RAM for Mac SE 30

[madcow]

Will this RAM stick work with a Mac SE 30?

1MB 30-pin 80ns 2-chip Non-Parity SIMM (p/n AFJ)

http://www.memoryx.net/afj.html

 

[Dog Cow]

They're certainly fast enough, according to LEM.

 

[phreakout]

Yes, it will work fine.

Have you thought about getting the 16MB stick(s) instead of the 1MB capacity? If you do the math, 1MB x 8 sticks = 8MB RAM total, verses, 16MB x (let's say, for example) 2 sticks = 32MB RAM total. The SE/30 will max out at 128MB RAM, just so that you know. But be aware that putting the max amount of RAM in that computer will cause a long wait time, during cold boot, as the memory test completes. That's the only side effect known; nothing real serious to worry about, though.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo:

PS: I forgot to mention (thanks for the speed mention, Dog Cow). The speed on the 16MB SIMM is 60ns (nanoseconds), which is a bit faster.

 

[Unknown_K]

Faster RAM will do nothing unless the memory controller can use it, if Apple said use 80NS RAM then anything faster will not speed anything up.

If you are going to use OS 6.0x then 8x1MB would be perfect. 1MB SIMMs are dirt cheap (you do not need parity). 4MB x 8 = 32MB and great for OS 7, not too expensive. 16MB SIMMs are pricey and unless you have a 68030/50 or 68040 upgrade a waste of money and time. One of my S/30's came with 128MB and I replaced it with 32MB.

 

[johnklos]

Have you thought about getting the 16MB stick(s) instead of the 1MB capacity? If you do the math, 1MB x 8 sticks = 8MB RAM total, verses, 16MB x (let's say, for example) 2 sticks = 32MB RAM total. The SE/30 will max out at 128MB RAM, just so that you know. But be aware that putting the max amount of RAM in that computer will cause a long wait time, during cold boot, as the memory test completes. That's the only side effect known; nothing real serious to worry about, though.

Just to clarify, the SE/30 takes sets of four SIMMs, not two, so you'd need a minimum of 64 megs if you use 16 meg SIMMs or 16 megs if you use 4 meg SIMMs.

I can understand not wanting to buy 16 meg SIMMs, but 4 meg SIMMs are certainly not hard to find. Sometimes it's better to have a little more than you think you might ever use.

 

[JDW]

Why in THE World would anyone want to willingly buy 1MB SIMMs for their SE/30? I have a bunch of them around the house that I never use. They are just too small to be worth much of anything. Get something bigger, and don't worry about RAM speed.

 

[madcow]

Thanks for all the input. I might get 4x 4 MB totaling 16 MB.

 

[yuhong]

4MB x 8 = 32MB and great for OS 7, not too expensive.

Note however that the $0178 ROMs used in the II, IIx, IIcx, and SE/30 cannot boot into 32-bit addressing mode, as the memory manager in these ROMs is 24-bit only and the memory manager is initialised very early in the boot process. By the time the System file is opened, code like disk drivers that execute before the System file is even opened has already allocated memory using the memory manager, hence special tricks are needed to reinitialize the memory manager in 32-bit mode which is performed by MODE32 from Connectix. It is free for download (I recommend getting v7.5 nowadays, it works with System 7.1 and 7.0 too).

 

[zuiko21]

Hi all,

While my SE/30 is being recapped, a quick question just to confirm: the SE/30 is not compatible with 8 MiB 30-pin SIMMs, is it? I believe it will take 1, 2, 4 and 16 MiB only.

I've got four of these which won't physically fit a Quadra 700 (chips on both sides, too thick!) but gave great service on my now dead IIsi -- that machine with 33 MiB seemed, in a way, more responsive than a 20 MiB Quadra! With another 4 x 4 MiB I have, those big SIMMs would total a "hefty" 48 MiB.

But if they won't work, I could use four 2 MiB SIMMs (if really supported -- are they?) for a grand total of 24 MiB -- reasonable, but then I could get a decent deal on 4 MiB SIMMs for a comfortable 32 MiB, which seems the general consensus on this forum.

The SIMM sockets on my SE/30 seem quite flimsy, so I'd prefer to install the modules once and forget about them...

Thanks a lot in advance!

 

[Unknown_K]

About the easiest to find and desirable to use 30 pin SIMMs are the 4MB size, 8 of which will get you 32MB of RAM in an SE/30 (which both of mine have). I could stuff more into them but don't see the need for it. If you run OS 6 on an SE/30 then 8 x 1MB would be perfect.

I would save the 8MB 30 pin SIMMs for machines with only 4 SIMM slots (as mentioned the IIsi).