How important is the "Apple certified temperature sensor" for memory?

From previous posts regarding the (lack of a) temperature sensor... OS X will regard it as a hardware failure and tell you, and ramp up the fans to maximum since it doesn't know if they are hot or cold or whatever.

 

For lack of anything official with the recent Mac Pro's that use DDR3 RAM, it's presumed to be a carry-over from the FB-DIMM days... specifically:

http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/technotes/tn2006/tn2156.html

Otherwise, why else have RAM modules with a temperature sensor in them, if the system isn't going to react to them (or a lack thereof) properly?

 

Pity they don't seem to have the 1066 ram for the 3.2 quad though.

 

As mattmower said, it will down clock to 1066MHz. Only 1333MHz memory is officially supported on the 2010 Mac Pros and all models come with it.

 

Ah, sorry. I should have stated that I understood that. Just trying to count the pennies.

 

The presence of a temperature sensor has nothing to do with whether the memory module is buffered (registered) or unbuffered (unregistered). They're two completely different things.

Registered memory simply implies that there is a register on the memory module to reduce the electrical load between the module and the memory controller, improving stability, especially in applications where high-capacity modules are used (like 8GB modules, for example).

 

Always buy RAM directly from Apple. Their RAM is hundreds of dollars better than the competitors! <insert sarcasm>

 

Does anyone know if adding this 4GB stick to the existing 3x 1GB that come with the 2010 Mac Pro hexacore will work? So.. 1GB-1GB-1GB-4GB=7GB RAM? Would be a quick cheap fix for me.

 

I asked Crucial if the 4GB sticks contained and Thermal Sensor, they responded with:

"Hello Nick,

Thank you for contacting us. Yes, this memory has a thermal sensor on it.

If you have further questions, please visit... *blah, blah*.. etc, etc".


So, what are they on about?;p

 

Hrmmm, this thread is interesting. Transintl.com seems to have the best prices and it's good RAM. Is Crucial or anyone THAT much cheaper? Or is this searching mainly for the non-USA folk?

 

The 6 and twelve core machines use 1333 memory, the 4 and 8 cores still use 1066, FYI. But you can still stick 1333 memory in any of them and it will work and slow down if needed.

 

I have onfirmed with Super Talent Technical support manager that all Server DDR3 (not only from SuperTalent) you can buy now should include temperature sensor in the eeprom. This is because when ECC + REG specs together bring to fully compliance to JEDEC as mandatory.

Optionally, ECC/unbuffered DRAM can be with or without temperature sensor, and that's why maker will mark their item as support TS, in which case can be used for Mac Pro.

 

I hope this is correct. I can't believe Crucial would sell RAM that doesn't match the Apple spec. I have my Crucial RAM, is there any easy way to check. The packaging is not very informative.

 

Good stuff. Well done.