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Upgrading RAM in 7200
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nJm
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Australia
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Sep 7, 2004, 10:43 AM
 
Well now that I've got my 7200/120 surfing the net via my LAN it is time to do something about its lack of ram. It only has 32mb. I assume adding more will make a big difference? Does it need to be installed in pairs? It currently has all DIMM slots filled in. I've seen I can get a 128mb chip for it for $19 or so on the internet. Can I just buy one of these?

Also, is there a cheap way to use an IDE hard disk in it? I have a spare 20GB 7200rpm HD that would be great to use in it (original 1.2GB SCSI drive is a bit slow).
MBP 2.16ghz 15"
iMac G5 1.6Ghz 17"
Powermac 7200/120
     
swichd
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Sep 8, 2004, 07:55 PM
 
Originally posted by nJm:
Well now that I've got my 7200/120 surfing the net via my LAN it is time to do something about its lack of ram. It only has 32mb. I assume adding more will make a big difference? Does it need to be installed in pairs? It currently has all DIMM slots filled in. I've seen I can get a 128mb chip for it for $19 or so on the internet. Can I just buy one of these?

Also, is there a cheap way to use an IDE hard disk in it? I have a spare 20GB 7200rpm HD that would be great to use in it (original 1.2GB SCSI drive is a bit slow).
Yes, you can have up to 512 MB total in a 7200. You can add an IDE hdd, but you need a ATA PCI Card.
     
JMHammer
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Sep 9, 2004, 03:09 PM
 
Adding RAM will make a huge difference. I talk about it in my other reply to you here:
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=226920

As swichd mentioned, you can get a PCI card to add your IDE drive to your 7200. I bought one on eBay recently for $10 for a similar purpose. However, be sure - absolutely certain - that the card you buy will work with both your computer and your hard drive before you make the purchase. Even $10 wasted on this machine is too much.

A quick look at eBay shows 2gb internal SCSI drives for about $20 and 4gb for $25. These are Western Digital and IBM drives, so they will multiply your capacity several times and be at least as fast, probably faster, than your current 1.2gb drive. Even if their transfer rate is no better, the increased capacity will make things work faster anyway because data can be written contiguously instead of all over the platters and you'll have more space for virtual memory (if you choose to use it; probably better to leave it off once you uprgade the RAM).

If I were you, I'd just upgrade the RAM first because I think once you do that the performance of your computer will increase so dramatically that you won't feel the need to replace your internal drive unless you need more storage capacity. And if you do:

Another quick look at eBay shows a 9gb external drive currently at $5- (it will probably sell for closer to $20, though). For under $20 there are 2.1gb LaCie externals from a pretty reputable dealer.

Best wishes,
John H
G4 Cube (1ghz one-processor upgrade from PowerLogix, 120gb WD HD w/8mb cache, 1.5gb RAM, original-equipment CD-RW, original-equipment Radeon w/32mb, Airport card), 17" ADC Apple LCD, Mac OS X 10.3.5 and Mac OS 9.2.2, Epson Stylus Scan 2500, Zip 250 firewire from VST, 30gb firewire/USB1.1 portable drive from VST, Airport base station (snow), basic DSL bandwidth of 768down/128up, Apple Pro Keyboard, Logitech MouseMan Dual Optical... and a G4 1.25ghz/15.2" AlBook, 40gb iPod, and my beloved Palm handheld (currently a Tungsten-T).
     
   
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