Will, I agree with your points wholeheartedly for the S900/J700 machines. The 16MB built-in memory on the motherboard is EDO, and EDO is a subset of FPM, only recognized as FPM in these machines so any preferences are more likely to be individual quirks of the motherboard/hardware configuration or possibly due to a mixed combination of memory (brands, sizes and types), but some machines/configurations seem to be more sensitive to mixing than others.
In these times of cheap memory I would recommend at least buying in pairs (so that for interleaving you are likely to get the same brand and type) and thoroughly testing each new RAM stick using the "RAM sandwich" method (documented well in the archives). Any problems are more likely to be down to a faulty stick of RAM than whether it is FPM or EDO, as these machines recognize it all as FPM anyway. Problems with faulty RAM tend to be noticed more when OS upgrades occur, as the demands on the RAM are greater as the OS increases (particularly going from OS9 to OSX, but also sometimes going from OS8 to OS9). We have heard many times of machines that are stable in OS9 becoming unstable when upgraded to OSX and this finally being traced to faulty RAM that did not have the problems in OS9 due to the lower demands on the RAM in OS9. As a point on the curve, I have two S900s each filled 8 x 128MB (1GB) RAM. One machine has all EDO and the other all FPM RAM. After thoroughly testing all RAM, both systems have been rock solid for some time in both OS9 and OSX. While some people have no problems with mixing FPM and EDO in the one machine, some have had problems and so my other recommendation (as the prices for each type are identical) is once you've chosen one type then stick to it, and test, test, test with the RAM sandwich method (any error is likely to cause problems, so send it back until you get stuff that does register any errors). Note also that for testing Newertech's Gauge Pro software freezes if you have a full 1GB of RAM in you machine. Either test with less than 1GB using that software or use XLR8's PowerControl software to test (it is not free, but ships with any XLR8 hardware upgrades). I actually prefer the latter for testing RAM. Cheers, Pete. > Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:32:23 -0800 > From: Will Schou <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Any FAQ that picks either EDO or FPM is going to be suspect to many. > This will need to be looked at hard and long before any final FAQ > memory guide can be written IMHO -- SuperMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | Service & Replacement Parts [EMAIL PROTECTED] | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> SuperMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/supermacs/list.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/supermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
