Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MP 6,1 Mac Pro RAM Compatibility Question

B

beccas

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 5, 2016
92
6
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
I don't claim to be an expert but I believe the 2013 maxes out at 64GB which is 16x4 chips and largest chips supported are 16GB (each). The one you linked to is 32GB. It also must be ECC memory (don't see that in the specs).

Here is a link with the details:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202892
 
The RAM is ECC but is LRDIMMs. Does anyone know? I already bought it so I do not need a link for a vendor. I am just trying to troubleshoot the issue I am having with what I already have.

The site linked below seems to think that the 12 core are needed but I am still not certain since I cannot find that information anywhere else to corroborate it.

https://www.afp548.com/2014/10/31/vmware-esxi-5-5-on-the-mac-pro-2013/


MrTed said:
If anyone knows where to find a good but cheap 16GO DDR3 1866 ECC Ram module...tell me !!
Thanks
Click to expand...

You can find that RAM on eBay for relatively (I do not know your budget) cheap.
 
beccas said:
The RAM is ECC but is LRDIMMs. Does anyone know? I already bought it so I do not need a link for a vendor. I am just trying to troubleshoot the issue I am having with what I already have.

The site linked below seems to think that the 12 core are needed but I am still not certain since I cannot find that information anywhere else to corroborate it.
Click to expand...

As far as I know, the 2013 requires RDIMMs for DIMMs over 8GB. I doubt LRDIMMs will work.

Also, unless this has been changed by a firmware update, 32GB DIMMs will operate at 800MHz with your 12-core processor (1066MHz with any lower number of cores).

If your application doesn’t need 64GB+ RAM, I think you will have better performance with smaller DIMMs. Why not install your new CPU and see?
 
Soba said:
As far as I know, the 2013 requires RDIMMs for DIMMs over 8GB. I doubt LRDIMMs will work.

Also, unless this has been changed by a firmware update, 32GB DIMMs will operate at 800MHz with your 12-core processor (1066MHz with any lower number of cores).

If your application doesn’t need 64GB+ RAM, I think you will have better performance with smaller DIMMs. Why not install your new CPU and see?
Click to expand...
I hope to upgrade the CPU soon. I just hadn't gotten around to it.

I also was unaware about the speed hit prior to purchase. I do not need that much RAM but figured I would because it is inexpensive. Would the speed hit really be noticeable?

I'm also moving on from a 2009 Mac Pro with 64GB of RAM so I didn't want to put less than what I was moving on from in my new unit. Wouldn't have felt like an upgrade for some reason.
 
Last edited:
You sound convinced that your 32GB RAM is ECC. I remain unsure. I say if ECC is not mentioned, then it is not ECC RAM. Maybe I'm wrong (?)
 
I will try to do the upgrade soon and report back. I'm hoping that it just needs the 12 core CPU.
 
beccas said:
I also was unaware about the speed hit prior to purchase. I do not need that much RAM but figured I would because it is inexpensive. Would the speed hit really be noticeable?
Click to expand...

It’s not clear what impact you’ll see in real-world usage. On paper, you are choosing between 4x16GB DIMMs at 1866MHz or any number of 32GB DIMMs at 800MHz, which is quite a drop. If you can, test with both configurations and see what works best for your application.

If your new RAM doesn’t work, I recommend you buy from a vendor that guarantees compatibility. Http://datamemorysystems.com gets my business almost every time.

I suggest buying what makes the most sense for performance in your situation and not getting hung up on just having more RAM. If you work on gigantic files in Photoshop or are editing HD videos where you would benefit from more RAM, then by all means, get 128GB. But if that RAM will just sit unused, there is no sense taking a performance hit with it downclocked to 800MHz.

edit: There is conflicting information about the speed of 32GB DIMMs. Data Memory Systems claims it will run at 1066MHz; Other World Computing claims 800MHz (on the 12-core Xeon).

edit2: 800MHz confirmed, unless this was since changed by a firmware update:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...28gb-ram.1939470/?post=22287566#post-22287566

I would seriously consider going with 4x16GB DIMMs unless you need the extra headroom.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back