Re: Upgrade conundrums...

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

In article <4tqsft$rrm@nntp.seflin.lib.fl.us>,
z008729b@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us (Martin Gruen) wrote:

>  AE RAM Ultra upgrade:  need 2meg in in chips, I've been told I can get 
>anything from 120ns to 70 ns chips.  I already have 2 meg on my card full 
>(installed by AE at time of purchse).  What should I look for, and will 
>different speed chips affect each other, or make a difference to a card 
>this old?

It is unlikely to matter how fast they are (as long as they are 120 ns or
faster).  The usual story about mixing chips within a bank may apply if
you are getting old RAM chips, but I've always considered this a bit of a
myth.

>  14 Mhz chip upgrade to accelerators: Alltech says they don't guarantee 
>that it'll run at 14 mhz because all systems are different.  Can someone 
>explain this, they couldn't.

There are varying amounts of background noise in every IIgs.  There are
other factors as well, such as the total power consumed by the computer,
the internal temperature, etc.

To get reliable operation at high speeds you need enough power, as little
heat as possible, and as little noise as possible.

The worst case would be an original IIgs motherboard (ROM 00/01) with lots
of cards installed, especially power guzzlers and noisy ones like the PC
Transporter.

The ROM 3 has less noise generated by the motherboard, and consumes
somewhat less power, so it will work more reliably at higher speeds, given
the same I/O cards.

>   Are the FOCUS internals worth their salt, and do they work with 
>accelerators, (I don't trust Alltech's word on this).

I have only seen one card, and it seemed to work fine (I haven't heard
from the person who bought it in a few months, and I'm sure he would be on
to me if something had gone wrong).  This particular one was not being
used with a ZIP, so I cannot comment on their compatibility.

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail Mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand