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Edit: Alternative to EDO FPM proprietary to Compaq?

J

js1973

Senior member
My work upgraded to some new computers and told me I could take one of the old ones to keep on my desk. I don't really need my own computer, but I want one that's not on the network for various reasons.

Anyway, the box they gave me is a Compaq Presario 9660. A whopping pentium 166 with 32mb of ram. I figured I could drop a k6-2 450 into it that I had lying around, add some memory (which I thought would be cheap), add a 16mb vid card, and charge whatever I spent to the company.

I looked up prices for the memory and almost choked. A 64mb upgrade, which I need two of, cost in the neighborhood of $110. $110??? I saw a 512mb generic brand of pc133 the other day for $99. Who in the world would pay this much for 60ns memory? I just got into computers in the last 2-3 years. I'm guessing that this memory performs incredibly slow compared to today's technology. Why is this stuff still so expensive?

Edit: Has anyone used generic memory in a machine made by one of the big manufacturer's that required you to buy their "proprietary" memory? Did it work? What could make a certain memory physically proprietary?
 
There could be two reasons for the higher prices. First, the memory in question isn't being manufactured any more so there is a limited supply of it. Second, are you able to use generic memory or something that is Compaq-specific? If it's the latter, you're screwed. If the former is an option, check the Sell/Trade forum. You're sure to find some for less than the figures you cited.
 
Well, the kits made by Kingston for this particular model indicate that it's proprietary memory. Like I said, I haven't really seen this stuff before, so I don't know what about it makes it proprietary. The "proprietary" label might just be something the manufacturer's put on the box to keep you from purchasing generic memory, but I don't know one way or the other. I've searched the web for details, but this machine was built and sold in 1996. There's not a whole lot of documentation, or interest, on the specifics of the machine.
 
One thing to think about since it?s a P166 it?s most likely using either the TX , VX or HX chip set, if it is then anything over 64 Megs wont be cached, (the HX can cache more than 64 megs of ram but only if it has a special tag ram installed which most company?s didn?t put in due to the cost. If your using Win9x , (which loads from the upper memory range on down) then you might actually see a performance decrease with more than 64 megs of ram installed.
 
And yu must have simm type memory of which there just not making any more. It's also a supply and demand thing.

Pete
 
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