BIGram vs ZorRam...

[TheBilgeRat]

I was checking out memory expansion for the old beast when I saw that there was a new zorro memory card out there called the BIGram.  Its decently cheaper than the zoram for the same amount of memory (256Mb).  BUT, cheaper doesn't always mean better.

Anyone have the Bigram?  I notice that one of the claims to fame on the advert blurb for zoram is the fact that you can stack multiples up to 1GB.  Can you do the same with Bigram?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I recall a few posts about these when they first came out.  ZorRAM is compatible up to OS 4.1, BigRAM only up to 3.9, also BigRAM is a physically larger card (for those who care about that sort of thing), but I think it was also the first one to support up to 256MB, and should be a little bit cheaper.  I think one was designed by AmigaKit also, and the other by someone else?  Don't recall the rest of the details, sorry!

[Zac67]

No Zorro III (or Z II) RAM cards are supported by OS 4 as main memory. OS 4.1 does seem to support them (all) as swap memory though.
Using several at once shouldn't be any different regardless of make since it's all Z3 Autoconfig.

[spirantho]

I've just bought a BigRAM for a customer. It seems to work very well so far! I too wondered about the difference, and thought that the main difference was that the ZorRAM was supported by AmigaOS 4.1 - however, when I received the BigRAM, that says it is also supported by AOS4 the same way! It also says it doesn't like 3rd party bus-boards, but I believe the same is for the ZorRAM.

So, all in all... I'm not sure there is a difference except the price (Which must be really annoying for AmigaKit!)

[TheBilgeRat]

Nice!  Thanks, guys.

[danbeaver]

Folks the comparison is on both the Hyperion Classic Amiga Forum and in an Amibay discussion. The BigRam+ has its ram on one side rather than both sides making it longer, otherwise they are identical down to the design and chips used. I put up side-by-side pictures somewhere like Abay.

[nicholas]

You might want to read this thread before you put a BigRAM or ZorRAM in your A4000.

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=67514

[Crumb]

I was checking out memory expansion for the old beast when I saw that there was a new zorro memory card out there called the BIGram.  Its decently cheaper than the zoram for the same amount of memory (256Mb).  BUT, cheaper doesn't always mean better.

Anyone have the Bigram?  I notice that one of the claims to fame on the advert blurb for zoram is the fact that you can stack multiples up to 1GB.  Can you do the same with Bigram?

Both cards are esentially the same and share the same code, in fact BigRam+ is the latest version of Zorram. BigRam+ uses less aggresive timings and is supposed to be less problematic and more compatible.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

You might want to read this thread before you put a BigRAM or ZorRAM in your A4000.

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=67514

Just skimmed to the bottom of this thread.  It seems like his problem was caused by a chip on the A4000 CPU board, not either of those memory boards.  Heck, if anything, the troubleshooting process he went through to get the memory board working actually fixed some kind of manufacturing defect on his CPU board.  Kudos!  

[nicholas]

Just skimmed to the bottom of this thread.  It seems like his problem was caused by a chip on the A4000 CPU board, not either of those memory boards.  Heck, if anything, the troubleshooting process he went through to get the memory board working actually fixed some kind of manufacturing defect on his CPU board.  Kudos!  

Its a great read, not often I see such detailed threads on troubleshooting these days.

[Vlabguy1]

You might want to read this thread before you put a BigRAM or ZorRAM in your A4000.

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=67514

Ug.. glad he figured it out..but what a struggle to read through.  Just me but I always throughly inspect hardware/chips caps etc..before panic mode..lol

Interested in this thread as I have just found out about ZorRAM and was thinking about it for my machines.

[nicholas]

Ug.. glad he figured it out..but what a struggle to read through.  Just me but I always throughly inspect hardware/chips caps etc..before panic mode..lol

Interested in this thread as I have just found out about ZorRAM and was thinking about it for my machines.

If the Bigram+ is still available in December I shall be asking my missus to get me one for xmas.

[danbeaver]

I have 4 BigRam+ and 2 ZorRam cards spread over my A3/4000's and no problems except in the A4000Ts with Mediators power supply plug in the way of one of my Z3 slots. Just saved some monies.

[Jeff]

It seems like both of these boards are gone again? I just tried to order a ZoRam from AmigaKit along with some other items (it was listed as "in stock" on the AmigaKit website) and it looks like it's not available.

[amigakit]

We were considering whether to do another run of ZorRAM, but when BigRAM was made available it became a more risky investment over the years to get back our production costs.