Optimizing My Mac Pro

I am new to the mac world, and not very Computer literate, My first 3ghz woodcrest Mp was a Doa, I returned it over 3 weeks ago and my new 8 core Mp is due to arrive some time this week,I am a Cameraman by trade and after many meetings with my bank manager I splashed out 16000 on a Mp Computer system which I plan to Use FCP Studio, Shake and Logic 7.2 only, no games and no internet,I made the move from a four yr old pc running Premier 6.0. Now for my questions,I have 4 2gB sticks of Kingston RAM that I got for the Dual Core MP, will I really need to change these for the 8 core? or is it just a way for apple to charge higher prices as barefeats suggest? Has anyone put old ram in their 8 core system? My Mp is coming with a 750Gb hd which will have all the applications loaded on to it The place I am buying it from is going to check it with all the Applications to make sure this one works before giving it to me! But I plan on putting 2 RapterX in as my boot drive in Raid 0, From reading this forum over the past few months,I think I have to Zero both rapters put them in a raid0 then clone the 750gb hd to them?? is that correct? do I then zero the 750Gb hd?, I plan on using the 750gb Hdd to capture and backup my 720p HDV footage. Should I copy the clips that I plan to use in each project in FCP from this drive to the raided rapters or should i capture to the raptors and then when finished, copy the Hdv footage to the 750gb hd and delete the files from the raptors??.I will also backup all Footage on an external 1Tb Lacie Extreme HDd connected via FW800. Is there a BETTER way to configure my system? am I doing anything wrong? any suggestions? should I keep the 1gb apple ram in to get 9gbs or am i better off with 8gbs and full Bandwidth? Is there anything I am missing or is there another way I could set it up to get better performance out of it???Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for all the info and dragged out questions but from reading these forums it seems the more info you give the better advice you get.

I have 4 2gB sticks of Kingston RAM that I got for the Dual Core MP, will I really need to change these for the 8 core?
Presumeably you have two units of the KTA-MP667K2/4G kits and if you don't, return it as you have the wrong RAM. Additionally, it isn't clear whether the Kingston RAM has been tested with the new 8-core MPs. Kingston are usually pretty quick to add new systems to their web site so I would think that they are although I would still contact them and have them confirm directly.
I think I have to Zero both rapters put them in a raid0 then clone the 750gb hd to them?? is that correct?
Yes.
do I then zero the 750Gb hd?
It's up to you. I personally zero all drives before putting them into service but that's me.
Should I copy the clips that I plan to use in each project in FCP from this drive to the raided rapters or should i capture to the raptors and then when finished, copy the Hdv footage to the 750gb hd and delete the files from the raptors??
Depends on the size of your clips and how you'll use FCS. However, I would expect the Raptor pair to be too small at 300GB to do much also being you boot/application volume.
Is there a BETTER way to configure my system?
You might want to ask this in the FCS forums as they will have more specific knowledge as to what is best for it.
am I doing anything wrong?
There's no such thing as wrong. Best and worse yes but wrong, no.
However, I would consider your lack of use of the return key and no paragraphs in your post to be "wrong". It makes it incredibly difficult to read.
should I keep the 1gb apple ram in to get 9gbs or am i better off with 8gbs and full Bandwidth?
I would install it into Slots 3/4 on Riser A for 9GB.

