Advice on a new Mac Pro

Planning to buy a new mac pro but woah...is Apple memory expensive!


Do you guys recommend using pre installed memory from Apple or should I buy it elsewhere? I was planning on getting 6 mb of RAM. Should I go with the 512 on 2 slots and then get the rest *cheaper* and install it myself? Is this a better idea?

And finally I suppose I have a similar question about the hard drives. I want to get a second internal SATA drive. Minimum 750 gigs. What brand do you guys recommend if I choose to not get the pricey 2nd hard drive bay from Apple?

Thanks!

No Mac Pro RAM is not expensive at all...unless you go through Apple (OK...bend over!)

Macsolutions has the 16 GB Kit for $611.89 and the 8 GB kit is half that:

[store.a1acomputing.com]

[store.a1acomputing.com]

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Do you know how much RAM Final Cut Pro 6 can see if your Mac Pro has 16GB?

Joe

I always buy RAM from other vendors (OWC, Crucial), and bare SATA drives from places like NewEgg. Apple just charges too much of a premium.

JK

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SCQT! Self-contained QuickTime ? pass it on!

Seagate does good fast SATA 2 drives that you can whack in internally using the built in carriages in the Mac Pros. Very simple and efficient, because it means you can have dedicated drives for different clients that can be swapped out for storage at the end of the job.

I usually get the 500GBs, but they do do 750GBs as well.

Sounds good guys. Thanks so much!

One more question. Is it true all the RAM modules have to be the same size?

Lets say I get 8 Gigs ram with 4 2 gig modules

If I have 2 512mb slots filled from apple do I have to remove them? Or is it safe to leave them in, giving me 9 gigs of ram?

You can mix the sizes so long as you install them in pairs AND in sequence. The Mac Pro runs best when you put the same size RAM in matching slots on Riser A and Riser B. So in your case I would remove your initial 512 pair first and fill slots A1, A2, B1, B2 with your 2GB modules. Then install the 512s in slots A3 and A4. Don't put anything else in slots B3 and B4 besides another pair of 512 modules, or else replace them completely with new chips. They have to match, dig?

JK

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SCQT! Self-contained QuickTime ? pass it on!

Got it!

Thanks John!