. rigth?

Well, my aim is to have 6x2GB..obviously... but I will be buying it little by little.. this way I'm not adding 720 EUR at once..

thanks!
Click to expand...

Triple channel needs to have identical memory chips to work. However, what *might* work is 3x1GB and 3x2GB although someone more knowledgeable might know for sure.

Alas, this is too late for you now but I think the most cost effective way of getting 12GB from the get-go is to CTO the machine from Apple with 4x2GB and then getting 2x2GB after market.
 
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