Similar Messages

Why mac pro 2013 not supporting illustrator GPU rendering

Here, all nvidia cards supporting this:
http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/gpu-performance-preview-improvements.html
now I'm thinking, that buying the new mac pro 2013 maybe wasn't the best idea... Apple put in AMD GPu's, that is fine by me, but come on, give us some more support for them! Normal windows PC (for 800€) with nvidia GPU is faster at rendering in Illustrator, than my workstation mac (3500+€)! Really? O.o
And story doesn't end here. I was reading one article about GPU usage in this new mac pro and then I tested it myself. Only one GPU is used and the other is barely touched! And this goes for Maya, photoshop, illustrator and other adobe programs. I was shocked, that I discovered I have one GPU to warm up my room and only one actually doing all the work.
Ok I understand, that also software developers needs to support stuff and write their software to actually use GPU's, but adobe creative suite is one of examples, where software is actually capable of using GPU via openCL and in some cases even CUDA from nvidia.
And there is one more thing: new mac pro, has 2 identical AMD GPU's inside, which can work in crossfire configuration under windows in bootcamp, but not in OS X. Sometimes I even play some games on my mac and sometimes I'm testing them (I'm artist, but I also like to develop and test some games in my free time) and it's kinda a shame, that I can run games with better performance under windows in bootcamp.
When I bought this computer I thought this is going to rock and sweep up with all my previous machines. Well in practice it is much of unused potential and great room warmer. It's kinda sad, that on my girlfriend's PC I can play games with better frames and details on GF 660GTX than on my mac pro... I know I know, mac's aren't for gaming, but hey, sometimes it is good to get my mind on rest and blow up some enemies!
I'm not saying mac pro isn't great product, which is (very great). But support to use all computer capabilities is very limited and Apple should kick developers in their back side and push them to start developing things to use GPU's more.
I'm also not expecting Apple to jump on their feet and fix problems overnight. No, just start thinking of adding more support and things that would make our computers much more used and not only good decoration on desk. First would be a good steep adding crossfire support to OS X. That might even help at rendering some 3D scenes?
Next step would probably be better cooperation with software developers, like Adobe , Autodesk,... If adobe made good support for GPU rendering in Illustrator, aim that we get that support soon as well. I'm sometimes having a lot of paths and objects and rendering goes pretty slow then.
I'm also thinking about that AMD choice Apple made wasn't so good when you see that Nvidia puts much more effort into supporting more and more stuff, while AMD is sitting idle not even updating their drivers anymore.
Oh and one more thing: Can we please, please, please, please, preeeeeetty please get 10-bit output support on OS X? It's kinda sad, having good mac workstation with 10-bit capable monitor (dell UP2414Q) and no support for it, while other PC workstations all support it... Photoshop is working much better on OS X and here I have much better integration and everything and I really love working in Photoshop running on OS X, but some basic things are missing and I'm really asking myself sometimes: was that good decision? Photoshop was first written for macs and in 2014 there is much better support for adobe software on windows than on OS X. Where went wrong?
Don't take me wrong and think I'm just ranting here without any good reason, but think: buying very expensive computer that is supposed to make creative work easy and painless is actually just on paper. In reality computer potential is pretty much unused and that makes me thinking if I would be much better buying iMac instead of mac pro...
TL;DR: I wish for some more support from Apple for their new expensive mac pro's 2013. They are great piece of equipment, but equivalent PC's running windows are surpassing them in this department, specially when GPU's are involved. Now I would like to point this out to Apple, so I don't know where to write so they will read so I first wrote that here. I hope someone from Apple reads this and give us some feedback on those missing things or maybe I get direction where to write to Apple so I get maybe some response from them(?):
-not enough GPU support for creative software (adobe suite, autodesk,...) - nvidia + windows offering much more for less money?
-no crossfire support on OS X. Any particular reason for that?
-no 10-bit support for 10-bit displays. Why not? Hardware is capable, why software isn't?
-lack of openCL software out there. Apple isn't doing much to get more support or developers just too lazy to put more effort into this? GPGPU isn't the future as some companies are trying to convince us?

