Mac Pro RAM in PC

[Charles Angus]

Kind of a weird question, I know.

I'm looking to build an LGA 1335 i7 based PC, mainly for Nuke and After Effects use. Would like to have 24 GB of RAM.

The question arises because the best price on that much RAM I can find is at macsales.com - about $400 cheaper than NewEgg, and it's for Mac Pro memory.

The only reason I can think of for that not to work is the heat spreaders getting in the way.

Am I missing something really obvious here?

 

[Kevin Olsen]

can you provide links to the products you're looking at?

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

RAM is RAM as long as you buy the right type of modules for your motherboard. NewEgg is cheaper when I compare, just now.

What motherboard and RAM configuration are you trying to support? Apple is using DDR3 ECC buffered at 1066MHz for the Nehalem Mac Pros. Which is a great choice for the quad-channel, dual-CPU architecture. If you're running dual-channel, single i7 PC, you could go with non-ECC 1333MHz DDR3. Some motherboards support the 1.6GHz RAM, but typically not for large memory configurations (above 12GB usually). Gotta read the fine print. Most 1.6GHz modules are the same RAM that has been OC'd anyway. Most good RAM these days has nice big heat spreaders on them, not a problem.

ECC-buffered DDR3 @ 1066MHz is cheaper in most cases than non-ECC RAM at faster speeds these days.

 

[Tom.Wong]

i was always under the impression that the ram had to be flashed a certain way to function on a mac. Only very specific brands last time i checked worked with mac. Corsair, and Kingston being some of them... Not sure what happens when you go in reverse, never tried it. But I can vouch for the OWC ram, rock solid stuff.

 

[Chuck Z]

What are the timings and memory frequency of the RAM you are comparing? That could explain a discrepancy in pricing.

 

[Charles Angus]

So, here we have exhibit A:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231307

And B:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/85MP3S4M24GK/

The motherboard would probably be this:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128422

Thanks for all you help, guys.

 

[Tom Lowe]

Isn't there some kind of limit on 64 bit Windows 7? 16GB?

 

[Michael Hancock]

Scroll down for the Windows 7 RAM limits:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx

Any version above Home Premium maxes out at 192GB.

 

[Mohammed El Sharqawy]

The motherboard would probably be this:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128422

you'd better get the ud7 with 6gb sata and usb3..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128413&cm_re=ud7-_-13-128-413-_-Product

 

[Mohammed El Sharqawy]

Scroll down for the Windows 7 RAM limits:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx

Any version above Home Premium maxes out at 192GB.

I was just writing that..

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-7-Maximum-Supported-RAM-192-GB-RAM-119101.shtml

memory limit is mostly by the CPU you are using.. coz now the memory controller is built in the cpu.. eg i7s on 1366 LGA got 24GB limit.. and some times the motherboard doesn't got enough slots..

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Isn't there some kind of limit on 64 bit Windows 7? 16GB?

Hmmm... I don't recall for sure if there is. I know that Vista64 had a limitation on the Home and Small Business versions, just as they limited the number of CPUs for those editions. Not sure about Win7. EDIT> I see Mohammed cleared that up...

My Win7 box is running 64bit Ultimate edition or whatever and I have 32GB installed via two of these kits from NewEgg with no problems. Or I guess I should say no memory capacity problems. Heh. I bought them around the first of December and paid about $100 less per 4-module kit at the time.

As for the RAM examples above... The ECC 1066MHz modules from MacSales are not what you want for this motherboard. Fine memory, but not what you want. But I have to say that after checking NewEgg, ZipZoomFly, MWave, etc.. that OWC has some pretty darn good pricing on memory right now. There was an SDRAM shortage over the past couple months and prices spiked, I'm wondering if supplies haven't quite normalized yet or a lot of distributors are still recovering.

For that motherboard, I would recommend the 1333 or 1600 MHz modules. Unfortunately, no one is offering CAS latency less than 9 on 4GB modules right now that I'm aware of when operating at those speeds. My G.Skill module timings are 9-9-9-24 and the system is pretty darn fast. It's a dual Nehalem box with a SuperMicro XD6TH motherboard, I'd have to double check, exact model number. It's their current flagship EATX dual Intel server board with SAS. It's a monster. System is mostly used for Lightwave, Modo, Maya, Nuke and anything else that can benefit from a lot of rendering.

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Most frequent Windows memory limit is the BIOS. Sometimes even if you have enough slots the BIOS only supports ##GBs.

 

[Erik Franzén]

Motherboard + bios is the limit. Otherwise, only theoretical limits exists in Win7. And that is so high I doubt you'd be asking if you were ever near encountering it

 

[Charles Angus]

Fine memory, but not what you want.

Thanks for the tip, Jeff.