OWC Announces RAM Upgrades for New Mac Pro, Up to 64 GB for $895

Following today's launch of the new Mac Pro, Other World Computing has announced new RAM upgrade kits for the machines. The ECC 1866 Mhz quad-channel kits are available in both 32 GB and 64 GB at prices up to 31 percent lower than factory upgrade options.

owcmacpro

- OWC 32GB Kit (8GB x 4 matched 1866MHz): $449.00
- OWC 64GB Kit (16GB x 4 matched 1866MHz): $895.00

The same upgrades directly from Apple are priced at an additional $500 for 32 GB and $1300 for 64 GB of RAM in the lower-end quad-core Mac Pro and $400/$1200 in the higher-end 6-core Mac Pro.

Crucial has memory upgrade options available as well, with a 32 GB kit priced at $439.

OWC is also offering a trade-in rebate for the original factory memory, giving customers up to $100 towards the purchase of a memory kit. Apple's Mac Pro, which went on sale at midnight, is currently shipping in February at the earliest.

Related roundup: Mac Pro

Top Rated Comments

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iHEARTcartoons

16 months ago

Sweet I can save $500 on my MacPro which won't be here for three months!

Rating: 5 Votes

BillyTrimble

16 months ago

Sweet I can save $500 on my MacPro which won't be here for three months!

You can simply wait until your MacPro arrives and then deal with the memory situation.

Rating: 3 Votes

keysofanxiety

16 months ago

This is really good news, the Apple tax on RAM has always been ridiculous. Plus I find OWC normally have a bit of a premium anyway, so it can only get cheaper!

Rating: 2 Votes

repoman27

16 months ago

Just 6 years ago I was still using a computer with just 80GB of storage. Then again, I bought that computer 10 years ago as a computer that had been aimed at the education market, and your hypothetical computer is aimed at people who have a need for inane amounts of performance.

I can't even imagine anything that would require anywhere near that amount of RAM.

I'm pretty sure I paid right around $3k for 32MB :eek: of RAM for my Mac IIci 21 years ago! Then again I also had a massive, 130MB SCSI HDD at the time as well...

Strangely, maximum RAM capacity is a limiting factor for several people I know, and Apple's decision to go with only 1 DIMM slot per channel (vs. the 3 that the platform is capable of supporting) is fairly restrictive. At least it makes upgrading to higher capacities considerably more expensive. If they had gone with 8 DIMM slots, 128GB would only run $1343.92.

Rating: 2 Votes

Detrius

16 months ago

I get tired of messing with 3rd party RAM though.. Both times I have ordered from OWC I got bad SIMM modules and had to have them replaced.

Well, if it's been 20 years since you've ordered from them, you might want to try again.

RAM is one of those things where you really shouldn't just look for the cheapest available.

Rating: 2 Votes

Larry-K

16 months ago

I know that you are getting 4 more chips and could sell your existing chips, but I was still surprised to see that the 32 GB at $449 is more expensive than just upgrading on order from Apple directly, where the 32GB upgrade is only 400.

That's because you already bought the first 16 from Apple in the base price.

Rating: 2 Votes

repoman27

16 months ago

I am ready to go "all out", as you say, and buy the 128GB. I would like proof, however, that Apple will allow their 12-core Intel processor in the new Mac Pros to access that much RAM. Sometimes Apple does unexpected things with their chipset.

Please, if you hear about someone installing and utilizing 128 GB of RAM in the new Mac Pro, I would like to see evidence before I go "all out" and buy it. I am ready but waiting for evidence.

[[I am also looking, of course, for an affordable way to do this! $3076 is not too bad!]]

Yeah, I certainly haven't tried this yet. I bet OWC will, seeing as they sold 128 GB kits for the previous gen Mac Pros even before Mavericks came along bringing support for more than 96 GB under OS X. The Intel platforms Apple is using certainly support it. It really just comes down to the processor these days, since Intel moved the memory controller on die a while back.

Rating: 1 Votes

Ezlivin

16 months ago

I'm pretty sure I paid right around $3k for 32MB :eek: of RAM for my Mac IIci 21 years ago!

I remember when the Mac IIci came out and it was a sweet, sweet machine. As an owner of an SE-30, I lusted after the IIci. But a little while later I was able to get the Quadra 840AV and didn't think I'd ever need to upgrade my computer again. Ha!

Rating: 1 Votes

repoman27

14 months ago

Hi there, repoman27, if you hear about 128 GB kits for the new Mac Pro anytime, I would be glad to know about them. I'm keeping my eyes open. I saw some RAM from a few vendors that might work, but for now, I am sitting still until I see someone using 128 GB in a new Mac Pro and verifying that it can be utilized.

So as I was reading the datasheet for these new E5 v2 Xeons the other day, I noticed that the E5-1600 series processors do NOT support LRDIMMS, just select members of the E5-2600 series do. So that would mean that only the 12-core Mac Pro (Late 2013) could take 32 GB LRDIMMS. Also, Intel does not list any 32 GB quad-ranked RDIMMs in their validation results which could possibly be used with the other models. However, according to Intel (http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/platform-memory/platform-memory.html), the E5-2600 platform has been validated with up to 64 GB LRDIMMs, whenever they become widely available.

so, i gave up. owc admitted that some modules were actually shipped out incorrectly, but they are now "out of stock" (and have been for 2 weeks). i was promised that it would be in stock monday, but am now being told that whoever told me that was incorrect, and they simply dont know when it will be in.

owc completely screwed this up. im cancelling my order entirely, and going to get crucial memory. i can get a 32gb kit for cheaper, and its using 2 x 16gb sticks, so i can expand to 64gb easily in the future.

I realize this post is several weeks old at this point, but just so you know, these new Mac Pros have quad-channel memory controllers. If you only populate 2 channels, you're halving your bandwidth (in theory), which is probably worse than running a single strap lower in frequency. You should really do 4 DIMMs at a time. In fact, I'm surprised Apple even offers configurations with only 3 slots filled. Although you found out in a less than stellar way, at least you've now confirmed that these machines will take lower clocked RAM just fine. I'd also like to see if they take regular non-ECC DIMMs as well, which they should as long as there are no goofy heat spreaders on them.

Rating: 1 Votes

Microdot

16 months ago

so... anyone else buy memory from owc?

got my mac pro in yesterday and got it all setup. then, i popped the top and put in the new memory from owc..... unfortunately though, its not 1866mhz.... its 1600.

obviously being christmas, i dont expect to hear back from them today... but to say im pissed is an understatement. ive tested several times... it really is 1600mhz memory. testing out as 1600 in both mavericks and tech tools.

Rating: 1 Votes

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