Need older SDRAM

[osprey4]

I was given permission to bring home my old desktop from work, Dell Optiplex GXa, which I've set up for my daughter. Although I'm pretty sure it had more RAM when it was on my desk, it only has 64 MB now.

Anyone know where I can find some cheap SDRAM, 66MHz, ECC (it takes non-ECC, but only 32-MG DIMMs)? Crucial has a 128-MG DIMM for $57 but I hate to spend that much.

[JimG]

Found this on Newegg.com: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...on=SDRAM+ ECC
Should be the 3rd item down...
CRUCIAL MEMORY 128MB PC133 SDRAM RAM - OEM
CT16M72S4D75 C3, 16X72 168Pins DIMM, ECC CAS3.0-Unbuffered, 7.5ns Requires SDRAM Support Motherboard - Lifetime Warranty. GOLD CONTACT --*

I know it's 133 MHz, but it should work at 66 MHz

[Richard Cranium]

http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...+GXa&submit=Go

[osprey4]

Doc, that's the price I saw.

I don't know about plunking down $57 on this old machine. Does anyone think going from 64 to 192 MB will make a difference on a P2-266 running Win 98?

[PresterJohn]

>I don't know about plunking down $57 on this old machine. Does anyone think going from 64 to 192 MB will make a difference on a P2-266 running Win 98?

it depends...

64mb is enough to run simple apps like IE, email, winamp,etc. ...and performance-wise win98 can run pretty good with just 64mb. however, you open several programs at once...96mb is about the sweet spot.

anything >96 (not counting graphics programs like photoshop which will use all the memory you can give it) is allocated for primarily for the windows file cache.

[osprey4]

Ok, solved my problem. I mooched a 64-MB ECC DIMM off our computer support guy, pirated from a soon to be departed GXa. Then I scrounged a 64-MB DIMM from my junk pile, but non-ECC. However, I found that by instaling the non-ECC in the first slot, all three DIMMs are reported as non-ECC, so no mismatch reported.

So with 192MB, should run fine now.

[The Punisher]

www.computershopper.com

[Richard Cranium]

In Win98, if you open System Monitor and add;
Unused Physical Memory
& Swap File in Use

You will see that 128mb is totally used up after opening Winders, Norton and IE 5.5

I'm stuck on 128mb as a "Bare Minimum" on W98 and 256 on XP

Make sure to invoke the sysedit tweak of ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1
and, check Network Server along with the msconfig lean out.

Sorry, I didn't notice that you'd alread gotten the figures from Crucial, my spedredin course didn't work

[osprey4]

Originally posted by Richard Cranium
...my spedredin course didn't work

It's the signal delay between my eyes, my brain and my hands that causes most of these problems.

Yes, I forgot about the swap file tweak. I'll give that a try.