Newb memory questions (shuttle AK35GTR)

Howdy y'all. I am just a casual comp user and have no desire (knowledge) of overclocking or any of that stuff yet. I have this Shuttle AK35GTR board with 2 sticks of 128mb and 1 stick of 256mb and 1 empty slot in it when I got it second hand.

I have to very soon order a power supply from newegg (fried the old one and have a tiny one from an OLD comp in it now) and was thinking while I was doing that I would order a stick of ddr 512 to throw in it also. I have a few questions and can promise the answers will probably be over my head.

1. Will that work? Not being a matched pair or whatever. Just throwing a 512 in the empty slot and leaving the rest?
2. Surely doubling my memory would be a benefit even though this is just an AMD 1700+ with a 266mhz fsb, correct?
3. Should I stick with the pc2100 or go ahead and get a pc3200 since it is just as cheap and I will possibly upgrade sometime in the future?

I am sure my questions are laughable but I really have no-one I can ask that I trust to know what they are talking about.
Thanks!
Ric

I still have one of those spacewalker boards kicking around here. Always liked it though it's been mothballed for several months now.

1) yep it should work fine, though once in awhile you get some sticks that won't play nice together. Additionally many(most) boards don't like it much when you fill all four dimm slots. It may throw a tantrum and make you ditch one of the 128Mb sticks.

2) correct. Assuming you're using XP then increasing memory from 512Mb to 1Gb can offer a decent boost due to less page file usage. It's not nearly as dramatic as the jump you get from 256 to 512Mb though. Just depends on what you're doing with the PC. I always use 1Gb in my main system.

3) I'd get the PC3200.

GL and let us know how it goes.

iirc, the ak35 series requires ecc ram in order to fill all 4 ram slots, at least thats what my manual says (mine is a rev 2 though, but i bet its the same for the rev1 boards as well).

pc3200 should be fine, but remember, when mixing memory speeds, it will all run only at the lowest speed stick's specs.

Thank you, thank you!!! I know $70+/- ain't much to some people but it is to me and more importantly, the wife. Just wanted to make sure it was something I could use. I was going to buy a slick thermaltake case and psu but thought some memory and just a psu would be much more important right now than a pretty case.
I have windows 2000 pro, btw. We don't do much on the computer except play some pogo games and I take a lot of digital photos and mess with those with paint shop pro quite a bit. But I would still like to get the best performance I can with what I have.
Now if I could just figure out how to get some use out of this raid stuff. I know, different forum.

Chuckman said:

iirc, the ak35 series requires ecc ram in order to fill all 4 ram slots, at least thats what my manual says (mine is a rev 2 though, but i bet its the same for the rev1 boards as well).

pc3200 should be fine, but remember, when mixing memory speeds, it will all run only at the lowest speed stick's specs.

Click to expand...

This I did not know. I thought the manual on mine said non-ecc only. I will check. But I will gladly ditch a 128 stick if that makes everything work happily together. I did not know about the speed thing either. I think I may have some pc1600 in there now. I will have to check. I think I am going to go ahead and place an order though. I am confident with your two replies now that I don't feel it will be a waste of money now.
Thanks again!

I couldn't find that in the PDF manual I have, but it's possible. Alot of boards don't like all the dimms filled.

GL

Edit: Found this at NT compatible:

"The Shuttle AK35GTR v2.x as I have said is an improved edition of the AK35GTR. It is one of the few boards that features 4 DIMMs (Supports 6 banks up to 3 GB DRAMs (512Mb x8/x16 DRAM technology) for un-buffered DDR SDRAM module Supports 8 banks up to 4 GB DRAMs (512Mb x8/x16 DRAM technology) for register DDR SDRAM module No ECC function support), O/C features and 5.1 channel audio."

Mine's an AK35GTR v1.2. If I weren't so lazy I'd hook it up and try it out with 8 banks, but it sounds like it's unlikely to work. You might have a chance though if your 128Mb modules are single sided(1 bank) dimms.

I may have bigger problems now. I just went to my bios and looked at my temps. here is what it says
CPU warning 56c/133f
Current system temp 46c/114f
Current CPU1 temp 64c/147f
Current cpu fan speed 4623 rpm
Shutdown temp 60c/140f
It doesn't shut down and I don't get a warning?!?
I am going to find the right forum to post this on cause I am a little freaked out about this. Maybe I am back to finding a tower with better cooling?

Well lessee. It's an old board with the thermistor under the CPU. I don't believe it reads the XP's onboard temp diode. Have you seen those kinds of temps before? What kind of airflow is it getting?

That is the first time I have ever looked at the temps in the bios. Actually didn't even know it had that till I was looking at the manual from this thread.
It is an old steel case with no fans, only the cpu fan and the psu fan. I just shut it off for a half hour or close and the temp dropped down to 111 when I fired it back up. I think I am back to shopping for a new case with some airflow. Memory isn't going to do much good if I fry everything.

Well if you're certain it's not getting much air flow and don't mind picking up a new case. The temp readings on most boards can be rather flakey to put it mildly. If the temps are actually that high then your heatsink should be fairly warm to the touch.

Tigerdirect was selling chieftec dragon cases for $19.95+shipping last week. You may want to see if they've got any left. That's a great deal. Picked up a couple meself.

Thanks! I just looked real quick and they are $29.95 this week. I will look around there though.
I just downloaded mbm5 by suggestion and it says my temps with the side cover off are 40c and 53c right now. I don't know that my temps were dangerously high before but it sounded high for a newb.
I need to get my head out of my butt and start researching stuff and buying as I can. I have put it off longer than I should have. I don't need the best but I definitely would be stuck between a rock and a hard spot if it went down on me.

They are high, particularly if you're at default vcore & at idle. I suggest you load the processor with p95 or superPi and read temps. If it's as high as the readings indicate then the heatsink should be quite warm.