bertrammatrix wrote on 2025-08-20, 15:52:

[...]

I never realized it supported the use of only one SIMM, yikes. Imagine the performance penalty if you did that AND used the onboard video.... I suppose in some applications (office/low cost/industrial?) a minimalistic setup like that could make sense

Technically: no way. You'd be better off getting a much older system with full memory bandwidth.

But commercially... most people chose (and choose) systems based on price and CPU speed. No matter what else was in there and what effect that had on performance. The cheapest system with a fast CPU would be one with an integrated VGA chipset and the cheapest way to implement that would be with a single SIMM 😦

Still, even though Packard Bell was notorious for making exactly this kind of system, they never shipped Pentium systems with less than two SIMMs. No doubt some cowboys did though.

dionb wrote on 2025-08-20, 19:44:

Still, even though Packard Bell was notorious for making exactly this kind of system, they never shipped Pentium systems with less than two SIMMs. No doubt some cowboys did though.

I suppose it was priced to make this unviable, but imagine if cheap PC manufacturers refreshed their PC line up in mid-1995 by putting the (Socket 3) Pentium OverDrive on their new 486 PCs and calling them Pentium systems and getting to use the actual Pentium branding, rather than having to settle for a "586" (using the Am5x86 or Cyrix 5x86)

jakethompson1 wrote on 2025-08-20, 20:44:

dionb wrote on 2025-08-20, 19:44:

Still, even though Packard Bell was notorious for making exactly this kind of system, they never shipped Pentium systems with less than two SIMMs. No doubt some cowboys did though.

I suppose it was priced to make this unviable, but imagine if cheap PC manufacturers refreshed their PC line up in mid-1995 by putting the (Socket 3) Pentium OverDrive on their new 486 PCs and calling them Pentium systems and getting to use the actual Pentium branding, rather than having to settle for a "586" (using the Am5x86 or Cyrix 5x86)

Some did. I had a gateway 2000 486/66 that had been likely vendor upgraded to a 83mhz Pentium overdrive. It sported an intel Pentium sticker on the the case. 'Sure, anyone could have done that' - well, it also displayed "Pentium 100" (regardless of what speed the POD was set to) during boot which is obviously nonsense, likely intended to boost sales of an end of life platform. Sure gateway, ALMOST a Pentium 100, close enough

bertrammatrix wrote on 2025-08-20, 15:52:

I never realized it supported the use of only one SIMM, yikes. Imagine the performance penalty if you did that AND used the onboard video.... I suppose in some applications (office/low cost/industrial?) a minimalistic setup like that could make sense

The SIS 5511/6205 combo limits resolutions and refresh rate in single simm mode. Perhaps this one does too, otherwise it would absolutely kill performance.