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:
All displays are supported by one GPU -- the display GPU. The second GPU is reserved for un-interrupted GPU computing and has no Display output Hardware.
Anandtech has a discussion of this in his review of the late 2013 Mac Pro.
Under OS X the situation is a bit more complicated. There is no system-wide CrossFire X equivalent that will automatically split up rendering tasks across both GPUs.
By default, one GPU is setup for display duties while the other is used exclusively for GPU compute workloads. GPUs are notoriously bad at context switching, which can severely limit compute performance if the GPU also has to deal with the rendering workloads associated with display in a modern OS. NVIDIA sought to address a similar problem with their Maximus technology, combining Quadro and Tesla cards into a single system for display and compute.
from section 9:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7603/mac-pro-review-late-2013/9
Another problem here: on windows bootcamp crossfire IS working, but not in OS X. As I wrote, sometimes it would be better to get more rendering power than computing power (actually at current state of GPU computing software, computing GPU isn't working very much if at all). It would be nice to have an option to switch on and off crossfire so we could use more rendering power when needed.
Also not all people are doing video rendering on their computers. What about 3D modelling and 2D work in photosohp? And maybe people like me are occasionally wish to play some games on their mac?
You linked me GPU usage from one program (probably adobe after effects or premiere pro or apple final cut X?), that is probably one of the only pieces of software that actually uses both GPU's under OS X. I made same experiment with software I use and I even tested some software I don't use but it is advertised it is "optimized" for mac pro like pixelmator.
And guess what? Second GPU is 99% time idle. Even when some stuff is using openCL in Photoshop, stuff is still computed on rendering GPU and not on computing one, which makes computing GPU just a good room warmer as I wrote before. Wouldn't be better to at least use second GPU for something than heating air?

Optimized software and apps for Mac Pro 2013 ?

Hi
I'm wondering which apps have been optimised for the Mac Pro ?
The ones I was able to find so far:
Final Cut X
Compressor
Motion
Logic
Aperture
here: http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/10/23/updates-to-aperture-final-cut-pro-will -tap-into-horsepower-of-new-mac-pro and here : http://www.idownloadblog.com/2013/12/19/final-cut-pro-compressor-motion-mac-pro- 4k-update/
Pixelmator (here: http://www.pixelmator.com/blog/2014/01/23/pixelmator-3-1-marble-fully-optimized- for-new-mac-pro/)
Any other you can think of ?

If what you say is true, then it would be a question of hardware support capabilities in Win 7, not a near-sighted policy. In any event, these are user forums. You aren't speaking to Apple, so I suggest you speak to Apple. Don't complain here. It's inappropriate and violates the Terms of Use.

Why isn't Photoshop fully optimized for the Mac Pro (Late 2013), and when will this happen?

On the new Mac Pro (late 2013):
Currently, Photoshop CC 2014 seems to lag behind iMacs and Macbook Pros (even older ones) for some tasks.
I assume that this issue is related to either multi-core processing but seems more likely to be a problem with the ATI GPUs not being optimized as the Nvidia GPUs are.
Why is this the case, and when will this be addressed?
Any feedback from Adobe official would be appreciated.
Thanks

jameskachan wrote:
…The obvious reason [sic] seems to suggest…
That's what it suggests to you, in the limited scope of your vision and knowledge, and without your having provided detailed specs about your hardware.
Due to the current unavailability of clairvoyants and mind-readers in the forum, we respectfully request you supply sensible, complete details.
We don't even know what your specific issues are, and for all we know you may be running the pathetic, buggy Yosemite OS—which Apple is giving away for free.
In this case, you have been enormously fortunate in that you received a reply from none other than Gµrµ Chris Cox, a top Adobe engineer who has been writing Photoshop code since the last millennium.
It's hight time you drop the attitude and avoid further embarrassing yourself in a public forum. Just my two cents.

Upgrading to iMac 5K or Mac Pro. Is there a list of Graphics Cards that are optimized for Premier Pro CC?

A couple of years ago I remember Adobe listed Graphics Cards that were optimized to work best with Rendering in Premier Pro and other applications. I have Creative Cloud so I have access to latest versions.
The iMac 5K Retina has a choice of AMD Radeon R9 M290X and M295X.
The Mac Pro has Options of AMD FirePro d300, D500 etc.
Does anyone have any idea where I can find out what graphic cards are optimized for Premier Pro an other applications from Adobe?
Thanks...
Chris Moody

If you are not in the 4K business --> I would go for the 32 GB & 27" iMac w/o Retina, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M mit 4 GB GDDR5 (CUDA support) will give you quite a good performance, i.e. with a Thunderbolt connected Raid6 system your 2K projects (including some color correction and other plugins) will work well and you can even use the system as 4k starter/test system.
If you in the 4K business you could use a full blown iMac Retina system with a GPU AMD Radeon R9 M295X mit 4 GB GDDR5 together with an already mentioned TB Raid6 system. As described from the forum-compatriots, this non-CUDA card doesn't perform too well on GPU accelerated functions of PPro --> but --> search this forum... you will be surprised....some workflows are nearly unaffected....
If you are in the high end 4K footage busine$$ and you apply a lot of external color correction to your 4k footage (e.g. BM DaVinci) I would go for a MPro with 2 D700 cards.

