# Bump memory speed on upgraded MacPro 1,1?



## glawrie (Dec 29, 2011)

Hi

I've recently upgraded my MacPro 1,1 to use X5355 2.66 Ghz 4 core processors. Went pretty well - although I hadn't found it then, I think the thread on this forum here on how to do the upgrade is very helpful!

My question is about the memory speed on the updated computer? 

Currently the machine has 9GB (2x4 plus 2x0.5) of 667Mhz DDR2 (PC2-5300) memory. Is it worthwhile replacing this with faster memory? The fastest DDR2 memory I can find is PC2-6400 which is rated at 800Mhz.

Thanks in advance for help etc.


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## Dr_AL (Apr 29, 2007)

It wouldn't make a difference. Not sure if the faster RAM would work, but even if it did it would just clock it down. It's not a restriction of the ram it a restriction from the logic board. 


Sent from my iPhone


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

Dr_AL said:


> It wouldn't make a difference. Not sure if the faster RAM would work, but even if it did it would just clock it down. It's not a restriction of the ram it a restriction from the logic board.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone


Right. Faster RAM won't make a difference - it'll slow down to the proper speed for the computer.


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## glawrie (Dec 29, 2011)

Great - thanks for the clarification.

I'll start saving up for a MacPro 4,1 then…


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## kelman (Sep 25, 2010)

Like buying a Ferrari for your daily Toronto commute.


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## glawrie (Dec 29, 2011)

I guess - if you plan to then rip out engine and put in bigger one etc.

4,1 is the last of the upgradeable Mac Pros - and apparently you can get a stellar system for not a huge amount by doing processor / ram / SSD type things to it.

My upgrade 1,1 is good - but looking ahead to time when it isn't, having a go at buying a cheap second hand 4,1 and improving that looks like a good thing to head towards


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## kelman (Sep 25, 2010)

I should have quoted JC but you chimed in before I was done.
I was talking about the ram install, wanting to install faster ram.
It is limited to the bus speed on the board like the car is to the 401.


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

glawrie said:


> Great - thanks for the clarification.
> 
> I'll start saving up for a MacPro 4,1 then…


Do you have an SSD as your boot drive? If not that is another way to boost your performance significantly without moving to a 4.1.


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## glawrie (Dec 29, 2011)

SSD certainly on my wish list - currently I have a 3 disk software Raid 0 drive for the system (3x250G 7200rpms). The raid system disk made a big improvement to system performance - SSD would be a further step up though.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

actually not likely - if you have 3 x 250 striped the sustained will be about the same as an ssd - maybe more.


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## glawrie (Dec 29, 2011)

Wow - cool! Thanks for the info - I can't afford the SSD right now anyhow, but good to know I may not be so far off what can be achieved anyhow.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

You can download an excellent drive tester here

Download AJA System Test 6.0.1 Free - Tunes your system to get the best performance - Softpedia

Set at 2 GB


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## glawrie (Dec 29, 2011)

Thanks for the info. Had a go on my system but with normal stuff running in background (i.e. Not stripped out for testing etc.).

The only test that would work on the Raid-0 was the Read test. So I put a 2.5GB m4v on the Raid and on the 'fourth drive' and compared them. The Raid is made up of 3x250GB ST3250410AS (Seagate Barracuda 7200.10) - the Seagate's design spec suggests it can deliver peak transfer rates of about 75MB/s. The standalone drive is a WD15EADS (a WD caviar green 'eco' drive) which has design spec peak transfer rate of 100MB/s.

I got reported transfer from the WD drive of 85MB/s. The Raid-0 reported 134MB/s. Neither are too shabby I think!

The latest equivalent of the Barracuda drive is (maybe) the ST3500414SS which has peak transfer rates of 150MB/s - which implies that I'd not see a big change in performance if I removed the RAID and replaced it with a modern 7200rpm drive.

Replacing the RAID drives ST3500414SS would perhaps give read rates of maybe 300MB/s. Not bad - but well short of even last year's SSDs - the Crucial M4 120GB drive was tested at a shade over 400MB/s, and the latest crop have been reported as delivering over 500MBs.

The Crucial M4 is currently listed at about £1/GB. This compares to about £0.17/GB for the ST3500414SS. Or to put it another way to replace my current disks with ST3500414SS would cost about £250 (and I'll end up with a 1.5GB disk with perhaps double the performance of current drive). Or I could get a 250GB M4 for the same money (but in practice, I'd need to add something like an ST3500414SS alongside to give data storage needed), so would be maybe £80 more expensive.

Interesting… would be very interesting to test the two options to see which is better in practice.


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