[mkerr64]

I currently have the mac pro 2.66 ghz with 2 gb ram, im thinking about going with 4gb.
To do this do i just purchase ordinary ram and stick it in or is it a special type?

Thanks

[Leonard]

You may want to read the other recent RAM threads:

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=305483

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=305765

or the several threads on the Mac Pro or this review of the Mac Pro:

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/macpro.ars/1

Or this Bare-feats story (go half-way down the paget o the story about the RAM for the Mac Pro):

http://www.barefeats.com/quad07.html

They should answer your questions.

[SierraDragon]

I am guessing that you have 4x512 = 2 GB since that is an Apple option. You only have 8 slots and you have used 4, and many (most?) folks will want more than 8 GB of RAM in their towers sometime during the life of a MP. From here on in IMO it makes sense to buy only pairs of 2 GB modules. Filling your 4 remaining slots that way will allow a total of 10 GB of RAM on board before you have to start throwing away 512 MB modules to add more 2 GB modules.

I think RAM prices will fall; they have consistently been doing so for 20 years. So if you can wait a bit before further adding RAM it will very likely be cheaper. There are benefits to installing RAM 4 identical modules at a time, but IMO such configuration benefits are much less relevant than just getting as much RAM as possible on board.

I will order my MP with 4x2 GB = 8 GB direct from Apple because so far Apple's RAM is not much overpriced relative to current street prices. And I fully expect to add 4x2 again 12-18 months from now.

And yes it is a special type. Most RAM is computer-specific in some way. OWC is good for third party RAM: <http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?model=250&type=Memory&TI=2319&shoupgr ds=Show+Upgrades>.

-Allen wicks