Mac Pro help, advice....

[pguy]

Hey All,

Just got a Mac Pro and after doing a search and reading a lot of info, I'm closer to a decision, but still a little unsure and confused.

A little more advice would be greatly appreciated, even some advice from Digi Tech Support, (for the Pro Tools dept.) if needed and possible.

It seems like Western Digital or Seagate 7200 RPM is the way to go for Mac Pro internal hard drives. I read that Apple uses Wester Digital drives in their Mac Pro.

True?

Although, some here have claimed that the Western Digital drives run kind of hot.

True? If so.... not a good thing?

How about partitioning? Good or Bad for Pro Tools?

Next is Ram.

I'm going to purchase 8 Gigs but not sure which way is best. I could get two 4 Gig modules which then I could just keep adding 4 gig modules later on if I need to upgrade to more ram later on.

Also, Apple told me that I could still use the 2 (one gig modules) that came in the Mac Pro, with the 4 Gig modules. This would give me 10 Gigs of ram total.

Or... for the same price as the two 4 Gig modules.... I could get eight (2 gig modules) which would fill up all eight slots on both memory cards for a total of 16 Gigs of ram, and not use the two (1 Gig modules) that came with the Mac Pro.

The only problem with this would be, if down the road it was necessary to upgrade beyond 16 gigs of ram, then I'd have to start ditching some of these 2 gig modules.

I also read that you can have different matched pairs of ram mixed like, 2(4 gig modules) with a pair of 1 or 2 gig modules and how you place them in the memory cards has a direct affect on performance. Also, there was a benefit to having all of the eight memory slots filled.

Very confusing.

This is lots of info for a new Mac user and a fairly new hobbyist Pro Tools user to digest, so any and all thoughts & advice is greatly appreciated!!

Thank You!

[flommer]

My feeling is that, in summary, WD drives are the better choice..

I have read many posts on the Apple Mac Pro Forum and I have not heard about heat problems.... Almost every post there seems to point to WD drives as better than the competition.. Seagate drives didn't perform as well and I had read about problems... It really depends on drive model more than brand to some degree...

There are lots of posts there about memory configurations, which RAM is better etc etc..

I suggest you ask these questions on the Apple forum to get some insight from those apple geeks..


IMO partitioning will not give you any advantages, especially if you are dedicating a drive for recording audio and maybe another for samples, etc... But there is nothing scientific about this opinion and others may have more factual info to help you make up your mind..

You might want to describe what you expect your busiest sessions to look like to get specific advice on a config..

[pguy]

Thanks flommer.

I kind of thought Western Digital had the edge.

But, I'm still not sure about the ram configuration.

My busiest session would have about 10 to 15 midi tracks, 15 to 20 audio tracks, a bunch of synths, Sampletank, Reason (with multiple instantiations) and a bunch of audio plugins (Waves, McDSP, etc.,)

[Anthony Jr.]

HDD: Western Digital is very reliable. I suggest: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS

You'll want the bigger Cache size for quicker paging of audio files. I also believe this drive uses a denser plate to store more information in a tighter space (which will also improve speed). Just remember to put the drive under the Spotlight privacy list or it will re-index every time you quit ProTools (and make sure this is the drive you're recording to / creating sessions on). If your drive arrives DOA or dies within the first 30 days, start an RMA process with NewEgg for a free replacement.


Memory: http://www.crucial.com/
Memory Instructions: http://support.apple.com/manuals/#macpro

Crucial is usually the best. I used Memory2Go, and had problems. Use the memory / RAM instruction set for your specific model; I'm guessing it's an Early 2008. (http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/...ryDIMM_DIY.pdf). I know the RAM modules are setup differently in the new Mac Pros than from my old one, so I can't tell you which memory size to go with. I'd say the bigger the better though (for expandability). Just make sure you follow the pairing guide.

[flommer]

Another note about the drives..

I just recently got the same drive that anthony listed, but I got it from OWC. It was actually a few dollars cheaper and I have become nervous about newegg because of the poor packaging they use on their OEM drives. If you read through newegg's customer reviews on drives, you will always find a few DOA drives and it sounds like they just wrap the drive in bubble and drop it in the box. The OWC drive I got was in a plain cardboard box, but inside it was in a vacuum formed carrier that immobilized the drive completely...

OWC sells RAM too


\\\YMMV

[pguy]

Awesome!
Thanks Guy's... Appreciate it!

Is 10 to 12 Gigs of Ram a waste?

Is it true that most Apps....Sampletank, Native instruments, etc., like Pro Tools can't access more than 4 Gigs of ram?

Is this the case for right now?.... but, is that supposedly is going to change very soon so that larger amounts of ram can be utilized by these Apps.