When will Creative Cloud apps be optimized to take advantage of the 2013 Mac Pro?

When will Creative Cloud apps be optimized to take advantage of the 2013 Mac Pro?

Yes, they all should if it's Peer to peer, or if any Router, Swith, Hub in the mix also supports GigE, & Jumbo Packet support is a big plus, but Computer to Compter should work with Jumbo Packets methinks.

Not getting optimal performance out of premiere Pro CC with New Mac Pro

I have just purchased a new mac pro- 8core 64gb of RAM, and D700 graphics cards. I say I'm not getting full optimized performance because my machine will not playback 4k footage at full resolution. Should it? I looked into the package contents of Premiere Pro and notive that the D700 graphics cards were not listed under supported cards. If I type those in will that fix the issue?

No it wont. No editing software out right now will play back 4K media such as Red at full resolution. The latency for processing the codecs is just to high right now. Redcine X Pro can with Red if you have the GPU accelerated Debayering version. Until that decoding is done on the GPU's in the editing applications, you wont see the full res playback most likely. I wouldn't expect the Red Debayering done at the GPU's in Adobe for a while since Red is still refining it.
Eric
ADK

Advice on upgrading to SSD for Mac Pro (optimized for AfterEffects & Photoshop)

Hello,
I'm an animator (I use AfterEffects CS5, but will be upgrading to CC soon) and I'm going to start work on a new AE project in a few months for an animated film that will be very demanding (lots of different shots -- meaning multiple projects, all of which will also incorporate large HD stock footage elements as well as multiple layers of art created in Photoshop).
So I'm looking to upgrade my current desktop Mac Pro (a 2010 2x2.66GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon) with SSD drives (and possibly a new graphics card) in order to speed up my system and optimize it for both AfterEffects and Photoshop. (In the past I've created projects using external 7200 RPM hard drives connected via eSATA). I've also decided, for now, not to purchase the new Mac Pro, but rather try and make a smaller investment to speed up my current system.
I'd love any advice that pro users would have that have made similiar upgrades, both in terms of the best equipment (SSD drives and graphics card) and the best way to set up AfterEffects/Photoshop projects using these SSDs.
For example:
1. Should I be purchasing 1 or 2 SSDs, and how should I be using these drives to optimize my system for AfterEffects and Photoshop?
2. Should I install my operating system (I'm on OS 10.8.5 but plan to upgrade to Mavericks when I upgrade to CC) on one separate SSD, and then install my Adobe applications on a 2nd SSD, or can I put both the operating system and applications on a single SSD? And should I be saving my projects on a SSD (if so, which one, if I'm supposed to purchase 2?
3. Should I assign a 2nd SSD as a scratch disk for AfterEffects or Photoshop?
4. I plan on using my current external hard drives (a 12 TB RAID array connected via eSATA) to store the footage and Photoshop elements being used in my AE projects (these files will be multiple GBs, and I can't afford to purchase SSD drives to hold these elements on) and also to store the renders from AfterEffects (which will also be very large files). Is this OK, or will this slow me down and negate whatever speed I've gained from moving to SSDs?
5. In researching how to switch over to SSD, I've considered purchasing 1 or 2 SSD drives. The one I'm currently looking at is called the Murcury Accelsior_E2, a PCI Express SSD sold via OWC. It comes in a few different sizes (120 GBs, 240 GBs, 480 GBs, 960 GBs). Just wondering if this is a good purchase -- the reviews seem to be very positive:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDPHWE2R960/
6. I'm also considering upgrading my current graphics card (ATI Radeon HD 5870) to the NVIDIA Quatro 4000 or NVIDIA Quatro 5000, but I'm wondering how much of a speed boost this would give me.
Here's an overview of my current system:
Computer: 2010 Mac Pro with 2x 2.66 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon
Memory: 64 GB DDR3 ECC
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 5870
Hard Drives (Internal): 2x 2TB Hitachi HD
Hard Drives (External): 12TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro RAID drive array (connected via eSATA)
Apologies in advance for the long message, but I've always recieved great advice from these message boards and I'd appreciate any help!
Thanks,
Dan

