Worried MPro (Early 08) Owner (Crashes & slow day-to day useage)

[jonnyback]

I bought a MacPro 2.8 Octo in Jan 08 but have had a few problems in daily use (e.g. using Safari, Mail, EyeTV (often recording to HD at the same time - but problem remains when EyeTV is off), Word '08, iTunes - on average 6+ open at anyone time).

When I do normal day to day stuff there is often a long lag/crashes (Safari crashes the most). Things like Finder take a longer time than on other Macs I've tried (.e.g 07 Macbook & iMac) to load quick previews.

On www.retouchartists.com speed test it took 3 times as long as an older MacPro Intel Xeon 4x2.66 with the same setup of 2gb RAM and factory HD, so it IS slow right?


Is it becase I have no extra RAM? (I have kept it at 2gb as it came when bought)

Is it that the HD that comes with is slow (or so I've read?)?

Or it because I need to reinstall Leopard?

Don't get me wrong, I love this beast, I just am having troubles when I'm doing daily stuff.


Thank you for an help,

J

 

[krye]

Have you tried the hardware test on the Leopard disc to see if maybe your hdd is faulty?

Also, try and repair permissions.

Also, before you go ahead and reinstall Leopard, create a new user account and log into the new one. Try it for a day or two. See if you experience the same slow downs. If not, it could just be your account is hosed. If it's just as bad, then maybe consider a clean install.

 

[darthraige]

I've only been getting the lag when opening numerous programs like FCP, Photoshop, and DVD Studio Pro. Through more RAM in, machine is super fast! But I wouldn't think the programs you are opening would cause that.

 

[jaglad]

When I first got my Mac Pro 3.2 I to was disappointed with the speed, it had at the time the stock 2Gb ram but I had put in a 74Gb raptor boot drive.

I usually always have itunes running, and then a couple of other apps open, even doing simple things like changing the volume lagged badly you would press the volume button, about 3-5 seconds later the volume symbol appeared and the volume changed.

The beast now has 10Gb of Ram and everything flies!!! Get more ram it will speed your computer a lot.

 

[jonnyback]

When I first got my Mac Pro 3.2 I to was disappointed with the speed, it had at the time the stock 2Gb ram but I had put in a 74Gb raptor boot drive.

The beast now has 10Gb of Ram and everything flies!!! Get more ram it will speed your computer a lot.

Thanks for your reply, so would you recommend the solid state HD or would you say more speed increased in the RAM upgrade?

(P.S. I am looking at a RAM upgrade to 10gb (4x 2gb extra slots) or 8b (6x 1gb extra slots) ...which would you recommend? Because I've read filling all slots is the fastest way irrespective of if its full of 1gb or 2gbs.

 

[jaglad]

Go with the memory, that is what is more important for the computer. I have 2x4Gb and 2x1Gb, i bought the 2x4Gb to leave me with the options to install the full 32Gb in the machine. Yes you will get more ram through-put if all slots are filled, however the difference in speed will not be noticeable in day to day running.

If you dont think you will ever upgrade beyond say 10Gb then fill all the ram slots, otherwise choose memory to leave you with empty slots for a later date.

Happy shopping!