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Apple Archive

Enough Memory

- Dec. 8, 2000

Is your Mac so slow that it takes ten minutes to load the OS?

I came across this problem about a year ago when I had upgraded my G3 to Mac OS 8.6. I had a lot of third party extensions at the time, but it still took way too long to load the OS. I remember that a friend's computer, a 100 MHz Pentium, took only about two minutes to load Windows 98 (or at least close to that).

It seemed as if my Mac was not working right - I mean, no way is 100 MHz faster than 233. I decided to install some more memory. The minute I turned it on after the upgrade, I could tell it was faster. The "Welcome to Mac OS" screen popped up faster - the extensions appeared faster, one right after the other. The Finder it was faster as well. Apps loaded more quickly, and I could run more than one at a time without the whole system crashing.

Here is another example: My 6100, with 24 MB of RAM, ran System 7.5 nicely, as well as 7.6.1. It runs 8.1 pretty well, too, but it chokes on 8.6. We have 6100s at school with 72 MB of RAM and OS 8.6. Mac OS 8.6 runs pretty well with 72 MB on a 6100 (it feels like running OS 9 on a 6400/200), while it could hardly even boot up on mine with 24 MB. (That also reminds me of my 6100 OS 9 tryout. It worked on my 6100 - with no extensions - but it was not pleasant at all).

Another fact that might interest you: PowerPC Macs use additional memory more efficiently than 68K Macs do. A Quadra 610 with 32 MB of RAM running OS 8 won't feel any faster (it will be a bit faster, but not noticeably) than a Quadra 610 with 16 MB of RAM running the same OS. If I were running OS 8 on a PowerMac 6100 with 16 MB of RAM, upgrading to 40 MB (by removing two 4 MB SIMMs and installing two 16 MB ones) would give me a nice speed boost.

While the following is not completely true, it may give you an idea if you think adding RAM will help you. When you add more RAM to a 68K Mac, you are letting it run more apps at once. When you are adding RAM to a Power Mac, you are not only letting it run more apps at one time, but making it significantly faster (something you want - trust me).

How Much RAM?

The rule of thumb is to install as much memory as your Mac can take or your budget can afford.

If you have a Plus or SE, you can upgrade it to 4 MB with four 1 MB 30-pin SIMMs. On Pluses and some SE's, you must clip a resistor to let it "see" more than 1 MB of RAM. If you have a Classic and 1 MB of RAM, you can upgrade it to 4 MB with a Mac Classic RAM expansion board and two 1 MB 30-pin SIMMs. If you have 2 MB in the Classic, you already have the board and just need the SIMMs. If you need more than 4 MB, I highly recommend the $799 iMac.

If you have a Mac II series or SE/30, you can upgrade the RAM with two of four 30-pin SIMMs. Each set must be a matched pair. The IIsi, IIvx, and IIvi already have RAM onboard and only have four slots; the rest of the Mac II series has two sets of four slots.

If you have an LC, LC II, Classic II or Colour Classic, upgrade to 10 MB by installing two 4 MB SIMMs. These models have 2 MB or 4 MB of RAM onboard as well.

For LC III, LC III+, LC 475, Quadra 605, Performa 450-478, and LC/Performa 520-575 owners, you can upgrade up to 36 MB by installing one 32 MB 72-pin SIMM.

Quadra 650 and 800 have four 72-pin SIMM slots, the 610 and 660av have two. The 630 series has one 72-pin slot, except for the Performa 631 and LC 580 which have two. The Quadra 700 has four 30-pin SIMM slots and 4 MB onboard, while the 900 and 950 have sixteen 30-pin SIMM slots. The 700 and 900 series need matching sets of four SIMMs.

PowerMacs: the 6100 has two slots, which must contain paired 72-pin SIMMs. The 7100 and 8100 have four slots; you must install RAM in pairs. The 6200 and 5200 have two 72-pin SIMM slots. You don't have to install RAM in pairs in those machines because of the logic board architecture. Most PCI PowerMacs take 168-pin DIMMs, and all of the new G3s and G4s take PC100 SDRAM, which is pretty standard and inexpensive.

You can check out ramseeker for RAM prices. They vary depending on component prices, supply and demand, and the mood of the people who list them on the website (I had to throw that one in).

Now, what to do with those 256K 30-pin SIMMs from that Plus? I will let you figure that out yourself. :-) LEM

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