Thanks so much for jumping back into the discussion, The hatter! I had some earlier questions from before that I was hoping you could answer:
Currently I own a 12 TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro RAID drive array (connected via eSATA) which I use to save projects, project files, and renders. So (unless I am mistaken) you're recommending that I continue to use this RAID array to save projects, project files, and renders.
(I was looking into purchasing a Mercury Accelsior_E2 for my SSD via PCI -- it has eSATA, so I can continue to connect my RAID array)
Then I would use my new SSD via SATA II for my system, apps, and OS (minus home folder media files, data, documents) and my SSD via PCI for scratch disks for Photoshop/AfterEffects.
Currently I have 2 x 2 TB internal hard drives, which have all my OS + home folder media files.
Can I get more details in terms of the step-by-step instructions when it's time to install/clone? Here's how it looks to me (apologies if I have this out-of-order, and feel free to correct me if I've missed a step or have it wrong -- thank you in advance!):
1. Purchase SSDs (via PCI and internal SATA II) and install them inside my Mac Pro.
(Is there any formatting I need to do at this point to the SSDs once they are all plugged in...?)
2. Install TRIM Enabler
(Once it's installed, what do I do with TRIM Enabler? Is it an app that runs 24/7 in the background, or is it an app that I need to launch on a regular basis and perform commands on the SSDs...? Very confused on what TRIM Enabler does.)
3. Use CCC to clone system from old internal hard drive to new internal SSD drive. When using CCC, deselect media folders in home account before cloning (so I am NOT cloning media folders from old hard drive to new SSD drive).
(What specific media folders should I be deselecting? I'd like to keep my music, movies, iPhoto/Lightroom files, and email archive where they are now -- on the 2 x 2TB internal drives that shipped with my Mac Pro. Is there a link that provides more info on this process? Never used CCC before but I assume it's not too hard to use...?)
4. CCC clones system gets 'cloned' (minus the media folders) to the SSD that is installed via SATA II in empty internal drive bay inside Mac Pro.
5. Repair the SSD with DU after cloning and before using and booting from SSD.
(What is DU? How does it work? Not familiar with DU...?)
6. Reboot computer from system running on SSD.
7. Open Photoshop/AfterEffects (now running from SSD) and assign new scratch disk (the SSDs on PCIe SSD controller).
8. After 100% sure that system + apps that have been cloned is working via SSD, delete ONLY system and apps from old hard drive (but do not delete media files).
(Now that my system is on a separate SSD drive, when I do things like purchase new music from iTunes, will it get downloaded to the old location (my old hard drive with all my media)? In other words, are there steps I have to perform in order to relink my media folders now that they're on a separate drive?
Thanks,
Dan

Mac Pro technical specifications optimized for Photoshop and Premier Pro, yet affordable

I will replace my old desktop Mac Pro with a new one. I am looking for advice for the appropriate configuration choices for the new Mac Pro for use with the most current versions of Photoshop and Premier Pro. This has to be balanced with a budget between $4000 to $6500. I will use multiple hard drive storage for my files, but I am not asking for any advice for this, My Photoshop use is for photo editing, with multiple images of at least 25MB files for panoramas and high dynamic range, and composites (have used Photoshop for 10 years). I have not begun to use Premier Pro for video editing, but will primarily use it over the next 18 months to edit family home movies.
The primary technical questions are which GPU D300 or D500, CPU speed and number of cores 4 or 6 or 8, and memory DDR3 ECC 12GB or 16GB or 32 GB or 64GB.
I have read various Internet articles and reviews of the Mac Pro, but find that I am unable to come up with a final choice. One article stated that Adobe has designed its software to effectively use the new Mac Pro GPUs and CPU cores.
Thank you,
MIKE

I would suggest atleast 16GB of ram with 32GB really what you want because of the dual GPU''s. If you don't have enough ram to feed both video cards then both those cards will have limited performance. The D300 cards are really a waste. I wouldn't bother with anything less than the D500 cards especially if you plan to use Premiere. AMD cards already have half the performance that Nvidia cards do with Adobe GPU acceleration in Premiere. I wouldn't make it worse with the D300 cards. I would also suggest the 6 core CPU over the 4 Core. Otherwise just get the new Imac instead of you want a Mac.
Eric
ADK

HD and Mac Pro - Optimal RAID configuration?

