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OWC RAM for MP Quad 2009 12GB or 16GB Issue

M

mjones185

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 18, 2009
101
0
Warner Robins,GA
Hello,

I'm planning on purchasing new RAM for my MAC Pro Quad 2009. I'm looking at OWC and they have 12GB and 16GB kits (4GB modules each). I remember reading a while back some where that using 4 chips isn't wise verse using 3 chips. Will 12 GB be more than I need or will 16GB be better?

Will using all four RAM slots cause the computer to run slower? I use Aperture, Photoshop CS4 Master Collection, VMWare Fusion with several flavors of windows (not run at the same time).

I appreciate any feedback you can give me.

Thanks,

Mike
 
Hello,

I concur: go with 16. I've yet to see real world applications that will make that dual or triple bandwidth difference obvious. In theory, 3 chips will be faster, in practice, I haven't seen it.

Last year I tried it for myself with 2GB modules, testing the speed difference in PS4, using either 6GB or 8GB. (You can search for the results, the thread must still be here.)

In all real world tests (meaning not using all black or all white images to "test" it), 8GB was as fast or faster.

I also discovered that there are physical (as in voltages on the motherboard, at the RAM modules) reasons why we don't see much real world differences between dual or triple channels on 09 MPs. Maybe on the 2010 MPs?

Loa
 
Thanks for the link. Great info.

If I purchase the 12GB kit from OWC and then later want to add a 4thchip from OWC can I do that or are they sold as kits?

Mike
 
Hello,

As long as all your modules are all 4GB and come from OWC, there won't be any problem.

If anyone knows *why* OWC 4GB+ modules require sets, I'd like to know.

Loa
 
Thanks everyone for your info. BIG HELP. I'd probably never know the difference between two and three channel performance. I know at the moment with the stock 3GBs of RAM I get beach balls if I try to run windows through VMWare (Win set at 1024GB, 1 Processor) and it's almost impossible to do anything else during that time.

When I use Aperture 3it's slow as well as PS CS4. Owe, and don't get me on Office 08.


BTW, anyone know why there's a little over 200 dollars price difference between Crucial and OWC? I've got Crucial in two of my MacBook Pros but never used OWC before.


Once again thanks for the info.
 
I bought the 16 gig kit from OWC, and only 3 of 4 sticks worked. They had me RMA the whole kit back while cross-shipping a new kit of 4 sticks, saying the kit needed to be exact match, so no shipping a single stick. The new 4 sticks all worked perfectly, and had different matching numbers and packaging, so I don't know.

On the subject of using all RAM, I've seen all 16 gigs used by Premiere Pro, for what that's worth to you. Just after I got the 16, they offered the 32 gig kits, and I wish I had that now! Hahaha...
 
wonderspark said:
I bought the 16 gig kit from OWC, and only 3 of 4 sticks worked. They had me RMA the whole kit back while cross-shipping a new kit of 4 sticks, saying the kit needed to be exact match, so no shipping a single stick. The new 4 sticks all worked perfectly, and had different matching numbers and packaging, so I don't know.

On the subject of using all RAM, I've seen all 16 gigs used by Premiere Pro, for what that's worth to you. Just after I got the 16, they offered the 32 gig kits, and I wish I had that now! Hahaha...
Click to expand...

Have you heard of this being the norm, bad RAM? Have you noticed any performance issues going from 3 channel to two channel by using all four slots?

Thanks for your feedback. I'm looking at ordering very soon.
 
mjones185 said:
Have you heard of this being the norm, bad RAM? Have you noticed any performance issues going from 3 channel to two channel by using all four slots?

Thanks for your feedback. I'm looking at ordering very soon.
Click to expand...

In 1998, I bought a 256 MB DIMM from OWC, and it was bad. Their return process was a huge pain.

In 2008, their price on Mac Pro FB-DIMMs was so good that I bought 8 GB from them. One of the sticks was bad.

Their prices are tempting but I don't like the product very much. Spend a little more and go with Ramjet, Crucial, etc.
 
OWC's RMA must have improved, then. They let me keep the working 12 gigs until the new 16 kit arrived, payed all shipping, hassle-free.

I didn't do a benchmark with only three sticks in, but I'm curious now, so I'll have to pull one out and see the difference.
 
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