[G4] Adding memory to a G4 PCI.

[Philip J Robar]

On Apr 30, 2006, at 12:43 PM, Ronald Steinke wrote:

> MacTracker says that your machine takes PC100, 3.3v, unbuffered, 8- 
> byte, non-parity 168 pin SDRAM up to a maximum of 1024Mb. However,  
> it has been my experience that using PC133 sticks instead will work  
> as long as you do not have any other slower sticks installed. If  
> you mix the speed types, the faster sticks will drop speed to match  
> the slowest on board, so you would be wasting the effort of the  
> upgrade.

This doesn't make any sense. The upgrade will be in no way be  
"wasted". PC133 is backwards compatible with PC100 and is often less  
expensive than PC100 these days. In that case it is the sensible  
choice and you will get the full benefit of the memory increase.


> The actual location (which slot?) hasn't seemed to make much  
> difference so far in my usage, so I can't say that putting the  
> sticks in right next to each other or separated is critical on that  
> model. On some machines, it seems to speed operation a bit if the  
> sticks are in the same numbered slot of each bank (ie: Bank A/Slot  
> 1 and BankB/Slot 1) as long as the sticks are the same size and  
> speed (ie: 128Mb and 8ns each).

As I said in my most recent post the manual for this machine says  
that memory can be installed in any order. Also, while the manual  
doesn't explicitly say this, machines of this generation do not  
benefit from installing matched pairs of memory.


> Just remember to not mix speeds when the specs call for matching  
> speeds. A mix will cause a slow-down that most of us won't see with  
> our eyes but which will show up during operations like image  
> rendering. Of course, that only really applies if speed is crucial  
> to your productivity or you are a serious gamer.

This is incorrect. There will be no "slow-down". A Yikes can only  
operate memory at PC100 speeds. A Yikes, using PC133, will still run  
at the same speed as it would with PC100 memory. While there are  
computers that will run with mixed memory speeds, but that will run  
imperceptibly faster if only the faster memory is used the Yikes is  
not one of them.


Phil
--
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal  
opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it."
  -- Edward R. Murrow