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Topic: Upgrading RAM on an olllld Gateway... (Read 2833 times) previous topic - next topic

Upgrading RAM on an olllld Gateway...

A guy I know from my other job at the gas station referred me to a lady who's wanting to upgrade thier old P3 450 gateway system.  Looking at it I found that there's only 64 megs of ram installed, but it looks like it's such an old board that I can't use anything above PC100 SDRAM DIMM's at 128 megs a piece.  So I'll probably get one or two of those to stick in to boost it so the computer can hold her son over (likes playing games) for a little while. 

Am I correct in assuming that I can't use PC133 sticks in there?  It seems as if they wouldn't work right, but they're cheaper than the PC100 ones.  I'm screwed no matter what, I can't find 'em at any local store (have one yet left to try) and the lady doesn't really wanna wait to get them online. 

Just looking for some advice in that this is one of the few computer fixing gigs I've done, hopefully I'll have more in the future, though.

Re: Upgrading RAM on an olllld Gateway...

Reply #1 –
The PC133 chips should be backwards compatible with PC100.  I have run into a few situations where the machine didn't like it if I had PC100 and PC133 DIMMs in there at the same time, but RAM is so cheap that you could get a couple of 128MB chips for next to nothing and just yank out the old 64 meg one that is already in there if it gives you problems.
-Jim
1987 Cougar LS 5.0

Re: Upgrading RAM on an olllld Gateway...

Reply #2 –
PC133 Will run at 100Mhz instead of 133Mhz if your machine cant take faster....

If you are using both PC133 and PC100 in the same machine, they will both run at the faster common speed. (100Mhz)

This is not a prob....

Re: Upgrading RAM on an olllld Gateway...

Reply #3 –
Cool.  Thanks. I must look like a n00b, but I just wanted to make sure Gay-way didn't use some kinda wierd proprietary stuff.  I think I'll get a couple of cheap PC133 128's and just take the 64 out.  The PC plays games like The Sims and Crusader with no problems visually, just takes forever to load stuff.  I figure 4x the ram should be the kick in the nuts the old machine needs to run for a few months longer with an impatient 15 year old longing for games.

Re: Upgrading RAM on an olllld Gateway...

Reply #4 –
Bri, Cyber Xpress on Market St. has PC100 RAM fairly cheap. Or so the PC techs at work say...

Re: Upgrading RAM on an olllld Gateway...

Reply #5 –
Keep in mind that there are some cases where pc 133 will not work in a pc 100 system. I've run across these cases before here at my work. We had an entire lab of p3 667's running on intel boards that we bought chips for and none of them worked with the new stuff. All in all you should be safe however if you can't get it to work keep this in mind. Btw http://www.pricewatch.com , http://www.newegg.com, and http://www.excaliberpc.com are good places to find computer pieces and parts for cheap.
Temporarily Foxless? Ride the Bull...

Re: Upgrading RAM on an olllld Gateway...

Reply #6 –
Eric... whereabouts is this Cyber Express located?  I might stop by or give them a call.  I'd really prefer to do business locally on this deal because time is so greatly of the essence.

PS - Yes, I love NewEgg.  It's where I'm gonna get my DVD burner.

Re: Upgrading RAM on an olllld Gateway...

Reply #7 –
7684 Market Street, 330-629-6922. It's in that little plaza next to the Chinese buffet place, about 1/2 mile south of the mall.