I'm fairly new to RAID, but have done a fair amount of reading over the past few weeks. I currently only have 1 external drive setup as mirrored RAID (1.5TB).
I do a lot of HD video work (as well as a lot of PShop/Illustrator/AE) and just ordered a new Mac Pro (to arrive in a few weeks). I'm curious to know what you may suggest configuring my system like with the following components. I don't want to have to buy anything else right now, nor do I think that I'll have to.
I've got:
1. New Mac Pro with RAID card and 4 identical SAS 300GB internal drives (no, didn't order those all from Apple)
2. An external 1.5 TB WD drive
3. Two external 500GB WD drives
Of course, I want the best of both worlds of speed and redundancy. I had been considering RAID 5, but the more I thought about it, I thought maybe RAID 0 was the way on some of the drives, then create another array making use of the externals and/or Time Machine to take care of the redundancy. I have this super machine coming, and just want to be sure I'm making most efficient use of it all. Any opinions on how you'd set this up, very welcomed.
I typically work on short projects, I'm not a filmmaker. Client work is usually between 2-15 minutes per clip, and once its done, it can be archived. I've got a ton of old data and large photo library and all the space needs you may imagine with HD video and photography, but I'll certainly have room to spare and play with. How would you work with these 7 drives?

There is a significant difference between 'running incompatible' software and using a version that has some vestigial system checks. The software is quite capable of running as it should. The issue I experienced has nothing to do with the factors that make it not supported (which is significantly different than incompatible). While your statement is true, its not properly applied. Fact is, FCP HD is NOT incompatible with the Mac Pro.
The quick fix of ignoring the scratch location did the job. Taking that option vs spending money has nothing to do with wisdom, rather discernment. It runs just fine now, cost me nothing to get it running, and isn't something I have a huge need for anyway. So this somewhat pretentious attitude isn't needed.

What is the optimum core configuration for a new Mac Pro to process and manipulate very large (80 megapixel) images using PhotoShop and Camera Raw?

Hello:
I will be using creative techniques to process and manipulate a large number (hundreds) of very large (80 megapixel) images captured using a medium format digital back (Phase One IQ180).
Final output will be digital fine art imagery printed using an Epson 11880 at large sizes (up to 60 inches x ?), retaining the highest possible quality and resolution. I will be using Adobe CC PhotoShop and Camera RAW as well as Capture One software. PhotoShop filters will be used extensively.
The Mac Pro needs to be optimized for the above purpose and be useful for at least five years. I plan to max out all the other options (RAM, graphics cards, storage). Performance is more important than cost.
The few discussions I have found that mention optimum core configurations seem to lean toward 6 or 8 (but likely are not taking into consideration my need for manipulating a large number of very large files), so I am looking to this foum for opinions.
Thank you,
Kent

See if this helps
http://macperformanceguide.com/index_topics.html#MacPro2013

Memory Upgrade for Mac Pro 1,1

Hello,
I have what I believe is a first generation Mac Pro. The system profiler says it's version 1,1.
When I bought it, I had an additional 2 GB of ram installed by the dealer for a total of 3GB.
Today I am trying to install a pair of 2GB DIMMS for a total of 7GB.
I bought the memory at my local mac dealer (Mac Enthusiasts in West LA). He asked what version of Mac I had and I said I thought it was first generation. He asked for the serial number, but I didn't know I needed one. I did however bring the manual and told him the date was 2006.
He assured me he had the right memory for my machine, despite my offering to get the serial number from home.
The point of all this is when I opened up my mac to install the memory, I was surprised to see that the original factory memory had HUGE BLACK HEAT SINKS on it. The second, dealer-installed memory had SLIM SILVER HEAT SINKS, and now finally the memory I bought today has NO HEAT SINKS WHATSOEVER.
Is it possible that memory technology has improved and newer DIMMS run cooler and don't need heat sinks? Or do I have the wrong memory? Is there any online guide or utility I can use to determine if I can use these modules?
Finally, here is the text on the sticker of the modules:
2GB PC2-5300 (667Mhz) DDR2 DIMM
The chips themselves appear to say "Lynnix" KOR
Please help.
Thanks,
P-FO

