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Macbook Pro 5,1 RAM Upgrade

C

Can Inelli

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 12, 2011
86
17
Hi Everyone,

I have Macbook Pro 15" 2,66 . I want to upgrade my 4 GB Ram to 8 GB Ram. When I check from Apple' s website it says mine is "Late 2008". However I checked from other websites they say "Early 2009". Late 2008 only supports 6GB but Early 2009 supports 8GB if I understood correctly from the threads in the forum. I made a lot of research but can't get the answer.

Is my mbp late 2008 or early 2009? Can I upgrade to 8GB of Ram?

http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/?search_keywords=71C

https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do?sn=W89142FL71C

Thanks,
 
Hellhammer

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
C

Can Inelli

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 12, 2011
86
17
Hellhammer said:
All big, well-known brands are pretty much the same in terms of quality. Crucial seems to be a bit cheaper than Amazon
Click to expand...

I think I may go for this one thanks. I also want to upgrade my hard drive to Seagate or Hitachi 750GB 7200 rpm . What would you suggest ? Are there 1TB 7200rpm disks yet ?
 
Hellhammer

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
Can Inelli said:
I think I may go for this one thanks. I also want to upgrade my hard drive to Seagate or Hitachi 750GB 7200 rpm . What would you suggest ? Are there 1TB 7200rpm disks yet ?
Click to expand...

Scorpio Black is currently the fastest 750GB 7200rpm drive so if you can find it and it doesn't cost too much, I would go with that. Unfortunately there are no 1TB 7200rpm HDs in 2.5" form factor, yet.
 
C

Can Inelli

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 12, 2011
86
17
Hellhammer said:
Scorpio Black is currently the fastest 750GB 7200rpm drive so if you can find it and it doesn't cost too much, I would go with that. Unfortunately there are no 1TB 7200rpm HDs in 2.5" form factor, yet.
Click to expand...

My MBP is the one with the easy access door at the back . When I check from Apple Website they say max 4 GB how is this possible ?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1270#link3

Thanks,
 
C

Can Inelli

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 12, 2011
86
17
Hellhammer said:
Because that guide is for late 2008 model. The official limit stated by Apple is 4GB but people have been able to install 8GB fine
Click to expand...

Alright thanks a lot. Crucial is currently out of stocks I think I may go for Kingston 8GB.
 
Gen

Gen

macrumors 6502a
Jul 15, 2008
901
99
McGiord said:
After Mac OS X 10.6.6 the late 2008 MacBook Pro can handle the 8 Gb RAM.
Another website for buying RAM and accessories is:
http://www.macsales.com

Check here an old thread about this:
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=11899454#post11899454

Look into the last posts.
Click to expand...

Hmm, skeptical on that. For example the 5,1 2.4Ghz MBP only supports up to 6GB of ram, even though it's a first run unibody model.
A software update couldn't have fixed a hardware limitation.

Even Macsales agrees with me, only the higher speced late 2008 models support 8GB of ram.
 
C

Can Inelli

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 12, 2011
86
17
Gen said:
Hmm, skeptical on that. For example the 5,1 2.4Ghz MBP only supports up to 6GB of ram, even though it's a first run unibody model.
A software update couldn't have fixed a hardware limitation.

Even Macsales agrees with me, only the higher speced late 2008 models support 8GB of ram.
Click to expand...

Mine is 2,66 and I run Snow Leopard 10.6.6 so I guess 8 gb will work for sure ?
 
R

RKpro

macrumors 6502
Oct 27, 2008
467
1
Gen said:
Hmm, skeptical on that. For example the 5,1 2.4Ghz MBP only supports up to 6GB of ram, even though it's a first run unibody model.
A software update couldn't have fixed a hardware limitation.

Even Macsales agrees with me, only the higher speced late 2008 models support 8GB of ram.
Click to expand...

I have 8GB in that very machine, base model 2.4 late 2008 5,1. But not all Ram works, I tried Mushkin, and no luck, but Crucial is working for me.

You're right, an OS X software update can't make it suddenly work, but an SMC/bios update can, and I believe I remember seeing one installed as part of Software Update a few months ago. The system has to find the Ram before it can even begin to look for an OS to boot.
 
Gen

Gen

macrumors 6502a
Jul 15, 2008
901
99
RKpro said:
I have 8GB in that very machine, base model 2.4 late 2008 5,1. But not all Ram works, I tried Mushkin, and no luck, but Crucial is working for me.

You're right, an OS X software update can't make it suddenly work, but an SMC/bios update can, and I believe I remember seeing one installed as part of Software Update a few months ago. The system has to find the Ram before it can even begin to look for an OS to boot.
Click to expand...

It will recognize it, but it's only able to access 6GB - that's a hardware limitation.
 
Z

zero85ZEN

macrumors regular
Apr 8, 2009
119
0
Indianapolis
Has anyone who is running 8GB in a late '08 unibody 5,1 MBP run some intensive memory tests to find out conclusively that 8GB will work in these machines with the latest firmware updates/OS updates and posted some results anywhere?

Answers I'd love to know:
Does this model access more than 6GB when 8GB are installed?
When accessing more than 6GB does it remain stable?
Does it run 8GB fine booted into either 32bit or 64bit mode?

I (along with a bunch of other folks) would really like to know conclusively if 8GB will work in my 2.53GHz 5,1 uMBP.

If I had time I'd do these tests myself but I'm a self employed video editor and I'm buried in work projects....
 
R

RKpro

macrumors 6502
Oct 27, 2008
467
1
udvyH.png

I'm not convinced. I have 3 VMs running and it says the entire system is using more then 7GB, and there is barely any memory swapping as you can see.
 
S

stevemiller

macrumors 68000
Oct 27, 2008
1,984
1,493
i i recently put 8gb of corsair value select (uber cheap) memory in my mbp 5,1 (2.8ghz built-to-order purchased in october 2008). i used a command line program thats been passed around on these forums called 'piggy' which eats up memory in 1gb increments to test system stability.

as you can see in the following screencap, i ran 6 instances of piggy to use up 6gb of ram, then started playing some music on itunes and loaded a website in google chrome. a small amount of swap was generated upon starting itunes, but in general the system has remained responsive even after taking the snapshot, exporting it as a gif in preview and creating this post.

i admit i am slightly confused as my wired+active memory amounts to less than what the piggy program alone should be using up, but at least in theory this shows that a 5,1 mbp can access more than 6gb of ram. i do know that if i start a 7th instance of piggy, the page outs and swap start ballooning much more quickly. does it make sense that snow leopard should start chugging with essentially 1gb of ram? (or 768mb if 256mb is reserved for the 9400m graphics processor)

memory.gif
 
SPEEDwithJJ

SPEEDwithJJ

macrumors 65816
Nov 2, 2008
1,188
1
I have the same exact MBP as the OP, a MC026LL/A model. I've not thoroughly tested whether the MBP can make use of the full 8GB of RAM but the 8GB (2x4GB) Crucial RAM that I've installed in my MBP is recognized by it.
 
I

impactofal

macrumors newbie
Mar 28, 2011
1
0
Just wondering if you had a chance to check the MC026LL/A RAM usage yet? I'm planning to pick up this same model used tomorrow and would love to upgrade to 8GB.

SPEEDwithJJ said:
I have the same exact MBP as the OP, a MC026LL/A model. I've not thoroughly tested whether the MBP can make use of the full 8GB of RAM but the 8GB (2x4GB) Crucial RAM that I've installed in my MBP is recognized by it.
Click to expand...
 
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