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RAM upgrade for Aptiva 2137 E25??
Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 5:30 pm
by Ogg
I'm cleaning up an old Aptiva 2137 E25 (mobo 02k2270) from bugs and viruses and meanwhile wondered if this particular system can be upgraded with more RAM. It currently has 2, 32 meg modules (for a total of 64meg). It is hosting W98se. P-200. I was looking for suitable ram modules at memory-x.com and discovered that there is a HUGE disparity in RAM capacities for the 2137 Exx mobo! So.. does this mean that the E25 can support any memory configuration that is typically advertised with other Exx models? My understanding is that the Exx model specifies the typical installed ram for that Aptiva, but the mobo (02k2270) would typically be used in a variety of different Exx models, and therefore be capable of supporting more ram than the typical E25? It would be very nice to bump up the ram to atleast 128, 196 or 256.
Thanks for any insight that anyone can provide!
...Ogg
Posted: Thu May 05, 2005 8:51 am
by AlphaKilo470
Most Socket 7 Pentium motherboards with 4 SIMM slots can be upgraded to 256mb RAM by installing a 64mb SIMM into each slot. However, 128 using 4 32mb SIMMs is alot more common as 32mb SIMMs are a lot easier to find than 64mb SIMMs are.
Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:13 am
by verktyg
I upgraded one of these for a friend a number of years ago. It came with 16MB of RAM, a non MMX P166 and the terrible MWave modem/sound card.
I put in 64MB or 128MB of memory, a P200 MMX Overdrive CPU, a Sound Blaster 16 ASI card and an external USR 36 modem. It worked well for a number of years.
Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 9:07 am
by JHEM
AlphaKilo470 wrote:Most Socket 7 Pentium motherboards with 4 SIMM slots can be upgraded to 128mb RAM by installing a 64mb SIMM into each slot.
You're right about the number of slots and the max capacity of each at 64MB, but the total RAM would be 256MB, not 128MB.
Regards,
James
Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 12:36 pm
by AlphaKilo470
You're right, sorry about that. I just fixed it.
Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 12:47 pm
by verktyg
JHEM wrote:AlphaKilo470 wrote:Most Socket 7 Pentium motherboards with 4 SIMM slots can be upgraded to 128mb RAM by installing a 64mb SIMM into each slot.
You're right about the number of slots and the max capacity of each at 64MB, but the total RAM would be 256MB, not 128MB.
Regards,
James
But... only a few Socket 7 chipsets could cache over 128MB of RAM. Intel's HX chipset could cache 256MB and on the right mobo with additional TAG RAM and or/ COAST modules cache up to 512MBs. Dell used some mobos with TX chipsets that were hobbled to cache only 64MB!
Also, RAM had to be installed in pairs on all of the 72 Pin SIMM Pentium mobos.
Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:51 am
by Ogg
JHEM wrote:AlphaKilo470 wrote:Most Socket 7 Pentium motherboards with 4 SIMM slots can be upgraded to 128mb RAM by installing a 64mb SIMM into each slot.
You're right about the number of slots and the max capacity of each at 64MB, but the total RAM would be 256MB, not 128MB.
Regards,
James
I guess you guys are not discussing my original problem anymore.. but the pc I was refrerring to originall only has TWO slots. Therefore.. I assume that the max that pc can ever hope to hold is 128meg? Anyway.. I decided it wasn't worth the effort/cost to upgrade. The slots are UNDER the power supply too!
Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:56 am
by JHEM
Max RAM for the Aptiva 2137 is 256MB.
Regards,
James
Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 12:44 am
by verktyg
JHEM wrote:Max RAM for the Aptiva 2137 is 256MB.
You're right. I worked on one of the previous models with a similar number. It had 4 SIMM slots and one or two DIMM slots. You could use either but not both styles of memory.
I guess that this one takes 2 of the early 66Mhz DIMMs. 128MB was the largest size these came in when this mobo was released.