Difference between 32gb and 64gb?

[Ryan Browne]

Just got a new 12-core mac pro. Wondering if anyone knows if there is a difference when working with .r3d files in premiere pro between 32gb and 64gb of ram? Is it worth upgrading to the full 64gb? Thanks.

[Brian Merlen]

owc makes 96 gbs possible, the highest osx can currently handle. or you can get bootcamp and throw in 128gbs since windows 7 can do that... if you haven't bought it yet, seriously consider getting some 16gb modules, even if you dont want 96gbs now, start with 2 16gb modules and as the prices drop add more...

since cs6 is 64 bit it makes sense to deck your computer out with as much ram/cores/gpus vram/ and even maybe pci ssds. you can turn it into a rendering beast by doing this. plus you can do it slowly if you dont want to blow a ton on decking it out at once. you can easily spend 10k to fully deck out a workstation if you go full out. i'd say it really depends on your turn around times, and red rocket card wouldn't hurt ya either...

[Jeff Kilgroe]

In the 12-core (2010) Mac Pro, you will actually get the best performance with 24, 48 or 96 GB installed since it is a triple-channel system. Best performance is had by populating the first 3 sockets on each memory board.

24 is too little for a 12-core system running 64bit apps that can use all cores. 48 is a good amount and what I would recommend for most everything. 96GB is better, but you have to consider whether or not you are actually using it. If you have 32GB now, monitor your usage and see how much of it actually gets used in your normal work.

[Ryan Browne]

Thanks for the tips guys. I had Apple custom upgrade my ram modules to 8gb sticks so that I could add in another 32gb's later on. My machine (the 2012 mac pro) is dual channel, not triple.

Also, is it worth it to consider software overclocking my cpu's? Anyone had any luck with that and what program?

[Jeff Kilgroe]

No such thing as a 2012 Mac Pro. After the WWDC keynote, the store briefly came up with a "new" marker on the Mac Pro, which Tim Cook later addressed as being a mix-up in their web department, along with the actual updated Mac Pro coming sometime later... next year. The latest and greatest Mac Pro is still the same model released in 2010 using the "Westmere" core 5500-series Xeons. It uses the i5520 chipset. Same logic board as the '09 Mac Pro, just newer CPUs and faster RAM. But those CPUs are now a generation behind as of two months ago. The only thing changed with the current Mac Pro offerings is the base CPU options and RAM configurations were bumped up a notch and the price remained the same.

It's true that the system operates in dual-channel for memory, but triple-channel is also supported if you configure the RAM properly. Gains with triple-channel configuration are unnoticeable in most circumstances, you really only see the benefits in very memory-intensive applications. So above when I said it decreases the performance, that's somewhat misleading, although that wasn't my intention. It should be viewed as the triple-channel configuration is capable of operating at higher throughput under the proper circumstances, where memory bandwidth becomes the bottleneck in your application. On these systems that is very rare. The 1333MHz RAM is rarely a bottleneck in dual-channel mode and most people opt to populate all DIMM sockets for the capacity rather than the possible speed boost they might gain on that odd one out of a thousand operations that might be able to benefit. Personally, I prefer the triple-cannel configuration, but I find it does help with intensive 3D rendering and shuffling around huge memory sets. 48GB via 6x8GB modules is really a sweet spot for these systems. However, if you went to 64GB, that may do you more good with R3D workflow as it will allow you to scrub through a bit more footage in REDCINE-X or other apps and memory performance is not the bottleneck there.

Unfortunately, you can't overclock the CPUs. These Xeons are multiplier-locked and there is physically no way to alter the front-side bus frequency in these systems.

[Ryan Browne]

Hey, cool. Yea, although they didn't really "upgrade" the mac pro, there is still technically a "mid-2012" version now. At least that's what its referred to as. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Pro

Also, I just double checked, and the intel specs say it is in fact "3 channels" of memory. http://ark.intel.com/products/48768/...GTs-Intel-QPI)

Why would they put 4 dimm slots per core for a triple channel system? It should be in increments of 3, not 2. Very strange. However, this makes it a cheaper upgrade for me because now I just have to buy 2 more 8gb sticks. That will put me at 48gb total in triple channel which should be a nice performance boost probably.

Too bad on the overclocking. Could probably easily get up to 3.0ghz under normal conditions.

I'm going to call the apple store about the ram issue and see what they say.