SD-RAM On Old Dell?

[Hideous_Hog]

A friend at work tried to add more SD-RAM to an old Dell (circa 1996/1997) and couldn't get it to work. A 32MB stick was showing up as 4M. The motherboard was one of the first that took SD-RAM.

Does anybody know/remember what the deal is with this?

 

[AndyHui]

Depends on a number of factors.

Present day SDRAM is 3.3 volts; the motherboard in the DELL may require 5 volt DIMMs.

Secondly, the 32MB SDRAM may be of high density chips, which the chipset on the motherboard may not handle. It would help if you were able to give some more details.

 

[amdskip]

What about a gateway 2000 with an ol' pentium 166 and 16mb of RAM. I know this is SDRAM and its also DIMM but I have no idea what to get to upgrade this. I wanna add another 16 for winblows 98

 

[Dan]

Hideous_Hog: Do a search online for the particular model Dell that you're trying to upgrade. One good thing about Dells: you're sure to find info about the specific model and what sort of RAM it needs.

I know because I was faced with the same dilemma a week ago, i.e., I was trying to upgrade RAM in a friend's really old (circa 1990) Dell. In that case it turned out that I needed SIMM's with parity. The cost's involved didn't justify the upgrade. In fact, he replaced the entire system.