Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 14

Thread: RAM upgrade

  1. #1
    Senior Member Ouroboros's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Superior, WI USA
    Posts
    636

    Post RAM upgrade

    I'm looking to upgrade my VERY old PC with a nice, fat RAM module.

    First things first, it's PC-2100 DDR SDRAM (184 pin). I have 512 now (2x256), and want to move to (uh...256 + 1024 is...uh...)...anyways, I want to add a 1GB single module to one of the 256 modules already present (only 2 DIMM slots available).

    I found http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820141172

    Seems like a good buy.

    Any opinions on said upgrade?

    Ouroboros
    "entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem"

    "entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity."

    -Occam's Razor


  2. #2
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    United Kingdom: Bridlington
    Posts
    17,188
    Please check out the "Crucial" memory site.

    Also, please remember that mixing memory types can give you problems....... I would prefer same maker........... and at least same speed and clock latency (CL)............ OK I break the rules all the time, but only on my own stuff

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    MA
    Posts
    1,052
    Not all motherboards support 1gb sticks. Make sure you look at that first because you might be waisting your time trying to get something to work that will never work :-p

  4. #4
    Old-Fogey:Addicts founder Terr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Posts
    2,007
    You will want to check your motherboard manual to be sure: It's possible it only supports a certain total size of RAM, and only up to a certain size for any individual stick. (Or even only certain sizes at certain speeds, depending on what kind of FSB jumpers you have, etc.)

    Pricewise, that looks pretty good at first glance. I haven't heard of Pqi, but memory is increasingly a commodity these days anyway, so as long as you've got a pretty good return or RMA policy going...
    [HvC]Terr: L33T Technical Proficiency

  5. #5
    BANNED
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    San Diego
    Posts
    724
    If it'll support the 1 gig stick chunk the 256s and get 2 1 gig sticks
    When death sleeps it dreams of you...

  6. #6
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    United Kingdom: Bridlington
    Posts
    17,188
    Yes, a lot of older MoBos will not support 1Gig strips. That is why I suggest that you visit the "Crucial" memory site, as they have a very good memory finding tool.

    All you have to do is enter the MoBo or brand name PC details and it will tell you what is supported

  7. #7
    Old ancient one vanman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Freestate,South Africa
    Posts
    570
    Two sticks always better than one.reason being that if one bombs out you can still use your pc.
    Practise what you preach.

  8. #8
    Dissident 4dm1n brokencrow's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Shawnee country
    Posts
    1,243
    184-pin ram is old? Yikes, some of my units are running 168-pin sdrams...
    “Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.” — Will Rogers

  9. #9
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    United Kingdom: Bridlington
    Posts
    17,188
    Yes brokencrow, I did wonder about that............ PC2100 is 184 pin DDRAM, it cannot be SDR as well................... that is 168 pin and runs at 3.3volts rather than 2.5volts. Both are synchronous data rate.

    If it really is PC2100 DDRAM (which the PC2100 implies), then I would guess that the machine is about 5+ years old. If it has two DIMM slots, then I would say that in all probability, it will only support 512Mb sticks. This machine is of about that age and will only support a Gig of RAM (2 x 512 PC 2700), and I built many machines around that time that had similar MoBos.

    XP wasn't around and ME/98SE is likely to be unstable with more than 512Mb. The greater capacity was for people wanting to run Win 2000 or even NT 4.0

    Hell, back then 1Gb sticks were as rare as hen's teeth and cost a fortune?

    It would help if we had more details on the make model of computer/motherboard?



    EDIT: DDRAM is designed to be backwards compatible, so if his MoBo would support it, he would probably be better off with a total of 1Gb of PC2700, rather than 1280Mb of PC2100. By "support" I mean having a 333MHz FSB as opposed to 266MHz.
    Last edited by nihil; January 7th, 2007 at 11:40 AM.

  10. #10
    Dissident 4dm1n brokencrow's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Shawnee country
    Posts
    1,243
    Well, I've got some 4 mb 30-pin chips if anyone needs 'em.

    Call me old-fashioned.
    “Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.” — Will Rogers

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •