Ram. Differences between sdram PS133

[ornulf]

Hi guys,

I have been wondering about this for a while and thought I could shoot it off you guys! The questions are realted to a general Ram discussion, but I'll give you a short history of why I am asking.

I am currently running a IBM Intellistation Z Pro workstation and a while back I thought I needed some more Ram. Well, clueless me, I bought 256 MB of Generic buffered sdram PC100 ECC (Which the manual said was what I needed) That didn't work. SO, I checked around and I quickly understood that I needed to buy IBM (or specially made Viking or Kenston) memory that was upto 4 - 8 times the price of generic memory. Well, you get the gist.

Now, however I want to upgrade to a new machine. I want to use the IBM case and I have most of the other parts too. I upgraded most of my stuff, like graphics card, sound card, cd, cdr, floppy etc since I bought the IBM and will be using this in my new machine. I am only missing Motherboard and CPU (and maybe ram depends on the answers I get)

So, here are a couple of questions.

1: Well, IBM couldn't take generic ram, but can a motherboard that takes generic ram take my IBM ram?
2: What is the difference between generic ram and branded ram (Like IBM ram)?
3: How will I be able to figure out what sort of Ram is needed for a specific motherboard. Is there a naming standard?
4: What should I look for (configurations) when it comes to Ram compatability in motherboards?

Thanks a bunch guys.

Ornulf

[morriswindgate]

Did you go here and check the FAQs

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/manager...go.x=16&go.y=9

[Cricket]

Hi ornulf,

You might not be able to re-use that IBM case for your new build. IBM, as well as many other name brand computer makers, tend to use proprietary sizing and parts for their computers making it very difficult if not impossible to use standard parts in them. You'll probably save yourself a whole lot of grief if you just get a standard ATX case.

You'll be able to re-use some of the parts, like the CD-ROM drive, floppy drive and hard drive. But things like your video card (which might be built in to the motherboard) soundcard and modem (might be built onto the same card...a combo card) might not.

As for your RAM question, go to this site for more information regarding RAM: Crucial

Some companies request non-standard sizes for their RAM sticks, so your IBM RAM may be either longer or shorter than the standard SDRAM slots. The Intellistation systems use non-standard, proprietary RAM and you won't be able to use it in today's standard ATX motherboards.

Currently, there are newer types or RAM that perform better than SDRAM that you may want to consider using in your new build.

Cricket