Piii 500 Pc100 Ram

Not sure if I should post this is the cpu or the ram section. ( move this if wrong )

My boss asked me to find out at what point does PC100 become to slow for a PIII 500? it is currently running windows 2000 with 128MB. I told him to add more ram... but... Are there any charts etc?

Thanks
Rich

It wouldn't be too slow at any point. That's all you would ever need for that slow of a processor. Only thing you could ask for is just more ram. Win2k is ok with 128mb but I would get at least 512mb.

do you think setting the ram timining woudl help out @ all?

rich

On a P3 500mhz processor, ram timing is the least of your performance issues The difference on that system between the absolute most loose timings and the absolute tightest timings would probably be less than 3% because the overall system is considerably slow.

You need nothing more than PC100 because the memory only goes as fast as the front side bus of your motherboard. Since you're running a P3/500, we can already determine that your front side bus is 100mhz. Unless you overclock it, your ram will never go any faster than 100mhz. Thus, buying PC150 ram will be useless because it still won't go any faster than the bus speed of your 100mhz board.

Thankyou very much. You answred his question

Rich

Hey, at least check out the mobo to see if there are any overclock options in the bios, or fsb jumpers/dipswitches present. Even though most folks here are laughing at a mere P3-500, if you can OC it even a wee bit, it'll help, after all that's what this website is all about. Not too long ago, I ran a p3-600 Slot-1 processor for the longest time on an ASUS mobo with VIA chipset -- quite an oddball for that era Intel slot-1 processor -- that'd let me crank up the FSB all the way up to 133... making total cpu speed 800MHz! And it was worth it. I had to put on a ridiculously large Alpha heatsink that had dual fans on it, to keep it cool enough to stay stable. I think that was the original "Alpha" slot-1 cooler that started the whole crazy-oversize-cooler era too. I still have all this old hardware laying around somewhere in my collection. I had 256MB of PC-100 memory that would run at 133 too!. Ahh, those were the days

Gasoline: Let me guess. The Asus P3V4X? Great board. I've still got an ol' P3-550E cranking away on a MyComp (LOL!) 440BX motherboard. 512 MB Mushkin Enhanced Black Level PC133 memory (2-2-2). Damn, those were the days. She now spends her days as an internet server, running @ 733 with an Alpha P3 125 heatsink (the big massive one).

rtorres: If you are going to add more memory to that machine, specifically 256 MB modules or 512 MB modules, you'll need low-density memory (the dual-sided sticks). If you attempt to utilize the new high-density PC100 & PC133 modules (they pack 256 MB or 512 MB on one side of the memory stick), the system you are using (most likely a 440BX) will only see half the total memory of each stick.

Just a warning for ya (I learned the hard way).

PC100 would be the fastest you could use with that piii 500. 128MB is not a lot of ram though, more ram does wonders. My brother still uses pii with windows 2003 server.

If you wanted to upgrade cheap, you could put in a 1.1Ghz celly or 1Ghz p3 and some pc 100 ram as well. Basically any coppermine core chip with a adapter should work. For the best possible upgrade, celeron 1-1.4GHz tuallatin core + powerleap adapter, but for that price you might as well invest in a new computer. With prices on sdram and older cpus being so low, its worth at least adding more ram.

Gasoline said:

Hey, at least check out the mobo to see if there are any overclock options in the bios, or fsb jumpers/dipswitches present. Even though most folks here are laughing at a mere P3-500, if you can OC it even a wee bit, it'll help, after all that's what this website is all about. Not too long ago, I ran a p3-600 Slot-1 processor for the longest time on an ASUS mobo with VIA chipset -- quite an oddball for that era Intel slot-1 processor -- that'd let me crank up the FSB all the way up to 133... making total cpu speed 800MHz! And it was worth it. I had to put on a ridiculously large Alpha heatsink that had dual fans on it, to keep it cool enough to stay stable. I think that was the original "Alpha" slot-1 cooler that started the whole crazy-oversize-cooler era too. I still have all this old hardware laying around somewhere in my collection. I had 256MB of PC-100 memory that would run at 133 too!. Ahh, those were the days

Click to expand...

Yup the P3V4X was a beast but really in this situation the only economical solution is to buy another 128 stick of ram so that Win2k doesn't run out.

Also there is a good chance the PIII is a Katmai and will suck at overclocking.