The Question
We had a simple question:
• What would happen if we pushed a top of the line, 28-core Mac Pro loaded with 1.5TB of OWC memory, to its limits?
Which begged a second question:
• What exactly is the best way to do that?
This latter inquiry was easy enough to answer. We just needed to reach out to our friend, Jonathan Morrison. He would know how to get to the bottom of this.
For the uninitiated, Jonathon is a beast of a Tech Reviewer with over 2.6 million followers on his TLD YouTube channel. He focuses primarily on Apple products, and we knew he would come up with the perfect testing solution for our RAM. What he devised was elegantly simple:
- Install 1.5TB of OWC memory in a 2019 28-core Mac Pro
- Launch Google Chrome
- Open as many tabs with real websites as possible
- See what happens
Why Chrome? Because it is easily automated and can be quite the memory hog. And why is it such a memory hog? The answer to that question is a lengthy post for another day. But if you are interested in a quick synopsis, check out Lifehacker’s article, Why Chrome Uses So Much Freaking RAM.
The Answer
Spoiler Alert: The memory didn’t fail, nor was its performance any sort of bottleneck. Using up nearly every byte of available RAM with over 6,000 tabs open 😲, Chrome just decided it had had enough, and stopped trying. Our 1.5TB of memory can certainly eat a lot of Chrome.
So, enjoy the video below, subscribe to Jonathan’s YouTube channel, follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and most importantly, buy some OWC memory and save yourself up to 65% over Apple’s factory installed options!
The Video
The Endnote
I thought it would be nice to point out exactly how classy and creative Jonathan Morrison is. Not only does this particular video end with a tribute slide in honor of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant and the eight others who recently perished in a tragic helicopter crash, but check out the length of the video itself: 8 minutes and 24 seconds. Kobe’s jersey numbers were 8 and 24. Nicely done, Jonathan.
Great test, but why not use ESD protection when installing Memory Modules? The most common fault with memory must be ESD issues. For $2-3 USD you can keep your investment trouble free by using an ESD bracelet (Antistatic wrist strap).
Fascinating. Nice choice for a bloated app to showcase how well a Mac can hold up.
Interesting to note that 6,000 tabs and 1.5TB equates to ¼GB of RAM per tab. That’s the equivalent of 30 minutes of HD video encoded with H.265 or 250 medium sized Pages documents or HEIC photos for a process doing nothing but running in the background.
It takes a massive computer to handle massive bloat!
Incredible! Thanks..Great job.
And, yes! Let the games begin!!
Please compare other browsers.
Six thousand tabs, jeez! that’s one serious browsing session lol!
That’s an epic rig, a screamer, can I have it lol! pretty please with fresh cream on top :-)
Regards Lee