Another bonehead Blizarrd PPC question (about memory).

[MrBang]

Hey again everybody.  So now I know I can't add SCSI to my Blizzard 603e (bummer).  But I also now know that it doesn't interfere with my PCMCIA slot (which is good, since I'll still need my Surf Squirrel to run my SCSI chain).  Unfortunately, my Surf Squirrel chain is now full (CD-ROM, scanner,three 4 Gig drives, and two ZIP 100 drives) and I won't be able to add another chain (off the Blizzard) for more goodies.  It's probably just as well....

But on the issue of memory... The manual for my new (to me) PPC/040 (with a second fan on the 040 so I can use it in my desktop case, neat) says that the two SIMM slots on board "...will accept pairs of industry standard 32-bit SIMMs (also known as PS/2 type SIMMs) with memory sizes of 4 MByte, 8 MByte, 16 MByte, 32 MByte, 64 MByte and 128 MByte per SIMMs."  This is on page 37.

But earlier in the manual (page 30) it says "Upgradable to 128 MByte Fast-RAM, fully autoconfigurating"  (I would assume that means "autoconfiguring", but hey, I've seen worse translations.)

So which is it?  Can I have 256 MB, or do I get 128 and an empty slot?  (I already have three 128 MB SIMMs, so 256 would be just a couple of clicks away.)

Thanks again.

[Brian]

Well... you can have 256Mb memory on the board. But there's fysics that needs to be considered. One simm needs to be singlesided or at least use very slimmed sice chips to fit. The other simm can be doublesided but there's a chanse it won't fit if it's too big as the diskdrive might come in the way.

[Brian]

You say you have a SquirrelSCSI interface and as the CPU card don't support SCSI there's realy one one SCSI interface left as far as I know and that is some hardware sitting right on the IDE interface called "DataFlyer 1200 SCSI". It supports 2 IDE devices and 5 SCSI devices. Not made any longer and quite hard to come by... I know. :/

[Karlos]

Brian wrote:
Well... you can have 256Mb memory on the board. But there's fysics that needs to be considered. One simm needs to be singlesided or at least use very slimmed sice chips to fit. The other simm can be doublesided but there's a chanse it won't fit if it's too big as the diskdrive might come in the way.

Not in my experience. I got a huge fat pair of double sided SIMMs in mine (a good centimetre thick and about 3cm tall) slotted in mine with no problems at all. The 040 pins are trimmed and nothing touches the underside of the flat mounted SIMM on my set up. Even so I put a bit of insulation to be sure.

If you want lots of memory, get in touch with Haymiggan on this site. He deals in whopping great big SIMMs :-)

-edit-

This is a towered system though. Perhaps a desktop case would struggle. But then you shouldnt be using a BPPC/040 in a desktop ;-)

[Brian]

I use a singlesided in the socket that mounts the simm flat against the board. I don't know if your card have been trimmed but on mine the CPU pins can touch a regular thick doublesided simm.

The second angled socket won't accomodate a realy big doublesided simm in a desctop as the diskdrive is in the way... a regular doublesided simm should fit with a bit of fiddling and some extra isulation between the simm and the diskdrive (the shield need to be bent away aswell).

And the BPPC040 do work in a desctop as long as there is extra added active cooling and some extra feets to lift the amiga up a bit... Before I towered my A1200 I had the BPPC in my desctop with above mentioned mods. The amiga ran with a 230W PSU of cause (had 2 power inputs to the motherboard to make it work cause I hade loads of other stuff in there awell). :-D

[MrBang]

Thanks everybody.  I have two SIMMs that are very wide, but very thin.  Either one will fit in the "flat" SIMM slot.  My other SIMM is thicker, but narrower.  It will fit in the "angled" SIMM slot.  So I'm on my way to 256 MB.  Yay!

My PPC/040 has a second fan (with it's own power lead) mounted right on the 040, so it should be cool enough in my desktop.  (In fact, it came out of a desktop unit.)

But, you've got me curious.  I've seen posts before (and above) about running a second power lead into the 1200's motherboard to help things along.  Does anybody know where I can find the info to do that?  Thanks.