Memory for an Amptron motherboard

[Wooding]

A friend of a friend has an elderly computer (P133 with 16MB FPM
memory) that needs more memory. It was assembled by a company that no
longer exists, and he has no documentation. I ran AIDA32 on it and it
reported an AMPTRON PM-8800A motherboard with an Intel i430VX chipset,
3 ISA, 4 PCI, 1 DIMM and 4 SIMM slots. 2 of the SIMMs are populated
with 8MB FPM SIMMs. The only reference I could find to the 8800A was
that it was a sub division of the 8800, which apparently will accept a
total of 128MB - so it would seem that the best option would be to
ditch the SIMMs and install a 128MB SDRAM DIMM (there is aparently a
jumper to set either 3.3v or 5v DIMM memory).
I contacted Crucial because this motherboard doesn't exist on their
website, and they said that only SIMMs can be inserted. I emailed
Amptron, asked about the DIMM slot, and got the following reply...

"Actually you could only add 64MB in each slot with the 8800 and 8800A
the only m/b you could add the 128MB would be the 8800C".

I've looked at the motherboard and there is definately a DIMM slot and
4 SIMM slots with 2 populated. So... does anyone know for sure if
this motherboard will accept the 128MB SDRAM?

 

[JT]

A friend of a friend has an elderly computer (P133 with 16MB FPM
memory) that needs more memory. It was assembled by a company that no
longer exists, and he has no documentation. I ran AIDA32 on it and it
reported an AMPTRON PM-8800A motherboard with an Intel i430VX chipset,
3 ISA, 4 PCI, 1 DIMM and 4 SIMM slots. 2 of the SIMMs are populated
with 8MB FPM SIMMs. The only reference I could find to the 8800A was
that it was a sub division of the 8800, which apparently will accept a
total of 128MB - so it would seem that the best option would be to
ditch the SIMMs and install a 128MB SDRAM DIMM (there is aparently a
jumper to set either 3.3v or 5v DIMM memory).
I contacted Crucial because this motherboard doesn't exist on their
website, and they said that only SIMMs can be inserted. I emailed
Amptron, asked about the DIMM slot, and got the following reply...

"Actually you could only add 64MB in each slot with the 8800 and 8800A
the only m/b you could add the 128MB would be the 8800C".

I've looked at the motherboard and there is definately a DIMM slot and
4 SIMM slots with 2 populated. So... does anyone know for sure if
this motherboard will accept the 128MB SDRAM?

Limitations of the VX chipset make any memory above 64mb problematic. The
chipset will only cache up to 64mb of ram, and in systems where I have seen
more used with this chipset, performance was hurt a bit, and stability
suffered greatly. This chipset would also not support very high density
ram, and it probably wouldn't see all of a 128mb DIMM anyway. If you can
find a 64mb SDRAM, that is probably the best choice for this system. The
operating systems that will run on that old a system will be happy with
64mb.

JT

 

[steven67@]

A friend of a friend has an elderly computer (P133 with 16MB FPM
memory) that needs more memory. It was assembled by a company that no
longer exists, and he has no documentation. I ran AIDA32 on it and it
reported an AMPTRON PM-8800A motherboard with an Intel i430VX chipset,
3 ISA, 4 PCI, 1 DIMM and 4 SIMM slots. 2 of the SIMMs are populated
with 8MB FPM SIMMs. The only reference I could find to the 8800A was
that it was a sub division of the 8800, which apparently will accept a
total of 128MB - so it would seem that the best option would be to
ditch the SIMMs and install a 128MB SDRAM DIMM (there is aparently a
jumper to set either 3.3v or 5v DIMM memory).
I contacted Crucial because this motherboard doesn't exist on their
website, and they said that only SIMMs can be inserted. I emailed
Amptron, asked about the DIMM slot, and got the following reply...

"Actually you could only add 64MB in each slot with the 8800 and 8800A
the only m/b you could add the 128MB would be the 8800C".

