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| Sourcing RAM These Days? |
Posted by: l008com on 2016-09-09 04:20:45
When it comes to these old PCI Macs, everyone's first thought is that it can take PC100 and it should be backwards compatible. Is that true? I suspect the answer is a big definitely "NO".
If that's the case, then the question remains, where can you get RAM for these Macs, these days? I saw a link to $7.50 128 MB dimms on OWC but they are sold out of course :-/ Besides scrounging them out of recycled Macs, are there any other places to get this stuff?
Sold Out: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/5MD128MBG/
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Posted by: goncalo on 2016-09-09 04:42:54
I've been able to get some old RAM at the flea-market.
There is one in Lisbon every Saturday morning were I've been able to find a lot of retrocomputing stuff.
Most of them might have been baked by ESD, but at 50 cents each, I'm willing to take a chance 😉
The other day I bough 5 pc100 so-dimms for the iMac G3 - they all worked.
By the way - is there any program to do a low-level ram check?
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Posted by: MJ313 on 2016-09-09 05:29:13
You can check LEM swap. Someone on there is bound to have the RAM you need. Just wait it out, or post a WTB.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/lemswap
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Posted by: sstaylor on 2016-09-09 07:20:26
Costs more than a swap meet (probably) but surprisingly affordable:
http://www.memoryx.com/apple.html
They've got a lot of vintage type ram and it's all sorted by model so you get just what you need.
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Posted by: joethezombie on 2016-09-09 08:01:23
Even 4MB IIfx SIMMs for 26 bucks a pop. ಠ_ಠ
Sure wish I was around when trag and co. we're hacking together 16 meg versions.
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Posted by: Juror22 on 2016-09-09 08:30:48
I had forgotten about memoryx, thanks for posting the link.
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Posted by: trag on 2016-09-09 11:12:07
By the way - is there any program to do a low-level ram check? RAMometer and/or GaugePro from NewerTech. Apparently it alters pattern as it tests. It catches major defects within about 20 iterations, but it can take 1200 to 1500 iterations to catch subtle flaws, such as flaws dependent on the content of surrounding cells.
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Posted by: goncalo on 2016-09-09 15:46:22
Thanks Trag!
Always learning.
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Posted by: rsolberg on 2016-09-09 18:56:05
Also note that no PCI Power Macs prior to the Beige G3 will work with PC100 or any other SDRAM. They do use 168-pin DIMMs, but they're FPM or EDO RAM, and 5v instead of 3.3v. Fortunately, they're keyed differently, though I have seen magic smoke released after someone was determined SDRAM should fit. 168-pin EDO/FPM DIMMs were pretty uncommon in the consumer PC world, so many people unfamiliar with Macs or RISC workstations of the day don't know they even exist. In x86 land, manufacturers pretty much stuck with 72-pin SIMMs until PC66 SDRAM was a thing.
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