type of sdram for a 4 year old motherboard?

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

My Dad has a computer running a PIII 850 with 128 MB of sdram and
Windows XP. Suffice to say it needs more memory. (It's slow)

I bought him a used PIII 1000 so that will boost the system speed up
to 133 from 100 mhz.

SO, I want to buy a 256 mb PC133 sdram stick. I notice there's two
types of chip densities being sold. One is the "32M x 64 -Bit" and the
other is the " 32x8"

For example Kingston says:

Manufacturer: Kingston
Speed: PC133
Type: 168 Pin SDRAM
Error Checking: Non-ECC
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Cas Latency: 3
Support Voltage: 3.3V
Bandwidth: 1.05GB/s
Organization: 32M x 64 -Bit
Warranty: Lifetime
Please note this will not work with older Motherboards, only use with
boards supporting 32x8 Chipset

Is this an issue or not? Although I built the computer in question - I
think it used an ASUS cuv-4x mATX - I can't remember and I can't check
the board.

Anyway, it's the same vintage as the cuv-4x. I think it uses a VIA
chipset.

Do I have to worry about this 32Mx64 bit stuff or can I prolly just go
with the (much more widely availiable) 32M x 64 -Bit PC 133 sdram?

Thanks in advance,

Ping

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 03:10:27 GMT, Ping <steve@zzzzz.net> wrote:

>My Dad has a computer running a PIII 850 with 128 MB of sdram and
>Windows XP. Suffice to say it needs more memory. (It's slow)
>
>I bought him a used PIII 1000 so that will boost the system speed up
>to 133 from 100 mhz.
>
>SO, I want to buy a 256 mb PC133 sdram stick. I notice there's two
>types of chip densities being sold. One is the "32M x 64 -Bit" and the
>other is the " 32x8"

Nope - that's not quite what the description below really says. The 32Mx64
is the organization of the dimm: 64 bits wide times 32M gives a DIMM size
of 256MByte; the 32x8 should also be 32Mx8 and describes the size and
organization of the chips on the DIMM, i.e. 256Mbit.

>For example Kingston says:
>
>Manufacturer: Kingston
>Speed: PC133
>Type: 168 Pin SDRAM
>Error Checking: Non-ECC
>Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
>Cas Latency: 3
>Support Voltage: 3.3V
>Bandwidth: 1.05GB/s
>Organization: 32M x 64 -Bit
>Warranty: Lifetime
>Please note this will not work with older Motherboards, only use with
>boards supporting 32x8 Chipset

What they're saying basically, is that this DIMM is a single sided 256MB
made from 8x256Mbit chips. The caution is against tryng to use it in a
mbrd with a chipset which does not support 256Mbit chips... in which case
you'd want a double sided DIMM with 16x128Mbit chips.

>Is this an issue or not? Although I built the computer in question - I
>think it used an ASUS cuv-4x mATX - I can't remember and I can't check
>the board.
>
>Anyway, it's the same vintage as the cuv-4x. I think it uses a VIA
>chipset.
>
>Do I have to worry about this 32Mx64 bit stuff or can I prolly just go
>with the (much more widely availiable) 32M x 64 -Bit PC 133 sdram?

If you have a mbrd which does not support the 32Mx8 memory chips you do not
want this DIMM - you need to know which mbrd you have and then just go to
www.crucial.com and follow the "directions".

--
Rgds, George Macdonald

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 17:00:53 GMT, Ping <steve@zzzzz.net> wrote:

>
>
>
>On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 09:28:43 -0500, George Macdonald
><fammacd=!SPAM^nothanks@tellurian.com> wrote:
>
>>On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 03:10:27 GMT, Ping <steve@zzzzz.net> wrote:
>>
>>>My Dad has a computer running a PIII 850 with 128 MB of sdram and
>>>Windows XP. Suffice to say it needs more memory. (It's slow)
>>>
>>>I bought him a used PIII 1000 so that will boost the system speed up
>>>to 133 from 100 mhz.
>>>
>>>SO, I want to buy a 256 mb PC133 sdram stick. I notice there's two
>>>types of chip densities being sold. One is the "32M x 64 -Bit" and the
>>>other is the " 32x8"
>>
>>Nope - that's not quite what the description below really says. The 32Mx64
>>is the organization of the dimm: 64 bits wide times 32M gives a DIMM size
>>of 256MByte; the 32x8 should also be 32Mx8 and describes the size and
>>organization of the chips on the DIMM, i.e. 256Mbit.
>>
>>>For example Kingston says:
>>>
>>>Manufacturer: Kingston
>>>Speed: PC133
>>>Type: 168 Pin SDRAM
>>>Error Checking: Non-ECC
>>>Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
>>>Cas Latency: 3
>>>Support Voltage: 3.3V
>>>Bandwidth: 1.05GB/s
>>>Organization: 32M x 64 -Bit
>>>Warranty: Lifetime
>>>Please note this will not work with older Motherboards, only use with
>>>boards supporting 32x8 Chipset
>>
>>What they're saying basically, is that this DIMM is a single sided 256MB
>>made from 8x256Mbit chips. The caution is against tryng to use it in a
>>mbrd with a chipset which does not support 256Mbit chips... in which case
>>you'd want a double sided DIMM with 16x128Mbit chips.
>>
>>>Is this an issue or not? Although I built the computer in question - I
>>>think it used an ASUS cuv-4x mATX - I can't remember and I can't check
>>>the board.
>>>
>>>Anyway, it's the same vintage as the cuv-4x. I think it uses a VIA
>>>chipset.
>>>
>>>Do I have to worry about this 32Mx64 bit stuff or can I prolly just go
>>>with the (much more widely availiable) 32M x 64 -Bit PC 133 sdram?
>>
>>If you have a mbrd which does not support the 32Mx8 memory chips you do not
>>want this DIMM - you need to know which mbrd you have and then just go to
>>www.crucial.com and follow the "directions".
>
>--------------------
>Thanks for the replies.
>
>Just out of curiosity, can the double side, single side, issue be made
>irrelevant by buying two 128 MB PC 133 sticks?

As long as the single sided DIMM has 8 x 128Mbit chips on it - it could be
possible that you'd find a 128MB DIMM with 4 x 256Mbit chips. 128Mbit
chips are at the tail-end of their life-cycle and price *could* be starting
to ramp up now.

--
Rgds, George Macdonald