Re: Need Advice on System RAM]
Whoops, I wanted this to go to the list!
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Need Advice on System RAM
Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2001 14:02:07 -0600
From: "Donald R. Spoon" <dspoon@satx.rr.com>
Reply-To: dspoon@satx.rr.com
To: Ryan Kirkpatrick <debian@rkirkpat.net>
References:
<[🔎] Pine.LNX.4.21.0111012106050.13876-100000@magellan.rkirkpat.net>
Ryan Kirkpatrick wrote:
>
> On Thu, 1 Nov 2001, Donald R. Spoon wrote:
>
> > 1. Is the "quality" issue really valid today?
>
> If you are buying DDR PC2600 whatever RAM for today's modern
> computers, then yes, quality is an issue. As for 60ns 72pin Parity SIMMs,
> if they work (after all these years) then their quality is probably pretty
> good. :) Parity SIMM RAM was pretty limited in use to only server class
> machines, so what of it that was made, it had to be pretty high quality to
> begin with. Just by saying parity SIMM, you are implying a certain level
> of quality.
> As for myself, when I went to upgrade my XLT366 from 192MB to
> 256MB (I use it as web/database server), I just went to eBay, found some
> Compaq branded 32MB 60ns 72pin Parity SIMMs for $30 a pair. Installed them
> and they work great. For RAM of this type, I would highly recommend eBay,
> as any reseller is going to charge a premium for this relatively "rare"
> memory.
>
> > 2. Will 256 Megs make my machine happy and quit using swap space
> > anytime I look at it? As a side question, will I see significant
> > difference between 128 Megs and 256 Megs in performance?
>
> You will see a different between 64 and 128, especially if you run
> lots of Xapps. Between 128 and 256, I can't really say. Depends how much
> software you try and run at once. Though as they always say, you never can
> have too much RAM. So, if you can afford it, go for the 256.
> My two cents, hope they are of use.
>
Thanks for all the advice. Here is some follow-up.
I upgraded to 8 sticks of 32 Meg Hundai parity SIMMS (total 256 Megs)
obtained from SMI in Carrolton, TX. (Highly recommended!!) This
transformed my DEC Alpha 300XL from a "dog" into a "gazelle"...WOW!
This machine has moved from being the house "dog" to the front of the
pack. Before, I had just 64 Megs of RAM.
Before the upgrade, KDE took forever to start, and when I started
Mozilla 0.9.5, it would go into a continuous disk-access mode (swap??)
and would not load any web pages. I knew it worked, because I could get
it up under GNOME, but still slowly. Now everthing starts in a
resonable amount of time, and Mozilla will bring up web pages as fast a
anything I have around the house even when run from KDE. Performance is
now comparable to my AMD K6/2-500 machine, which is the fastest machine
I have here.
I would highly recommend a RAM upgrade if you can afford it.
BTW, mucho thanks to those who got KDE running on the Alpha (Chris??).
Cheers,
-Don Spoon-
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