memory question

[gwlogue]

My daughter has an old pentium that I was thinking about trying to add some memory to. Here's a clip from AIDA:


Motherboard:
CPU Type Intel Pentium, 120 MHz
Motherboard Name Full Yes FYI-82430VX
Motherboard Chipset Intel Triton 82430VX
System Memory 32 MB
BIOS Type Award Modular (08/12/96)

When I opened it up I found 4 occupied DRAM slots but immediately beside them is an unoccupied slot that is larger than the rest. Is it a memory slot? Can I use another 32mb memory card in there?

[BipolarBill]

Um - you need 72 pin SIMMs for that (EDO RAM). It's going to be really expensive and the performance won't increase much.

You really need to upgrade the whole PC. I don't recommend upgrading the RAM for it.

[RamonGTP]

I agree with BpB... Its really not worth upgrading that machine, its about time for a new one. That longer slot could be any number of things. I had an old compaq that had an empty slot which was used for L2 Cache.

[gwlogue]

Agreed. I've replaced the system with an IBM NetVista system. I tried updating the motherboard chipset drivers on that system and buggered up the video. I could make a career out of this!

Thanks

[rmanet]

.....you just started one anyway, whether or not you realize it

it's a slippery slope we all followed at one point or another

[Crashman]

That slot is for SDRAM. These boards had HORRIBLE SDRAM support. The largest standard module you can find is a very old 32MB 16-chip DIMM. They couldn't support higher density memory, so to use 64MB on a slot, you had to find a rare double-height 32-chip DIMM.

In other words, stick to SIMMs. 4 16MB SIMMs would provide 64MB, which is a LOT for Windows 95. And I wouldn't use any OS newer than Windows 95 on that machine.