The empire (Apple) strikes back

I stopped recommending OWC RAM a few years ago.

I bought RAM exclusively from OWC for many many years. Then sometime around 2013 they started to go downhill badly. I bought their RAM for my 2013 iMac and it had to be replaced twice. When I replaced that iMac with a 2015, I gave them another shot. That RAM went back four times over the next year and a half until they finally agreed to refund me the amount I paid and take it back completely. I bought a Crucial kit and the machine was stable until I bought it.

While the 2015 was having its issues, the network I administered got a new run of iMacs for one of the computer labs. We put OWC RAM in those. Five of them refused to boot with the OWC RAM. OWC sent us new kits for those machines and two of those still wouldn't boot. Another round trip and we finally got a full lab's worth of kits that would work. Over the next year, three more kits failed.

OWC RAM used to be good. It now appears to be low-grade stuff they just slap a label on. I'd strongly recommend getting the specs from OWC and just ordering a kit from Crucial.

Also, 128GB of RAM is horrible overkill for video work unless you're doing something out of the norm. You're going to get a lot more bang for the buck out of faster storage.
 
My experience with OWC has been completely different, but we weren't using their memory during the period you mention. We started using their RAM again about 3 years ago and we use their RAM in 5 of our 12 Macs. Several of those machines are multiuser, sometimes running all day in multiple shifts and since we upgraded their RAM the've been working without issue. They have been among the most reliable macs we've had.

OWC doesn't have their own fabs so maybe whatever manufacturer they were using back in the period you mentioned had a bad year. The most recent OWC memory kits I received was made by Hynix who also supplies Apple's DDR-4 2666 SODIMMs for the Mac Mini, so I expect they will work out fine. Thanks for the heads though, I'll consider myself warned and will thoroughly check out any new memory I get.

I'm definitely not emotionally attached to OWC and I am also a big fan of Crucial. We have switched back and forth between them and OWC over the years and I have nothing but great things to say about quality of their products. However their DDR-4 2666 SODIMM offerings aren't as comprehensive as those of OWC. Crucial doesn't have 32GB chips which means they can't match Apple's ability to max out the Mac Mini to 64GB or OWC's ability to take the 2019 iMac from 64GB to 128GB. As you probably know, Crucial gets their RAM from their parent Micron. I would expect them to catch up eventually since Micron is a major player in the memory space, but for now they don't have offering to match OWC.

I agree that 128GB for video editing would be overkill. We monitor our systems pretty closely and one of our most used FCPX iMacs has 16GB of RAM and rarely has memory issues. However, we have different plans for this new 2019 iMac. It will sometimes run FCPX, but it will also be used for memory intensive activities including virtualization that will definitely leverage all 128GB of RAM in the new iMac.

Having said that, there are also some post production roles where more that 64GB of memory is desirable. The BMD Fusion config guide recommends between 64GB and 128GB of RAM so I there might be some BMD Fusion power users who might also welcome 128GB of RAM. Assuming it performance falls somewhere just under the 8-core iMac Pro's I'm sure will find if home in other pro environments. An unconfirmed Geekbench listing has it just edging out the 8-core iMac Pro but who knows if it's legit. I'm waiting for real reviews before purchase but this is a promising data point.

http://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/12559316

http://browser.geekbench.com/macs/426
 
My new 27" 2017 iMac top of the line that I am typing this on, I wanted to max it on RAM at 64GB, I ordered the OWC DIMMS and one of them wouldn't work, it wasn't recognized. I replaced the stock RAM, it was fine, then re-inserted the OWC DIMMs and then they were all recognized? That was five months ago, so far, the DIMMs have worked flawlessly.
 
Gary T said:
My experience with OWC has been completely different, but we weren't using their memory during the period you mention. We started using their RAM again about 3 years ago and we use their RAM in 5 of our 12 Macs. Several of those machines are multiuser, sometimes running all day in multiple shifts and since we upgraded their RAM the've been working without issue. They have been among the most reliable macs we've had.

OWC doesn't have their own fabs so maybe whatever manufacturer they were using back in the period you mentioned had a bad year. The most recent OWC memory kits I received was made by Hynix who also supplies Apple's DDR-4 2666 SODIMMs for the Mac Mini, so I expect they will work out fine. Thanks for the heads though, I'll consider myself warned and will thoroughly check out any new memory I get.

I'm definitely not emotionally attached to OWC and I am also a big fan of Crucial. We have switched back and forth between them and OWC over the years and I have nothing but great things to say about quality of their products. However their DDR-4 2666 SODIMM offerings aren't as comprehensive as those of OWC. Crucial doesn't have 32GB chips which means they can't match Apple's ability to max out the Mac Mini to 64GB or OWC's ability to take the 2019 iMac from 64GB to 128GB. As you probably know, Crucial gets their RAM from their parent Micron. I would expect them to catch up eventually since Micron is a major player in the memory space, but for now they don't have offering to match OWC.