You indeed have the first generation Mac Pro. It can use up to 8 - 240-pin PC2-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 ECC fully-buffered DIMM (FB-DIMM) in (matched pairs.) The modules should have an Apple certified or similar heat sink. Do not use DIMMs without heat sinks as they will not last and may be subject to frequent errors. The DIMMs must be fully buffered (FB) and must be error correcting (ECC) and installed in matching pairs.
Whatever your local dealer sold you if there's no heat sink, they aren't FB and ECC modules, then don't use them.
For proper installation see the following:
About RAM installation in the Mac Pro
Mac Pro memory arrangement photos
Mac Pro Memory Configuration
Memory Tests- "2008" Mac Pro
Ram should be installed minimally in matched pairs and optimally in matched quads. This means the memory modules are the same size and specifications. They should also be equipped with the Apple-certified style of heat sink.

UPGRADING AND MIXING MEMORY ON MY MAC PRO QUAD CORE DUAL 2.8 (Xeon)?

Hello,
I have a Mac Pro Quad Core Dual 2.8GHz (Xeons) with 4GB of memory (2 x 1GB Apple modules + 2 x 1GB other brand - Shown as "Manufacturer 0x855D") and now I want to fill the other 4 memory slots by adding an additional 16GB (4 x 4GB modules) for a total of 20GB of RAM.
My 2 questions are:
1.- In which order/pattern should I install these new 4 X 4GB modules along with my original Apple 2 x 1GB modules and the "Manufacturer 0x855D" 2 x 1GB modules the best way (for better performance)? - I have heard stories that if I do it improperly, I could slow down my Mac Pro...
This is how I have them configured right now:
Raiser A / DIMM 1 = 1GB (Manufaturer "0x830B") - I assume this is the Apple memory, right?
Raiser A / DIMM 2 = 1GB (Manufaturer "0x830B")
Raiser A / DIMM 3 = Empty
Raiser A / DIMM 4 = Empty
Raiser B / DIMM 1 = 1GB (Manufacturer "0x855D") - How can I find which manufacturer is this?
Raiser B / DIMM 2 = 1GB (Manufacturer "0x855D")
Raiser B / DIMM 3 = Empty
Raiser B / DIMM 4 = Empty
2.- What brand would be most compatible to work with my Apple 2GB (2 x 1GB) factory memory? Kingston? Crucial? Mushkin? iRam? Corsair? OWC? (Does OWC sell their own brand? or which one do they carry?-its not specified on their web)
Thank you so much in advance for all your help!

About RAM installation in the Mac Pro
Mac Pro memory arrangement photos
Mac Pro Memory Configuration
Memory Tests- "2008" Mac Pro
Ram should be installed minimally in matched pairs and optimally in matched quads. This means the memory modules are the same size and specifications. They should also be equipped with the Apple-certified style of heat sink.
Brand really doesn't mean much as long as they work.

