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From: dhale@csm9a.UUCP (Dave Hale)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Adding memory to a NeXT
Keywords: memory NeXT
Message-ID: <1875@csm9a.UUCP>
Date: 7 Sep 89 14:00:39 GMT
Organization: Colorado School of Mines
Lines: 29

I recently purchased 4 1-megabyte, 70 nanosec, low-profile SIMMs from 
Technology Works (1-800-622-2210) for $114 each plus $10 shipping, 
for a total of $466.  I bought these SIMMs intending to upgrade a couple 
of Macintoshes, but decided instead to upgrade the file and print server 
in our small cluster of NeXTs from 8 to 12 MB.  These SIMMs seem to work 
just fine, and they cost a lot less than $1500, which is the price I was 
recently quoted from NeXT for a 4 MB upgrade.

Has anyone else out there upgraded a NeXT with third-party memory?  From 
my Mac experience, about the only thing I knew to be careful of was the 
speed of the memory.  70 nanosec is faster than the 100 nanosec chips 
that were shipped with our NeXTs.  I also know that some SIMMs have 8 
chips and some have 9 (1 extra for parity).  The NeXT (and Mac) SIMMs 
have 8 chips.  But are there any other potential problems?

Incidentally, the NeXT screwdriver is quite useful as a tool for
removing SIMMs.  First, poke the end of the screwdriver into the hole
at the end of the SIMM, pushing the little plastic hook out the other side
of the hole.  Then, with the screwdriver still in the hole, pry (gently)
upward, using the nearest empty SIMM socket as a fulcrum.  There are
probably more appropriate tools for the job, but this worked nicely.

Of course, if you are simply adding SIMMs, then you should not have to
remove anything.  But before adding the new SIMMs, I wanted to be sure 
that the pin layout on the new SIMMs was the same as that on the old
SIMMs.  So, I removed one of the old ones to get a good look at it.
-- 
Dave Hale    dhale@csm9a.colorado.edu    (303) 273-3408
Department of Geophysics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO   80401