Question about older Intel TX chipset based mobo: Does adding more than 64MB of RAM do anything?

[RaiderJ]

Since this chipset has a cacheable limit of 64MB, does adding any RAM above that amount do anything? I've read since Windows using RAM from the top down, that adding beyond that point slows the system down.

Anyone have any personal experience or technical info on this?

 

[Bartman39]

According to everything I have heard or read also... Yes adding more than 64megs to an old TX based system will slow the system down... (funny I remember when I was king of the block with 16megs... wow...!) If it cant cache the ram then its much slower to utilize it...

 

[hmsrolst]

I still run a TX-based system and Windows cannot cache more than 64MB of RAM on it. Here's an article.

 

[Priit]

Yes it slows overall speed down by some % but if you need more RAM then using it is still faster than swapping. I have TX with 256Mb SDRAM at home (brother's computer) and IMO it's faster that way than with only 64Mb RAM...

 

[Workin']

<< Yes it slows overall speed down by some % but if you need more RAM then using it is still faster than swapping (to disk). >>

Exactly.

 

[RaiderJ]

Thanks for the input. I'll go ahead and stick a 256 chip in the board, since I have one lying around.

 

[Sukhoi]

<< Thanks for the input. I'll go ahead and stick a 256 chip in the board, since I have one lying around. >>



What are you talking about?? You need to install the RAM in pairs, and I didn't know they made 256 MB SIMMs in the first place!

Edit: Just checked and the i430TX only supports 256 MB of RAM total.

 

[Sunner]

Many TX mobo's support SDRAM DIMM's, so assuming he has one of those, he wont have a problem.

 

[oldfart]

Some TX did have the SDRAM DIMM slots, but I dont think they supported 256 Meg sticks.

 

[Priit]

<< Some TX did have the SDRAM DIMM slots, but I dont think they supported 256 Meg sticks. >>



If mobo supports singel-sided 128Mb DIMM, it also works with double-sided 256MB module. I have tried with Tyan and ASUS TX mobos and both worked just fine with 256Mb PC-133 DIMM (if you don't belive it I can found some proof also so I don't think it's chipset limitation. If you have TX mobo with 168-in SDRAM socket then you probably can use 256Mb DIMM.

 

[MadRat]

The TX boards supported 5v 50-80ns EDO DIMM (look like SDRAM but max. were only 64MB sticks), not the 3.3v <12ns SDRAM that you have.

Edit: After looking at the Intel website it looks like I'm thinking the VX and HX. It appears that TX supports either/or 5v EDO or FPM and 3.3v SDRAM memory on the bus. Previous chipsets only supported EDO and FPM.

 

[Sunner]

My Asus TX97 mobo is still going strong with 64 MB of SDRAM(Yes I promise it's SDRAM, 12ns noname crap).

Been a long time since I saw an EDO DIMM in an x86 box...

 

[RaiderJ]

Yes, my motherboard supports SDRAM, which doesn't need to be installed in pairs. And if it doesn't support a 256 chip, I'll just put in 2 128 chips. My point was that I was going to max out the RAM on the motherboard, rather than limit it to the cacheable limit of the motherboard.