PAINFULLY slow Mac Pro 2.66

About a week or so ago I bought an Apple refurb Mac Pro 2.66
It is replacing a Dual 1.8 G5 with 2GB of RAM. My plan was to "suffer" with 1GB of RAM in the Mac Pro for a while until RAM prices went down. At the same time I bought a MacBook 1.83/512MB to replace my iBook 1.33/512MB laptop.
Right to the point, the Mac Pro pages out of control, all the time. Even closing windows causes extreme paging. To put it into perspective, my Mac Pro pages significantly more than my old iBook that only had 512MB of RAM. It is so slow I can't even do work. I was going out of my mind. Then, I figured I'd boot the Mac Pro off of the MacBook and run all the disk utilities I could find just to make sure nothing was wrong. Oh I guess I should also say first that the MacBook is just as slow, although with 512 - 64 MB of RAM, it has an excuse at least. So I booted the Mac Pro off the MacBook over Firewire, and started running tests. All the tests were fine. The directory wasn't scrambled. The disk was barely fragmented, no volume problems at all, S.M.A.R.T. tests all passed. But then I noticed something. The machine was no longer paging. Booted off the MacBook's drive, it was acting like a machine with 1GB of ram. It has its slow moments but over all it was fine. Apps opened super fast. It was as fast as I thought the Mac Pro was going to be. So at this point I started to get suspicious of the hard drive. Despite passing all tests. So I googled it's model number and found a manufacturers spec sheet. The first thing I noticed was this quote:
"Super-quiet drive is almost inaudible. Difference between idle and seek can hardly be detected by human ear, making drive operation almost silent."
My drive spins up nice and quiet, but seeking is so loud, I can hear it across the room. So now I'm really starting so suspect something is wrong. Both computers have been so slow, I've barely been using them lately but I have much work to do.
--also as an out of order note, I do run Adobe software, but all the slowness observations happen even when running ONLY intel native apps. Running PPC stuff just makes it worse but its still painfully bad without them.
So hows this for a theory. I've been told that intel code is optimized more for fast execution likes larger amounts of ram, so a system short on ram feels the pinch more. That, plus the fact that 64MB is being used for video RAM, is making my MacBook legitimately slow. The Mac Pro on the other hand, has a hard drive problem which is causing super slow paging. So I'm hoping that once the drive is replaced, I'll be able to work on the machine normally, or almost normally.
To give you an idea of how bad the paging is: remember when we used system 7 and would click on a program, and stop everything, walk into the other room, and come back when the application was opened. Thats what I do now on a 1 GB machine. Even switching between apps can take a minute or two.
What do ya think?

Unless you yourself did a full fresh clean install of the OS, that is the first thing to do.
Second, don't migrate any files except data to the Mac Pro. And definitely not PPC program files, install those, but don't use Migration Assistant.
It sounds like your system is just suffering from "molasses effect" of a poorly installed and updated system, and that someone used Migration Assistant on it.
2GB of RAM is nice, but if you are running heavy files or memory hungry, 4GB would be nice.
You may want to setup a boot drive, a scratch drive, and a data drive to help spread the work over multiple drives. Also, the OEM drives do tend to be slow and sluggish, and you want your boot drive to be your best, whether 300GB or 500GB best of class, or 10K Raptor.
Wipe the drive, zero-all, do a fresh system install and update, and I think you'll find it behaves. Clone the system before installing 3rd party so you have a known good system state and don't have to customize everything again.

Mac Pro 2.66 Quad-Core 1GBRAM, how much more RAM and HOW?

I just got my Mac Pro 2.66 Quad-Core, and I had a budget so I left the RAM down @ only 1GB because I knew I could upgrade it later. Well later is here & I want to put more in it, but I hear it is a little more complicated than the sensless shoving of big ram chips into empty slots...
I am a heavy user of Logic 7, soon to be of Logic Studio, and hopefully I will be using AutoCAD at home soon (for school). How much RAM would be optimal for me to eventually have? Right now I think I can afford to purchase 2GB more, but I dont know how exactly to put it into my machine. Right now it has a 512MB per xeon.
Can anyone help me out?

I just pulled out 1GB (2 x 512MB) simms in replaced them with 4GB (2 x 2GB) simms.
I had added more memory as 2 GB (1x2GB) and ran out of space. Now I have a total of 11GB RAM:
1GB = 2 x 512MB
2GB = 2 x 1GB
8GB = 4 x 2GB
Leaving me with 2x512MB simms sitting in the box on the self. Sure wish I knew someone local I could give these things to for a reasonable price. Anyway, I wouldn't go any higher than 2GB simms (4GB) as that seems to currently have the best price/space ratio. Crucial is good enough and order it from NewEgg.com or MacConnection.com and you'll get a good price (I got mine at MacConnection.com).

Optimizing My Mac Pro

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