More RAM to fix 2007 Mac Pro?

[gomichaelgo]

My 2006-7 Mac Pro runs so slowly that I can barely stream music from SoundCloud. Firefox always crashes. I don't even try to open Photoshop. Sad. I have about 15GB free on my 250GB hard drive. Running Dual-Core Intel Xeon, 2.66 GHz, 1GB of RAM, recently updated to OSX Snow Leopard. Would additional RAM make my computer run faster?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

You need to upgrade that RAM well beyond 1GB for sure. I'd recommend at least 8GB and also free up at least 50GB of space on your HD. Use an external HD to off load some stuff..

 

[gomichaelgo]

@Raz0rEdge Thank you!

 

[Raz0rEdge]

That original Mac Pro is capable of supporting a maximum of 32GB of memory. I'm amazed you've managed this long with just 1GB.. Also, HD's are cheap. You might want to throw in a 1TB drive in there to get you away from having to go external..

 

[pigoo3]

Both the 1gig of ram and the 15gig free on a 250gig HD (94% full)...are both real bottlenecks.

I might even hazzard to say that the almost full HD is the bigger problem...with the 1gig of ram not far behind. The Mac OS needs a certain amount of free HD space for "swap files"...and...that 15gig of free spacr is probably fragmented all over the HD...making read/writes VERY slow.

If you correct these two things...you're going to think that you have a brand new computer!!!

- Nick

 

[gomichaelgo]

"I'm amazed you've managed this long with just 1GB" -And I'm amazed I've managed this long in general!

All of this is good news, because I thought I'd have to buy a new computer. I'm ordering the HD and RAM sticks tomorrow! I also began uploading some of my volumes of photos to Flickr.

Thank you @pigoo3 and thank you @Raz0rEdge

 

[gomichaelgo]

One last question: given that my MacPro is so old, should I be cautious about updating the OS? I only recently updated to Snow Leopard, which I know is well outdated. I've heard that conflicts arise between old hardware and new software.

 

[gomichaelgo]

Actually, I think I can answer my own question. According to EveryMac, (Compare Macs, Compare iPods, iPhones & iPads @ EveryMac.com)

-my MacPro can go up to OS 10.7.5

Thanks for pointing me to that site! I wouldn't have known to look for it, otherwise.

 

[pigoo3]

One last question: given that my MacPro is so old, should I be cautious about updating the OS? I only recently updated to Snow Leopard, which I know is well outdated. I've heard that conflicts arise between old hardware and new software.

Actually, I think I can answer my own question. According to EveryMac, (Compare Macs, Compare iPods, iPhones & iPads @ EveryMac.com)

-my MacPro can go up to OS 10.7.5

There are no problems updated the OS (in terms of the Mac Pro hardware itself)...upto 10.7.5. But as you mentioned above...you need to make extra sure that any old applications you have are compatible with OS 10.6 or 10.7 before upgrading the OS. Otherwise your older applications may not run. Then you will either be without them...or have to upgrade them to newer versions (which can get expensive depending on your budget).

- Nick