Mobo/Ram Capabilty's

[Robbnaldo]

Heres my problem , most people say that most 133 ram will underclock to 100 no problem(I got a 100mhz frontbus), but some people are now telling me from experience that some Mobo's just don't like 133 ram. One guy even said when he put in a 256mb 133 stick it would only read as a 128.

So I need help figuring out if two 256mb pc133 ram sticks (probably going to be made by Amzor) are going to work for my system

Here is a link to everything about my mobo
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=103&MODEL=MS-5184

 

[mechBgon]

I downloaded the manual to see what they say about memory sizes:

You can use SIMM from 4MB, 8MB, 16MB, 32MB, 64MB to
128MB, and DIMM from 8, 16, 32, 64,128 to 256MB.

The only computers where I have had a problem were old PentiumMMX systems. The high-density chips on the memory module were detected as 1/4 of their real capacity (64Mb looked like 16Mb to the computer). However, I have used low-density PC133 in those same systems without problems, even though they are only designed for PC66. I also have worked with a motherboard that uses the chipset that your system uses (VIA MVP3 chipset) and it was fine with PC133. I think you will be ok with modern high-density memory, and the manual says it will recognize 256Mb modules.

By the way, Kingston has some good deals on their ValueRam modules here. $26 shipped for 256Mb PC133 CL2!

 

[Vette73]

Get a slab of Low-Density ram. Also 256mg is all you need. Anything more than that will be a waste

 

[Robbnaldo]

Yeah okay thanks everyone
I have currently:
450mhz Amd-k6-2
Voodoo Banshee 16mb
128 pc100 sdram
That MSI board above
8.4 Fugitsu 5400rpm
Win 98se - hoping to upgrade to XP once I get the ram and a gf2

But, yeah I live in Canada so 26 bucks is 41 Canadian and thats without shipping

And the cheapest I can get it here so far is 1 256mb pc133 by Amzor for $40 or 2 for $75.

Would 512 ram really be a waste for my system?

Should I just buy one stick and have 384 ram?

 

[mechBgon]

I would go with one new stick. Win98SE isn't known for making effective use of a whole lot of RAM, so I doubt you would see a difference between 256, 384 and 512 in actual usage. Honestly, I would stop at 256Mb. At work, I have people using Windows2000, and if I start Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Microsoft Photo Editor, Adobe Acrobat, McAfee VirusScan, Windows Explorer, Network Neighborhood and Quickbooks Pro all at the same time, that's still only ~190Mb of memory in use. Maybe check the prices at www.crucial.com just to see if they have a competitive price for you.

 

[Robbnaldo]

I plan on Upgrading to XP Prof as soon as I get the Ram.

Would XP make much or any use of 512 ram as opposed to 384?
(I know XP can take up 2 120mb just to boot it on default settings)

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Robbnaldo
I plan on Upgrading to XP Prof as soon as I get the Ram.

Would XP make much or any use of 512 ram as opposed to 384?
(I know XP can take up 2 120mb just to boot it on default settings)

256mg is fine and 384 will be more than you can use. The problem is 450Mhz is the Min. in my opinion to run Win XP. So I would not put to much money in ram, and start looking for a Athlon KT333 board with DDR ram.

So your limiting factor is the CPU and board, not the RAM

 

[mechBgon]

Also, the slow Fujitsu hard drive and the slow Ultra33 IDE controller will make the system seem slow in anything that involves HDD access. I agree, consider replacing the whole thing at once. Asus makes a good all-in-one board that's still upgradeable, the A7N266-VM. Onboard GeForce2 MX video plus an AGP slot. Onboard Ultra100 IDE controllers, onboard high-performance sound, onboard 100Mbit network adapter, and it will run anything from a $40 Duron to an AthlonXP 2400+ (with the latest BIOS). It takes PC2100 DDR memory, though, so you would want to save up your money instead of upgrading your existing one with more RAM.

 

[Peter]

MS5184 uses a late VIA socket 7 chipset. These run a maximum of 128 MBytes per DIMM _side_. Double-sided 256-MByte DIMMs are the largest supported - same as with Intel BX and many other popular second generation SDRAM supporting chipsets.

regards, Peter