According to this article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehalem_(microarchitecture)), the 2.26 Octad uses 3x DDR3 1066 MT/s RAM, but the 2.66 and 2.93 use 3x DDR3 1333 MT/s RAM.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Shouldn't MP 2.66/2.93 Octads use 3xDDR3 1333 MT/s RAM?
- Thread starter DeepCobalt
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Exactly what I was thinking, the whole Mac Pro line uses 1067 MHz RAM because of the one 2.27 GHz quad-core CPU.
I think someone on this forum put in a 1333mhz RAM in their 2.93GHz octad and it still showed up as 1066mhz.
I think that was wondersausage with 1600MHz unbuffered non-ECC DIMMs.
You can set the memory speed and QPI rate on the i7s yourself so obviously Apple can do it in firmware.
anybody have any ideas on when or how much ram prices should come down?
they're already cheaper than they were initially, and i recall someone saying in the gainestown "everything we know" thread that RAM prices over time are plotted as an inverted bell curve... but i see that the current RAM prices are already around as good as they got for the other MP's... around 18 or 19 per gig for 2gb modules. i can wait a couple weeks to buy if there's a decently large drop predicted but obviously i'm wondering if that's not worth it.
they're already cheaper than they were initially, and i recall someone saying in the gainestown "everything we know" thread that RAM prices over time are plotted as an inverted bell curve... but i see that the current RAM prices are already around as good as they got for the other MP's... around 18 or 19 per gig for 2gb modules. i can wait a couple weeks to buy if there's a decently large drop predicted but obviously i'm wondering if that's not worth it.
Well, that's just where they're STARTING. The bell curve will happen, just with them getting even cheaper.
You can't base non FB-DIMM RAM prices on FB-DIMM prices.
Yes.
I'm interested in seeing the realworld benchmarks from places like Anandtech when the NDAs lift.
It certainly simplifies parts bins.
It happens to allow for better price negotiations as well, as the quantity of a single part is higher than variants adding up to the same quantity. The W3520 & W3540, Yes. The W3570 that Apple doesn't use, is capable of operating 1333MHz memory.
On a PC intended board, yes.
Apple actually allowed for overclocking in their firmware?
It would be nice. As am I.
It's worth pointing out that virtually no application can saturate a tri-channel 1066 memory bus as it is. Not even most mac benchmarks... LOL. I had to run Sandra in Windows to make sure my memory bandwidth wasn't broken.
I wonder if third parties will later offer 1333 RAM for Mac Pros, or if the next revision will use it.
Even if it's usable in the Gulftown, it's still going to come down to cost (specs are tentative, but seem to be 800 - 1066MHz). Intel could easily change this of course.
Referring me to this thread would have saved me some effort!
It looks now like Apple will need new firmware for the 5600 in spring if the Gulftown runs a 1600 MHz memory controller as rumored. They are not going to castrate this machine from 1600 to 1066, are they? I mean they did that for the 5500 and they probably thought the band width was so huge people would not even realize it. Tell me someone that its not going to happen again.
It looks now like Apple will need new firmware for the 5600 in spring if the Gulftown runs a 1600 MHz memory controller as rumored. They are not going to castrate this machine from 1600 to 1066, are they? I mean they did that for the 5500 and they probably thought the band width was so huge people would not even realize it. Tell me someone that its not going to happen again.
With the announcement of 10G Ethernet, it's going to be a different board. 10G chips must connect via PCIe lanes rather than the PCI for current NIC chips used, as it can't handle the bandwidth. Even if it's a slight modification from the existing one, it's not going to be the same. Users could get lucky in the sense that more PCIe lanes are added to make up the bandwidth requirements (2x chipsets in a master-slave config).Referring me to this thread would have saved me some effort!
It looks now like Apple will need new firmware for the 5600 in spring if the Gulftown runs a 1600 MHz memory controller as rumored. They are not going to castrate this machine from 1600 to 1066, are they? I mean they did that for the 5500 and they probably thought the band width was so huge people would not even realize it. Tell me someone that its not going to happen again.