Page 1 of 1

What Kind Of Memory Does My Comp Take?

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2001 3:28 pm
by Kastel86
I just bought a comp from one of my friends and i dont know what type of memory it takes? I have the manual and under specification it says:

RAM

Synchrononus Dynamic RAM (SDRAM) or Extended Data Out (EDO)
Dual Inline Memory Modules (DIMMS); two banks with one 168-pin
DIMM socket per bank: one bank is one slot. Expandable to 128MB (EDO) or 64MB (SDRAM).

What does this mean? Can i use PC100 SDRAM memory? If now What memory can i use?

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2001 5:32 pm
by downhill
Hummm.....strange board that supports both.....EDO and SDRAM.

Well I wouldn't buy EDO as it's slower and really expensive.

And as far as SDRM goes....

What mobo is it?

Or if you know the name of the computer and the model...you can go to

http://www.crucial.com

and find out there.

How much memory do you have installed in it now?

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2001 5:51 pm
by YeOldeStonecat
Yeah in the days of crossing over from Pentiums to PII's, many motherboards would support both the old SIMMs, and the new DIMMs, but you could only install one kind at a time, you couldn't use both at once.

Here's where knowing what you're buying comes in handy, armed with that info, go to http://www.crucial.com and work your way though their easy configuration menu, and they'll tell you exactly what type of memory they have available that is tested and approved in your hardware.

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2001 6:05 pm
by Kastel86
It says i need the 66mhz SDRAM memory? WHere can i get that?

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2001 6:11 pm
by Joe
All you need to find is PC66 SDRAM (Loks liek your baord only supports sticks of 64MB)

Make sure it is 168 pin etc...

Here is what you need

http://www.crucial.com/store/ListModule ... M,%2066MHz

Also you might be able to use PC - 100 in your board...

Post the specs of the board and I will find out.

edo RAM

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2001 7:03 pm
by Ahoyhoy
I always though that EDO RAM was faster than SDRAM. My A+ books says that it's 15% faster than other types of memory. But doesn't say specifically which kind of memory. So, can somebody correct me on which RAM is faster? Thanks! Ahoyhoy

Re: edo RAM

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2001 7:57 pm
by Brent
Originally posted by Ahoyhoy
I always though that EDO RAM was faster than SDRAM. My A+ books says that it's 15% faster than other types of memory. But doesn't say specifically which kind of memory. So, can somebody correct me on which RAM is faster? Thanks! Ahoyhoy
EDO came before SDRAM

Regular DRAM, EDO DRAM, then SDRAM

SDRAM means it's synchronous with the FSB of your computer, and it's a lot faster....

EDO is the old stuff, if you have the option to get SDRAM use that

Re: What Kind Of Memory Does My Comp Take?

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2001 8:00 pm
by Brent
Originally posted by Kastel86
I just bought a comp from one of my friends and i dont know what type of memory it takes? I have the manual and under specification it says:

RAM

Synchrononus Dynamic RAM (SDRAM) or Extended Data Out (EDO)
Dual Inline Memory Modules (DIMMS); two banks with one 168-pin
DIMM socket per bank: one bank is one slot. Expandable to 128MB (EDO) or 64MB (SDRAM).

What does this mean? Can i use PC100 SDRAM memory? If now What memory can i use?
Ya'll may not remember this, but I do

Back in the day also from the transition from EDO to SDRAM some mobos support EDO DIMMS, yes you heard me they made EDO DIMMS. What this was is simply EDO memory in a DIMM confi :) This meant all it had to have was 2 or more DIMM slots and you could run EDO or SDRAM, since SDRAM at the time was still very expensive this made since cause you could get EDO and then later upgrade to SDRAM real easily....

Anyways that's old stuff, if it supports SDRAM get it, it don't matter if it's PC66, PC100 or PC133 think of the PC marking as a speed limit, it can go UP TO that speed stabilily, so using PC100 or PC133 RAM on a 66Mhz FSB will hardly be taxing the ram at all ;) And it makes good for future upgrades since you can re-use the memory on an SDR platform....

However your mobo only supports 64MB which aint a lot of RAM, sounds like a crappy mobo to me

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2001 2:35 am
by Kastel86
its an old comp and i tried to put pc100 mb of ram and it didnt work.

Thanks Brent!

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2001 7:38 pm
by Ahoyhoy
Thanks Brent for setting me straight on the EDO RAM! :D Ahoyhoy

Unfortunately

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2001 7:53 pm
by terrancelam
With certain mobos, especially if their built for premade computer corps (I.E IBM or Dell), they usually force you to buy specific brand of ram to use on their mobos and how they enforce it is by having the mobo only recognize certain brands of ram. What make of ram did you try to install?