I've looked at the motherboard and there is definately a DIMM slot and
4 SIMM slots with 2 populated. So... does anyone know for sure if
this motherboard will accept the 128MB SDRAM?

..


The 430VX chipset supports memory chip densities up to 16Mbit. Because of
this, the largest SDRAM DIMM supported would be a 32MB DIMM with sixteen
2Mx8(16Mbit) chips. A 64MB EDO DIMM with thirty-two 4Mx4(16Mbit) chips
may be compatible.

Four 32MB(sixteen 4Mx4 chips on each), EDO or FP SIMMs could be used, for
a total of 128MB. The SIMMs must be installed in matching pairs. Two
matching 32MB EDO or FP SIMMs could be used with the currently installed
SIMMs, for a total of 80MB.

 

[Shep©]

A friend of a friend has an elderly computer (P133 with 16MB FPM
memory) that needs more memory. It was assembled by a company that no
longer exists, and he has no documentation. I ran AIDA32 on it and it
reported an AMPTRON PM-8800A motherboard with an Intel i430VX chipset,
3 ISA, 4 PCI, 1 DIMM and 4 SIMM slots. 2 of the SIMMs are populated
with 8MB FPM SIMMs. The only reference I could find to the 8800A was
that it was a sub division of the 8800, which apparently will accept a
total of 128MB - so it would seem that the best option would be to
ditch the SIMMs and install a 128MB SDRAM DIMM (there is aparently a
jumper to set either 3.3v or 5v DIMM memory).
I contacted Crucial because this motherboard doesn't exist on their
website, and they said that only SIMMs can be inserted. I emailed
Amptron, asked about the DIMM slot, and got the following reply...

"Actually you could only add 64MB in each slot with the 8800 and 8800A
the only m/b you could add the 128MB would be the 8800C".

I've looked at the motherboard and there is definately a DIMM slot and
4 SIMM slots with 2 populated. So... does anyone know for sure if
this motherboard will accept the 128MB SDRAM?

Try the,"Crucial" ram finder,
http://www.crucial.com/
and you may have better luck and cheaper at a local computer market to
get some cheap
http://www.computerfairs.co.uk/
or ask around,

HTH



--
Free Windows/PC help,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
email shepATpartyheld.de
Free songs download,
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm

 

[Chaos Master]

Wooding said those words of wisdom from the arcane mages in alt.comp.hardware:

A friend of a friend has an elderly computer (P133 with 16MB FPM
memory) that needs more memory. It was assembled by a company that no
longer exists, and he has no documentation. I ran AIDA32 on it and it
reported an AMPTRON PM-8800A motherboard with an Intel i430VX chipset,
3 ISA, 4 PCI, 1 DIMM and 4 SIMM slots. 2 of the SIMMs are populated
with 8MB FPM SIMMs. The only reference I could find to the 8800A was
that it was a sub division of the 8800, which apparently will accept a
total of 128MB - so it would seem that the best option would be to
ditch the SIMMs and install a 128MB SDRAM DIMM (there is aparently a
jumper to set either 3.3v or 5v DIMM memory).
I contacted Crucial because this motherboard doesn't exist on their
website, and they said that only SIMMs can be inserted. I emailed
Amptron, asked about the DIMM slot, and got the following reply...

"Actually you could only add 64MB in each slot with the 8800 and 8800A
the only m/b you could add the 128MB would be the 8800C".

I've looked at the motherboard and there is definately a DIMM slot and
4 SIMM slots with 2 populated. So... does anyone know for sure if
this motherboard will accept the 128MB SDRAM?

Technically, according to the manual for my PM-7900 (similar) it supports, but
this Intel i430VX chipset has problems with > 64MB ram. In practice you can add
64MB EDO DIMM memory - enough to keep Win98 or Linux happy. Entering "Amptron PM-
8800" into Google may give a manual.

 

[Wooding]

Thanks for the advice from those who responded. I have ditched the DIMM
solution and ordered a couple of 32MB SIMMs. I just hope the performance
improvement willmett expectations.