Various Upgrades to a Mac Pro

Hello All!

I know theres a few threads similar to this, but ive got a few questions.

I wanna get a mac pro (when the 8 core comes out) but i dont wanna upgrade it from the apple store because its too expensive! So ive been looking for memory and the non-apple heatsink memory is a lot cheaper. Would non-heatsinked memory be ok with the mac pro? I know the power is apparently throttled down when the memory overheats but i was wandering if this memory would:

http://www.it247.com/Product/32-KVR533D2D8F4*2f1GI/Kingston_ValueRAM_memory_1_GB_FB_DIMM_DDR_II.htm

Theres also the issue of quad channel on the Mac Pro. Seeing as the above parts are not matched, do you think there'd be a problem there? I hope to buy four of them.

Also, after browsing through the forum, there seems to be conflicting opinions on the Mac Pro's support of 3rd party IDE drives. I was hoping to get a pioneer DVD-RW drive as its 1/3 of the price of apple's Superdrive, does anyone know if this will work?

thanks for your time guys!

First off, the 8-core MacPro is just a rumor, so I wouldn't put too much effort into thinking about it at this point in time.

As far as the memory goes, I HIGHLY recommend you forget the thought of using non-certified (no heatsink) memory in the MacPro. You WILL regret it. Now you certainly don't have to buy RAM from Apple. I purchased my extra RAM from MacSolutions. The RAM is Apple-certified, without the Apple price tag. Though I gotta say that the difference when I bought it was nominal. The MacPro requires expensive, non-standard RAM chips - the volume of sales simply prevents this type of RAM from enjoying lower prices.

You will have to use matched pairs (two of the same size chips at a time) or the MacPro probably (though some have reported otherwise) won't recognize one of them.

Thanks for the reply. I'm not buying this till after the next WWDC in july for the next uni year, so ill still wait. Im in england, so ram is almost twice the price here, but ill go for the apple certified ram from kingston (£208 for 2x1gb, about $400 i guess).

Thanks.

I know that the 8 core Mac Pro is just a rumor, but do remember that the current Mac Pro is the first generation Intel Mac Pro. It is due for a refresh, and it is the Mac standard bearer, so it will get the best. The new quad cores are out, and the "best" would be to include them.

Logical deduction suggests that an 8 core Mac Pro, while currently just a rumor, is inevitable.

mac57 said:

I know that the 8 core Mac Pro is just a rumor, but do remember that the current Mac Pro is the first generation Intel Mac Pro. It is due for a refresh, and it is the Mac standard bearer, so it will get the best. The new quad cores are out, and the "best" would be to include them.

Logical deduction suggests that an 8 core Mac Pro, while currently just a rumor, is inevitable.

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I would say it is long overdue for an update. It was released in August 2006 and there hasn't been an update to the line since.