Zorro-II RAM expansion questions

pkillo · 12 October 2008, 14:34

I've got an 8mb zorro-II RAM card in my A3000. It has only 4mb of fast ram without it, but I've ordered enough zip ram to max out the box, so I won't really need it in there. otoh, my 2000 (2mb on the scsi controller and 2 on a 2620 that's going to be pulled) is awaiting a fusion forty accelerator [with onboard ram]. would the 2000 still benefit from the ram board? i know the z-II bus has a limited address space; would installing the board in the 2000 limit my ability to use a buddha drive controller and/or a bridgeboard?

coze · 12 October 2008, 15:00

yes, you can have a maximum of 8mb RAM on Z2 bus. buddha probably takes space in IO space (different from Z2) but the bridge board definitely won't work. You need to jumper it down to 4 mb or something (bridgeboard needs 2mb AFAIR)

pkillo · 12 October 2008, 19:14

thanks for the information. the board has SIMMs on it (expansion systems dataflyer) so it'd be easy to knock it down to 4mb I suppose... I'm wondering whether I'd actually see any performance gain in the 2000 doing that (assuming I have the full 32mb on the fusion forty) or if it'd be better to just leave it in the 3000....

coze · 13 October 2008, 01:29

performance gain ? nope, you will most likely experience performance drop, if the Z2 RAM gets used instead of the RAM on fusion forty (because of slow bus) normally, accelerator RAM should have priority though.

pkillo · 13 October 2008, 02:13

ah, now i understand; thanks... I'll leave it in the A3000 then..

rkauer · 13 October 2008, 04:08

Set it to 2Mb (since you already have have 2Mb in your A2091 - wild guess?) and 2Mb on 020 accelerator.

Do not expect wonders from any Z2 memory, but better than nothing at all. When the new Accelerator shows up, set it to 4Mb as spare memory (better slow than run out of memory, anyway).

pkillo · 13 October 2008, 04:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkauer

Set it to 2Mb (since you already have have 2Mb in your A2091 - wild guess?) and 2Mb on 020 accelerator.

Hah. you are a good guesser! That's exactly the way it's set up.

Quote:

Do not expect wonders from any Z2 memory, but better than nothing at all. When the new Accelerator shows up, set it to 4Mb as spare memory (better slow than run out of memory, anyway).

You mean to set the ram card up as 4mb, right? sounds like a good idea; I hadn't considered that I'd only have the 2mb left after removing the 2620 and the 2mb on there...

12 October 2008, 14:34	#1
pkillo Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Victoria, BC, Canada Posts: 35	Zorro-II RAM expansion questions I've got an 8mb zorro-II RAM card in my A3000. It has only 4mb of fast ram without it, but I've ordered enough zip ram to max out the box, so I won't really need it in there. otoh, my 2000 (2mb on the scsi controller and 2 on a 2620 that's going to be pulled) is awaiting a fusion forty accelerator [with onboard ram]. would the 2000 still benefit from the ram board? i know the z-II bus has a limited address space; would installing the board in the 2000 limit my ability to use a buddha drive controller and/or a bridgeboard?

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12 October 2008, 15:00	#2
coze hastala vista winny vista Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: mt fuji Age: 46 Posts: 1,335	yes, you can have a maximum of 8mb RAM on Z2 bus. buddha probably takes space in IO space (different from Z2) but the bridge board definitely won't work. You need to jumper it down to 4 mb or something (bridgeboard needs 2mb AFAIR)

12 October 2008, 19:14	#3
pkillo Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Victoria, BC, Canada Posts: 35	thanks for the information. the board has SIMMs on it (expansion systems dataflyer) so it'd be easy to knock it down to 4mb I suppose... I'm wondering whether I'd actually see any performance gain in the 2000 doing that (assuming I have the full 32mb on the fusion forty) or if it'd be better to just leave it in the 3000....

13 October 2008, 01:29	#4
coze hastala vista winny vista Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: mt fuji Age: 46 Posts: 1,335	performance gain ? nope, you will most likely experience performance drop, if the Z2 RAM gets used instead of the RAM on fusion forty (because of slow bus) normally, accelerator RAM should have priority though.

13 October 2008, 02:13	#5
pkillo Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Victoria, BC, Canada Posts: 35	ah, now i understand; thanks... I'll leave it in the A3000 then..

13 October 2008, 04:08	#6
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	Set it to 2Mb (since you already have have 2Mb in your A2091 - wild guess?) and 2Mb on 020 accelerator. Do not expect wonders from any Z2 memory, but better than nothing at all. When the new Accelerator shows up, set it to 4Mb as spare memory (better slow than run out of memory, anyway).

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