Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!udel!princeton!njsmu!mccc!dworkin!johns From: johns@dworkin.Amber.COM (John Silvia) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Re: RAMs for the A3000 Keywords: ZIPs or SIPPs Message-ID: Date: 21 May 91 04:28:14 GMT References: <1991May17.170845.8740@informatik.uni-erlangen.de> Sender: bbs@dworkin.UUCP Organization: Labyrinth II BBS Lines: 46 > Could anyone please tell me, which RAMs are necessary to upgrade an > A3000? Someone told me, that I need 1MB x 8 SIPPs and somebody else > told me, that I need 1MBx1 ZIPs. Can anyone, who owns such a bugger > look into the manual and send me a mail? There are two types of expansion ram for an A3000. There is PAGE MODE and STATIC COLUMN mode. The Page Mode chips are 256X4, and the Static Column chips are1024X4. 8 of either types of these chips are required for the minimum memory expansion. Also, types of chips cannot be mixed in the same system. Either it's all PAGE MODE or all STATIC COLUMN. STATIC COLUMN chips offer more storage, and greater speed, and are more expensive than PAGE MODE chips. Average Static Column pricing is around $35-$42 per chip. It is highly suggested to buy only the STATIC COLUMN chips - SCRAMS allow the Amiga to use it's fastest operation modes with a minimum of wait states and such. The directions starting on page 4-13 of the "Introducing the Commodore Amiga 3000" manual explain this entire operation completly with all warnings that should be heeded. I have heard that there are troubles with using the Page Mode chips but I don't know what truth to trust them with. The Static Column chips are better, faster and store more per chip. For less than $300, you can get the 8 SCRAMS from a memory dealer, and they install in less than an hour. The most important thing is the location of the chips on the motherboard. Bank 0 must be filled first, and those sockets are in a spread out pattern hiding with the other banks. Fill the first sockets of each column, and then skip 3 sockets and put another chip in. Repeat another two times, and set the jumper (J852) so that it connects the rearmost pin and the one in front of it, and then you will have four megs of ram. Also, remember that the first meg of fast ram must be moved from it's sockets in front of the ZIP sockets, into the empty sockets on the opposite side of the motherboard. These chips retire from fast ram to become the new extra megabyte of CHIP ram. This MUST be done if updating the total memory in the machine. There are no jumpers to set. Mostly, in all of this, follow this one rule: RTFM - and things will be okay.