don@brahms.udel.edu (Donald R Lloyd) (09/21/90)
I'm sure most of these have been asked before, but I wasn't paying attention at the time :-). I hope to soon get a 3000 (pending the sale of my 2000) and am curious about how to go about adding memory. I'll probably be getting the 3000/25-50 ed. package, and would like to add a little memory (I'm used to working with 3 megs now). I'd love to get the 3000/25-100 w/5 megs, but that's pushing my limited budget a little too far. For adding memory, I seem to have three options: Add 256K static col. zips relatively cheaply, but limiting expansion to 6 megs Add 1M s.c. zips at a higher price (best I've seen is $54@), but have to add in 4 meg increments (8 chips)... Just use non-s.c. drams that I can afford a few of, but possibly limit both speed and expandability. Questions: Anybody know where I can get a REALLY good price on SC zips? What kind of limitations/slowdowns will I incur by using DRAMs? How would these be added (in what possible configurations)? How useful is a stock 2 meg 3000? Will I feel limited memory-wise if I wait a while for prices to fall & my funds to increase, or will I quickly become memory-hungry? Can I install memory myself without voiding the warranty? If I go to my local dealer (ComputerLand) for memory, it'll cost me $125 for purchase & installation of 1 meg of 256K sc zips, or $600 (choke) for four megs of 1 meg sc zips. In short... what's the best way to expand a 3000 on a budget that's straining to afford one in the first place?
mwm@raven.pa.dec.com (Mike (My Watch Has Windows) Meyer) (09/22/90)
In article <13913@brahms.udel.edu> don@brahms.udel.edu (Donald R Lloyd) writes:
For adding memory, I seem to have three options:
Just use non-s.c. drams that I can afford a few of, but possibly
limit both speed and expandability.
I've heard 10%+ penalty on speed for using the non-SC drams. I've not
noticed that they're any cheaper if you go with 1 meg chips instead of
4 meg, and the following justifies why I bought the 1 meg chips.
Add 256K static col. zips relatively cheaply, but limiting expansion
to 6 megs
Add 1M s.c. zips at a higher price (best I've seen is $54@), but
have to add in 4 meg increments (8 chips)...
Unless you're going to go to over 6 meg right away, then I wouldn't
bother with the high-density chips. Remember, they're still very new,
and the prices will go down quickly. The best numbers I could find
were $6 for the 1 meg parts, so that for meg was just under $200, vs.
$45 for the 4 meg parts, so that 4 meg is just under $400. Now, if you
don't need to expand until the price drops by 50%, you break even for
cost. With 1 meg parts, you spend $200 (4 meg now) + $400 (8 meg
later), and have 4 meg of 1 meg parts to sell. If you buy 4 meg of the
4 meg parts now, you wind up spending $400 (4 meg now) + $200 (4 meg
later), but don't have the 1 meg parts to sell, and haven't had the
$200 to play with in the interim.
I've got more memore than I've ever had before (5.5 meg vs 5 in the
2000), even with kickstart in RAM. Running 2.0, many of the hacks I
used to run now live in kickstart, so there's actually more free
memory than that 512K left over.
So, the question are:
1) What applications you got that require more than 4 meg?
2) Prediction on how long until the 4 meg parts drop to
$20-$25/chip.
<mike
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