[Baphomet]

I'm upgrading the memory on my 400 MHz G4, which I have never done before and I'm hoping someone here with a little more knowledge than me on this subject could help me out with a couple of questions.
First, according to my System Profiler I have 4 slots for memory. One slot has 64MB, two slots have 128MB each, one slot is empty. Total of 320MB. What would my best option be if I want to max out my machines memory and still keep the modules I have? I'm mainly asking this because I've heard that certain slots in certain machines can only hold so much memory and i'm not sure of the rules to this.
Second, When I have tried to price memory using memory upgrade configurators I'm asked what kind of graphics cards I have. I have the choices of a PCI or an AGP. My problem is, according to my System Profiler I have both. It says I have an ADPT,1686806-04 scsi PCI in SLOT-B and it also says I have an ATY,Rage128Pro display AGP in SLOT-A. So, which should I choose? Any light that anyone could shed on these matters would help me out quite a bit.

Thanks.

[waxcrash]

Your computer takes 168-pinn DIMM PC100 SDRAM. The largest memory module available is 512MB. FYI, your graphics card is in the AGP slot and you have a Rage 128 Pro. The card in the PCI slot is a SCSI card, which most likely controlling a hard drive.

The maximum memory you could have by keeping your current memory (320MB) would be 832MB by adding a 512MB module in the empty slot.

The maximum you could put in your computer is 2GB (512MB x 4).

[Baphomet]

Originally Posted by waxcrash

Your computer takes 168-pinn DIMM PC100 SDRAM. The largest memory module available is 512MB. FYI, your graphics card is in the AGP slot and you have a Rage 128 Pro. The card in the PCI slot is a SCSI card, which most likely controlling a hard drive.

Awesome! Thank you so much.

[bowwowman]

you should really just toss that 64mb chip (essentially worthless nowadays) and get 2 x 512mb chips.....which will give you 1.25gb, and will make your machine run alot faster/better than with 832.....

I can say this because I recently took a sawtooth from 768 to 1.25 and it made a HUGE difference!
Cant wait to max it out to 2GB next week

[bbales]

Originally Posted by bowwowman

you should really just toss that 64mb chip (essentially worthless nowadays) and get 2 x 512mb chips.....which will give you 1.25gb, and will make your machine run alot faster/better than with 832.....

I echo this remark. I have pretty much the same machine as you -- though with more memory! I think I'm at 768, but it might be 840 or something like that. And I'm trying to decide if I should just go ahead and fill my last slot and if so, whether to get the vastly cheaper 256 or bite the bullet and go for 512. My problem is I don't know how much longer I'll keep this 5-year-old machine and how much more money I want to spend on it. I can get 256 for $23 or so, while 512 will cost me $75 or so. (I might be able to do it more cheaply; those were costs form OWC.)

Dump the 64 and go for more.

[Baphomet]

Thanks for the help on this, everyone. I've decided to toss the 64MB chip and replace it with a 512MB chip as well as fill the empty slot with another 512MB. I think that should keep things running smoothly until I can buy a new machine later this year. It's amazing how reliable this G4 has been for me over the years. I'm only just now, 5 years later, seeing a need to remedy some slowness. Not bad considering it's only ever had a measly 320MB of Ram in it.

Thanks again.

[Todd Madson]

Mine has been maxed to 2 GB for quite a while now. Works very well if a bit poky.