RAM Question

Doire

Whats the most memory that a system with a PII 350Mhz CPU can handle.

Thanks.

garv221

depends on the board.

Drakonblayde

Theoretically? 4 gigs, just like every other 32 bit processor. In reality, yeah, it depends on the chipset.

Doire

Thanks guys. And how do i find out the chipset specs? Would 256Mb be too much? I was hoping for 512Mb though.

Metaldave

I think if you get the north chip number and go here http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=5&ArticleID=68&P=5 they have a chart. or googling it may bring back your info.

You could pickup a newer board+cpu on ebay for a very reasonable price and you could have all the RAM you want (within reason).

RussS

As Drakonblayde said. I would also suggest that it depends on the OS as well. Putting 512 in a 9x machine will make it work slower than having 256. Actually I think about 96-128 is about all Win98 can handle unless you mod it a little.

Drakonblayde

If the machine has an award BIOS, it'll usually show the date and the chipset in the lower left hand corner during boot, while it's counting up memory, finding ATAPI drives, etc etc. If you can get that and post it, we can prolly identify the chipset for you.

If it's one of those cutseypoo oem computers like a compaq, pacbell, hp, and even some dells, it's a little bit tougher. Some of them have an option to clear the splash screen and let you watch the bootup sequence (usually tab or esc), and sometimes it might tell you the chipset somewhere in the bios.

Or you could just look at the board. If it's via, nvidia, intel, or ALi, it'll be readily apparent.

Looking back over some PII chipset specs, it looks like most of them will support anywhere from 1 to 2 gigs of RAM, though what types and speeds differ. For example, some will take up to 2 gigs of EDO, but only 1 Gig of SDRAM. So if you're looking to drop a pair of 256 PC-133's or PC-100's, chances are pretty good it'll take.

Doire

As ever guys youy help has been brilliant! The computer is one i got really cheap and iis goingt o be used by my little borhter for school work and playing some games.

The OS is windows 98 and it only has 64Mb Ram on it at the moment. Im trying to add more RAM to it and up the OS to Windows 2000. I dopnt want to spend money on a high amoutn of RAM and then find out it wont take it.

I'll find out the chipset and post it on here for you guys to add any comments.

jmc724

It can handle the 512 mb, but u need to know the bus speed i.e 100 mbz vs 133 mhz

Drakonblayde

Well, it depends, as long as it doesn't require EDO, it's safe to use PC-133, it'll step back to 100mhz if that's all the bus is rated for. When in doubt, I use PC-133.