Re: IIgs RAM cards, which one?

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article Charles Stephens <cfs@Eng.Sun.com> writes...

>Well, I want to make my "new" IIgs usuable, so I got myself a RamFAST
>SCSI card, but now I am in doubt about which memory card to use.
>
>It seems my only choices new are the Sequential Systems RAM-GSplus and
>the Sirius RAM IIgs.

    In terms of 8 megabyte memory boards, that's correct. However,
there is a third option also sold by Sequential Systems, called the
RAM GS--a non-expandable 4 MB board (all memory is soldered in
place and there are no sockets to add more). I'm not sure what the
price is currently, but for the majority of software out there it
will be more than enough (although if the price difference isn't
that significant, it may not make much sense anymore).

    I still feel 8 MB of memory is overkill on the IIgs, but it is
kind of neat to max-out the memory limit considering how dirt cheap
old 1 MB SIeven been used to create rather large PaintWork animations or long
digitized sound clips, as I'm sure some will point out :).

>Now to take the card to 8M, the Sequential is US$119.95 and the Sirius
>is US$129.00.  However, with the Sirius card, I could get it at 2MB
>(US$65) and use SIMMs that I already have.
>
>Which is better?

    I always liked the RAM GS Plus (formely the CV-RAM card) because
of its small and clean design, however the chips required to populate
it are extremely difficult to find today (1MBx4 DRAMs). Although it's
a much larger and clumsy card, the Sirius has the advantage of being
able to use common 1 MB SIMMs.

>How compatable are they and have they worked for you.

    Well both do tricks in order to bypass the IIgs's 4 MB DMA
limit, though neither has been absolutely flawless in doing it
from the reports I've heard. Personally, with my own GSes, I've
added no more than 4 MB to the expansion slot to avoid the
chance of data corruption caused by questionable DMA tricks.
I'm not saying don't expand beyond 4 MB, though I would say
use caution when doing so.

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca