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Mac Pro - does memory placement really matter?
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Senior User
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: UK
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Right - I finally collected my Mac Pro at the Apple store this evening. So far, everything is beautiful - it's just so much more solid than anything else I've used. And it really is very quiet - no more annoying than the 24" iMac I sent back for sound issues, and this one I get to put under the desk. Considering the extra power, it's far superior.
Only one problem, and it's not that bad - the 'genius' put the extra gig of memory on the top riser, along with the default sticks. I know it's not the best place for them, but in real terms, am I going to see any difference? I'm not a HD video pro or anything, and in all reality at the moment some gaming will be the most I'll throw at it. Would you bother swapping the FB-DIMMs? I'm sure I can do it, but they cost sooo much...
David
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: ~/
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I believe you're supposed to alternate risers. Put first pair on riser A, next pair on riser B, next pair on riser A, next pair on riser B. You'll get better memory bandwidth if you have 4 (or more) DIMMs with at least 2 (one pair) on each riser. My advice would be to move the second pair to riser B. The Apple guy was wrong. Even says so on the inside of the Mac's side door.
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Germany
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Originally Posted by Cadaver 
I believe you're supposed to alternate risers.
Apple even says so on page 34 of the Mac Pro manual.
You'll get a 256bit wide RAM access path that way, compared to a 128bit wide path, when only filling up the first riser.
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Senior User
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: UK
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Thanks everyone - I've moved them. and all seems to be working well. There's even a diagram on the inside of the case door! I'm glad I did it, because while I was in there, I managed to stop the noise coming from the CPU fan - a bit of a poke on the side did the trick!
David
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Yes. Get the placement wrong and you're looking at decreased bandwidth and increased latency.
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