Proper RAM installation/configuration

Question

In the Apple manual they say to install RAM as follows:
1. Move the Apple module from the bottom card to the top (so that Apple RAM fills position 1&2)
2. Install the first additional pair on the bottom card to positions 1&2
3. Install the next pair on the bottom card in positions 3&4
However, an article at Bare Feats suggests a different approach:
"Though some of our configurations involved various size mixtures, we consulted with an engineer knowledgeable about the architecture of the "early 2008" Mac Pro. He suggested two things that may not show up in our benchmarking:
1. The pairs on the top riser (slots 1&2 or slots 3&4) should match the pairs in the bottom riser (slots 1&2 or slots 3&4) in terms of size if you want the maximum benefit to be gained by interleaving in real world applications.
2. The 2GB and 4GB FB-DIMMs are typically Dual-Rank (DR) while the 1GB FB-DIMMs tend to be Single-Rank. Ideally, you want all DR modules."
I decided to try the recommendation in #1, because I've been having the reboot from sleep issue and I hoped this might help. I have 4x2GB of TransIntl RAM. I installed the first pair in slots 1&2 on the top, the second pair in slots 1&2 on the bottom. Then I installed the Apple RAM in slots 3&4 on the top card.
http://www.barefeats.com/harper3.html
However, since I did that I'm now having systemwide problems: spinning beach balls, apps quitting unexpectedly, and other strange "nonspecific" issues. My system was running flawlessly prior to the RAM switch (other than the "reboot from sleep" issue, which many others have too).
Could the RAM configuration suggested by the engineer above be causing these problems?

Answer 1

PRAM resets from a Restart and not the same as from cold boot.
Personally, I would favor TechWorks memory. They should work together, but also give you something else to rule out Trans related issue.
One person bought Crucial 1GB x 2 and it would only work when they mixed the two:
Riser on top had Apple and Crucial in slots 1 and 2, same configuration on bottom Riser. Goes against conventional logic/wisdom, but DIMM slot 1 is like "master" and sets the timing for #2.
With new memory, testing with just the new RAM is one way to insure it works properly on its own, or with just 2 x 2GB and then with the other pair.
Leopard Cache Cleaner includes Memtest. Coctail is just running the same script to repair permissions as Disk Utility and I switched to LCC (and once in awhile used Onyx) but stopped using Cocktail, a few bugs at one time and stopped upgrading.
The reason for PRAM/NVRAM reset is to rebuild the Device Tree to insure it loads the correct information. On a restart, NVRAM is not rebuilt.