> On Monday, July 26, 2004, at 02:32 AM, Alejandro Desalvo wrote: > > > Hi, I've been inqureing about ram upgrading and head that there could be some > > issues if adding ram in non-pair chips. i.e. just one 128MB chip instead of 2. is > > that true? do I have to buy ram in pairs to make any upgrade?
M sez: You certainly do not need to buy DIMMs in pairs for them to be recognised in most PCI Macs. There are other concerns as well. For PCI Macs there are 168-pin DIMMs that are EDO and FPM and for some models it doesn't matter which you use and for other models it does. On top of this issue there are 168-pin FPM DIMMs that are wonderfully HUGE lumpy thick & heavy things (Velocity Upgrades sold a gazillion of these 128-meg DIMMs for about $16.00 each a few years ago) and other 168-pin DIMMs that are newer "hybrid" DIMMs with very thin light-weight chips on them that can function in a 3.3-volt OR a 5-volt environment, or at least they are supposed to. PowerPC 7300 Macs NEED a G3 upgrade in order to use these. The 180 MHz 604e processor has issues with hybrid DIMMs. They don't interleave worth a damn. On top of that some 168-pin DIMMs have a little controller chip in the middle of them that has IDT 74FCT 162244 and these are always welcome. Others have IDT 74FCT 163244 and these DIMMs work in most situations but are inclined to not play well with some G3 processor upgrade cards. NewerTech G3 cards are known for being fussy but I'm running one now in a 9600 with a smattering of three or four different types of 168-pin DIMMs (5-volt FPM, EDO and hybrid)and its working GREAT but if I turn off Virtual memory the thing forgets how to load applications into RAM. (With a gig of RAM I can give SimpleText 50 Megs of RAM and it gives Out of Memory errors). Get some 128-meg FPM DIMMs and specify 5-volt. Go on eBay and look at pictures. You want big lumpy DIMMs, 70ns or faster. 60ns is faster than 70ns. M -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
