From: chauhan@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu (Amrit Chauhan)
Subject: RAM -- my findings
Organization: The Institute for the Learning Sciences
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 13:56:19 GMT

I received a few responses in e-mail asking me to send the results of any
information I received on both the C.V. Tech RAM and the ZIP fast-cache RAM
I was looking for.  Well, here are my findings...

First, I'd like to thank everyone that helped me make sense of what chips do
what and what I needed to begin with (thanks unknown, and I promise I won't
bug you anymore! :-).  This is the best place to get information, and now I'm
confident I will make the right puchasing decision.

For the C.V. Tech RAM card:

	1 Mb x 1 : These are the chips you need to ask for.  Call a mail-order
		   company and ask for them like so:

			"I'd like to know how much you sell ''one megabyte by
			 one dynamic RAM (DRAM)'' chips for."

		   If they know anything about memory, they'll be able to help
		   you.  Another thing you'll need to know is how fast you
		   need these chips to be.  Well, DRAM on IIgs memory cards
		   is almost always 120 nanoseconds (ns) but some also have
		   80 ns chips.  You'll find that whatever the speed, all the
		   chips are the same speed.  So, don't put 80 ns DRAM chips
		   on the card if the chips that are sodered on the card are
		   120 ns chips.  I don't know what's on the C.V. Tech card
		   but it's somewhere in the manual...something I don't have
		   right now.  Can someone please tell me what the speed of
		   these chips is?

		   Now, the cost of these chips ranged from $3.50 - $5.00.  I
		   don't think I've got the time to post the companies these
		   prices came from, but just pick up a Computer Shopper
		   ($2.50) and look for companies that sell chips.

ZIP GSx Cache RAM:
	
	o 32Kx8 Static RAM (SRAM) 20 or 35 ns chips

	These chips are somewhat expensive.  Each holds 16K of SRAM so you'll
	need 4 of these to upgrade a ZIP from 16K to 64K.  I do not know what
	the exact procedure is, but from what I read, I think you just pop
	the chips into the ZIP card and you're all set.  Please correct me
	if I am wrong folks.

	The cost of these chips comes from one seemingly popular company that
	quite a few people have bought chips from:

	Microprocessors Unlimited (918) 267-4961

	These guys don't sell the SONY chips that I received information on.
	However, they do sell two other chips:

	Hitachi 35 ns  -  $13.00
	AT&T	20 ns  -  $10.75

	I asked the sales rep. if there was anything functionally different
	that makes the one chip cheaper than the other, and he said they're
	both equally as reliable.  So, coming from him, I'd say buy the AT&T
	chips as they're cheaper.

	I didn't bother with finding out what the warrenty was, but you can ask
	and I'm sure they'll tell you.

	Now, for the ZIP, you'll need the 35 ns if you plan on going into the
	10 MHz range...the 20 ns if you have any plans to go faster than that
	like on up to the '816.

So, that's how it stands.  If nothing else, you should have enough information
to go out and find yourself the right chips and do your own shopping for prices
If you find a good price, then by all means, post it here for the rest of us.

Good luck, and thanks to all who told me what to search for.

Amrit

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