I agree that 128GB for video editing would be overkill. We monitor our systems pretty closely and one of our most used FCPX iMacs has 16GB of RAM and rarely has memory issues. However, we have different plans for this new 2019 iMac. It will sometimes run FCPX, but it will also be used for memory intensive activities including virtualization that will definitely leverage all 128GB of RAM in the new iMac.

Having said that, there are also some post production roles where more that 64GB of memory is desirable. The BMD Fusion config guide recommends between 64GB and 128GB of RAM so I there might be some BMD Fusion power users who might also welcome 128GB of RAM. Assuming it performance falls somewhere just under the 8-core iMac Pro's I'm sure will find if home in other pro environments. An unconfirmed Geekbench listing has it just edging out the 8-core iMac Pro but who knows if it's legit. I'm waiting for real reviews before purchase but this is a promising data point.

http://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/12559316

http://browser.geekbench.com/macs/426
Click to expand...

The most recent OWC issue was in 2016... so it's not that far back.

Also, Hynix is the memory chip manufacturer. The actual boards and other integration circuitry are likely made elsewhere. There are only a few actual manufacturers of the DRAM chips. So, sharing the same chip as the stuff from Apple, while usually a good sign, is not a great indicator of overall stability. It's a lot like LCD panels. There are only a handful of those (LG, Samsung and one more maybe?)... everyone else just uses their panels with different support circuitry... and there's a wide variation between a high end BenQ or NEC and an AOC you pick up at Walmart.

What are you trying to virtualize? I'm not a huge fan of the virtualization options on the Mac. VMWare Fusion and Parallels are decidedly consumer-grade virtualization and VirtualBox is kind of a turd. If you have something better, let me know... I'd love to try it.
 
puredrifting said:
My new 27" 2017 iMac top of the line that I am typing this on, I wanted to max it on RAM at 64GB, I ordered the OWC DIMMS and one of them wouldn't work, it wasn't recognized. I replaced the stock RAM, it was fine, then re-inserted the OWC DIMMs and then they were all recognized? That was five months ago, so far, the DIMMs have worked flawlessly.
Click to expand...

Sounds like it wasn't seated right the first time.
 
I have used the i5 (8th gen) for simple H.265 4K edits in Davinci with no issues.

Seems that adding vfx or heavy grades would possibly be too much for it, but I never did any of that, so I am not sure. everything seemed to work fine. I was working on a fresh system, and I only had Davinci open.
 
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Gary T said:
I believe the new 8 core iMac is a great value, especially for those who need more RAM in their workstations. It’s possible to outfit an 8-core system iMac with 64GB of third party RAM and a 512GB SSD for over $2000 less than the lowest cost 64GB RAM iMac Pro. For me those saving will go towards a QNAP Thunderbolt 3 NAS that would allow editing 4K without the need for 10gb ethernet. The NAS in question comes with two Thunderbolt 3 ports and one 10gb ethernet port. For those who need more can upgraded to a total of three 10gb ethernet ports.

https://www.qnap.com/en-us/product/tvs-872xt
Click to expand...

A little off topic, maybe.

I'm looking at upgrading to the 2019 iMac with the 8 core, Vega 48, 512 ssd and upgrade the ram somewhere else.

Then put the savings over a iMac Pro towards a QNAP too... but the one that holds 4 drives with 1tb ssd for cache.

Even posted a thread about it but never got any answers except you can go cheaper or the QNAP was good as server but not for editing. Still looking for fast storage instead of robbing the bank (my savings) because I still have lens and some lighting things to buy. For example if rendering takes 12 minutes instead of 8. I can live with that. Not like I'm a post house right now. :)
 
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James0b57 said:
I have used the i5 (8th gen) for simple H.265 4K edits in Davinci with no issues.

Seems that adding vfx or heavy grades would possibly be too much for it, but I never did any of that, so I am not sure. everything seemed to work fine. I was working on a fresh system, and I only had Davinci open.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply James. I'm probably getting the 9th Gen i5 with fusion drive but will run everything off TB3 SSD enclosures
 
GaryinCalifornia said:
A little off topic, maybe.

I'm looking at upgrading to the 2019 iMac with the 8 core, Vega 48, 512 ssd and upgrade the ram somewhere else.

Then put the savings over a iMac Pro towards a QNAP too... but the one that holds 4 drives with 1tb ssd for cache.

Even posted a thread about it but never got any answers except you can go cheaper or the QNAP was good as server but not for editing. Still looking for fast storage instead of robbing the bank (my savings) because I still have lens and some lighting things to buy. For example if rendering takes 12 minutes instead of 8. I can live with that. Not like I'm a post house right now. :)
Click to expand...


Gary T said:
Answer
Click to expand...

Answered in another thread.
 
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