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

Memory requirement for Mac Pro

M

M.Ford

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 28, 2008
34
0
Hi all,

I recently ordered a Mac Pro and decided to stay at 2GB of memory. I am wondering about upgrading to 4GB but I am not sure that is necessary. I come from a windows background and know that memory management on the Mac is completely different and better than Windows so I have no frame of reference on the memory needs. Any information offered would be much appreciated.
 
well it totally depends on what you'll be running on the machine. you need to post what apps you'll be running and how intensive you'll be running them.
 
OSX loves to have more memory. I would recommend upgrading unless you really can't swing it.
 
I come from a Windows background too and recently purchased a Mac Pro. I bought an additional 2GB of RAM (third party) and have burned through it quickly running several VMware Fusion sessions at once. If you plan on running virtual OS instances in the background, I recommended 4GB or more. Throw on some video editing and photo editing too and you will eat up 4GB pretty quick.

Enjoy your new Mac Pro. It is a great machine.
 
I am planning to do video and picture editing. Some games but not too many.
 
M.Ford said:
I am planning to do video and picture editing. Some games but not too many.
Click to expand...

Well.. video editing can use alot of RAM...! Final Cut Pro..?

Some games.... you mean Crysis in Windows Vista x64...?

Nah.. seriously.. I see 4 GB (4 x 1 GB sticks) as the sweet-spot for Leopard.
Ofcourse more is better, and leaving room for an additional 4 x 1 GB is good practice.
 
That is interesting and I thank you for the responses. I will probably go with 2 for now then upgrade soon. The machine was enough money for one month :p (and no, not crysis though I am interested in how it would run. I am WoW guy)
 
Hi:

One thing I didn't notice skimming this thread was the advisement that Apple's reputed to price-gouge people on RAM upgrades; people seem to like Other World Computing for buying more RAM, although a number of vendors are used by some folks (i.e.: Crucial).

Richard.
 
In my experience, 4GB seems to be the sweet spot for OSX and general multitasking usage. Of course, if you do need more than that, you already know it.
 
The first month I just went ahead and ordered 8x2gb (total of 16gb to get the maximum output) and couldnt be happier. Pretty much runs through whatever you throw at the Mac Pro. :D
 
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