Ram question ( Didn't know where to post it )

Hello, I was wondering if there was any way to increase the ram your computer has. I put in
2 x 128 ram slots and 1 x 64 ram which equals 320.. It says that I have 256 megs ram. I think my mother board can only handle 256 megs ram ( pent 3 500 ) but I was talking to a friend and he said that he has a pent 2 400 with like 512 ram.. He told me that there really is no limit to how much ram you have unless your computer starts smoking ;)
I run win'blows '98 if that helps. Any help would be appreciated, thanks for reading this.
If this is the wrong forum then I'll move it, but thanks.

If your computer is not recognizing the amount of memory you have and your sure that it's 320 mb, you might want to update your bios. Also, place the largest/fastest ram closer to your processor (for best performance). Let me know how that works out for ya. Send a private message for more help.


PuRe

It depends on on the motherboard. Some motherboards (especially older ones) require that you have two of the same chips in order to be recognized. Additionally, it may simply be that the 64 MB chip is bad or improperly inserted which is why it doesn't show up. Check the documentation on your motherboard to find out the max amount of RAM it can support, and take out and reinsert the 64 MB chip to ensure it's properly seated.

AJ

"Actually, 512 meg is too much, unless you're running an application like Photoshop that has it's own memory manager. Generally speaking, you won't see any improvement in performance once you get over 128 meg. M$ themselves admits to there being a problem in this area, particularly with lockups on machines with 512 meg or more of physical memory.

This problem exists with all their 9x OS's. "

9X can only efficiently use about 160 Mb. Anything over 256 will actually slow the system down in most cases. [ depending on the motherboard & BIOS ] When 98 first came out, most systems were running 32 to 64 Mb of memory & 128 to 256 sticks were in servers. It wasn't built to run large amounts of RAM like NT 4.0 / 2000 / XP was.
Anything that will grab & use anything from 192 & above will usually crash most 98 systems."

Wow that was such a quick reply thanks a bunch everyone =). I'll try fiddling around with the bios to see if I can increase it.. Althou I might screw everything up.. Can anyone give me a dummy tutorial on how to increase it? lol.. If not - no worries, I didn't even expect people to reply lol.
I'll keep what you said in mind 'Techtech' ;)
Thanks again everyone, your guys are the best =)

actually, nvm! If it doesn't increase the systems performance then why bother right? hehe, but thanks anyways ( Sorry if you started writing the 'dummy tutorial' )
Thanks, Thanks and thanks =) Very grateful as you can tell ;)

techtech: Where do you get your information from? I have a number of older systems (many were originally running Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE) and many programs ran quite slowly until I bumped up the RAM to 512 on all of them (I also wiped them and ended up putting Windows 2000 on them, but that was later). Especially for those interested in gaming, 128 MB won't run newer games very well. Granted, the processor on a Pentium III will be an issue for many high-end games as well, but memory is a must (256 minimum) in today's computing world. While I do admit that many older computers with Windows 9x will choke on more than 512 MB, I think that's more of a hardware issue than a software issue, simply because most P2 and older P3 motherboards won't support more than 512.

AJ

Thanks for the head's up avdven, I searched m$ for the info, and just summarized what they've said.

I was just trying to help our newbie friend, I will bow to the knowledge of a senior member, and recommend that he listen to you guys.

Lol okay then.. So let's say the ram card is properly inserted.. any advice? ( Literally any at all will be awesome (-: ) Thanks again guys!

techtech I disagree with the idea that more 256 will slow down a win 9x system. Too much virtual memory will do that. However, you do have a point in that win 9x does not recognize memory larger than 512mb. If you have that amount of memory, you should disable virtual memory and make sure your system is up2date.


PuRe

Various Issues could be at play here..

1/ The Clock rating of the ram.. PC66, PC100, PC133 ( this normaly causes other issues)
2/ THe capability of the motherboard. Bios and chipset main causes here (Upgrade BIOS if the MOBO manufacture Bios details mention this.. or just upgrade and see what happens ..BUT CAUTION HERE..)

If You have three slots and you now have all the slots used, some Manufacturers Don't recomend populating ALL the RAm slots..(Sh1t why did they put them there?) this could be a Buss matching issue or a chipset or even BIOS.

Regarding the Issues of Win 9x and Ram over 160MB.. Well Techtech and Avden your both right. I have seen both being correct.. Cause OS, CPU, Mobo Chipset and BIOS, either individualy or a combination of the factors will cause the system performance to either Improve, remain constant, or degrade with larger memory installations.
It is very frustrating when PPL come in asking for a 128/256MB SDRAM expecting this to improve their systems performance, only to find nothing of the sort..


Cheers