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Post pictures of all your (strange) memory modules here for all to see :)

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First post, by Tetrium

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Hi all.

I'm basically trying to split up a discussion from the "Bought these (new) hardware today"-thread to over here as I think there is a lot to talk about when it comes to both the usual and the really strange memory modules we see.
Original reply: Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today
Personally I think the modules RacoonRider scanned are parity, but I'm not sure.

Because I was having dinner and can't eat while digging through boxes of memory modules, I decided to dig through my collection of old photos instead and found a few other odd memory modules.

One pic is from 10 memory modules (5 pairs) of 64MB SIMM modules. These do post in a standard s7 board, but they were very unstable which is because of the large number of chips I think (many motherboard manuals of the day actually mention a maximum of 24 chips iirc). Both sides are "chipped" on all of these modules.
Even though I had no use for them, I kept them because I think they looked kinda cool 😁

The other pic is of 4x 16MB(?) SIMMs which I took from some server that was too heavy to transport, so I stripped all the components out and brought those home.

So what are your strange or otherwise interesting memory modules? Pics or it didn't happen! 😁

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Reply 1 of 40, by PCBONEZ

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Tetrium wrote:

Original reply: Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today
Personally I think the modules RacoonRider scanned are parity, but I'm not sure.

Yes. With parity.

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Reply 2 of 40, by PCBONEZ

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I can't read the numbers off the square chips.

IBM occasionally used proprietary RAM.

I ran into some 72-pin years ago that looked standard but the key-cut was too shallow to allow insertion into a standard slot.
.

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Reply 3 of 40, by Snayperskaya

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I have two 64MB @ 100MHz, double height, SDRAM modules around. Pretty uncommon here.

The "weidest" I've seen was some SIPP modules from a colleague's stash of old stuff (funny enough, since he isn't even into hardware and PC in general). I didn't caught it back then, but I wonder how those pins fared against corrosion and mechanical insertions. They seemed to be a bit on the fragile side.

Reply 4 of 40, by Tetrium

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Snayperskaya wrote:

I have two 64MB @ 100MHz, double height, SDRAM modules around. Pretty uncommon here.

The "weidest" I've seen was some SIPP modules from a colleague's stash of old stuff (funny enough, since he isn't even into hardware and PC in general). I didn't caught it back then, but I wonder how those pins fared against corrosion and mechanical insertions. They seemed to be a bit on the fragile side.

I should have some of those double-height DIMMs also somewhere.

Once I get through the rest of my boxes of graphics cards, I'll go through the boxes of memory modules and take pics of anything interesting I find.
Should have some EDO DIMM which has the notches positioned differently, so they don't fit ordinary SDRAM slots and I should also have a pair of very old 30p SIMMs with "chips" which look more like metallic dice or something which I stumbled upon recently when looking for other stuff (IBM modules I think).

PCBONEZ wrote:
I can't read the numbers off the square chips. […]
Show full quote

I can't read the numbers off the square chips.

IBM occasionally used proprietary RAM.

I ran into some 72-pin years ago that looked standard but the key-cut was too shallow to allow insertion into a standard slot.
.

I'll write all text to a new post as I haven't a good enough camera right now and my scanner is dug in somewhere very deep in some obscure part of the house 🤣.

I should also have some SIMMs which at first glance look like regular 72p SIMMs, but they had a slightly different number of pins actually and their physical size was very slightly different I think.

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Reply 5 of 40, by PCBONEZ

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Tetrium wrote:

Should have some EDO DIMM which has the notches positioned differently, so they don't fit ordinary SDRAM slots.

This is to separate 5v from 3.3v DIMMs and buffered from unbuffered.
.

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Reply 6 of 40, by CelGen

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IBM and their SLT stuff was wild.

ramtastic_by_celgen.jpg

Edited: My MicroVAX 4 is even more absurd

IMG_2123.jpg

That is an absolutely insane amount of M511000 ZIP chips.

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Reply 7 of 40, by Kamerat

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CelGen wrote:

That is an absolutely insane amount of M511000 ZIP chips.

What's the capacity? 😀

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Reply 9 of 40, by CelGen

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Kamerat wrote:
CelGen wrote:

That is an absolutely insane amount of M511000 ZIP chips.

What's the capacity? 😀

I believe it was about 8mb, plus an extra bank for parity.

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Reply 10 of 40, by gdjacobs

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Ah, MicroVAX. Don't stand near it if you have a pacemaker or braces.

Have you got a version of VMS running on it, or does it run UNIX?

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Reply 11 of 40, by PCBONEZ

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I wish I could remember the name of it so I could go find a pic.
The weirdest RAM I remember was for a PC only sold in Japan that was already 'retro' in 2000 when I saw it.
The modules were small rectangular PCBs approximately the size of a 2.5" drive.
To add more RAM the modules stacked directly on top of each other in the fashion of a PC/104 stack.
https://www.google.com/search?q=PC/104+stack

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Reply 12 of 40, by 386_junkie

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For Compaq's Systempro... and some older Deskpro's.

528df8455264667.jpg 7a38a3455264683.jpg

Compaq Systempro; EISA Dual 386 ¦ Compaq Junkiepro; EISA Dual 386 ¦ ALR Powerpro; EISA Dual 386

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Reply 13 of 40, by CelGen

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gdjacobs wrote:

Ah, MicroVAX. Don't stand near it if you have a pacemaker or braces.

Have you got a version of VMS running on it, or does it run UNIX?

VMS obviously. Unix is for the other RISC dweebs. 😜

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Reply 16 of 40, by Tetrium

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Finally got around to checking these strange memory modules I was referring to earlier.
I don't have a working camera, so I decided to google the part number and the 68p SIMMs apparently are some kind of 256KB Apple video memory modules.
Some pics can be viewed here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Macintosh-256K- … 6ZZnTNdEZQt8zUQ
http://www.memoryten.com/p/004687.htm

I'm still checking for the rest, still haven't found those ice cube or sugar cube memory modules but I'll keep looking 😀

edit:

CelGen wrote:
IBM and their SLT stuff was wild. […]
Show full quote

IBM and their SLT stuff was wild.

ramtastic_by_celgen.jpg

They looked exactly like the cubes on this pic, but they had a different number of chips and the row wasn't interrupted (no 'missing' cubes).

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Reply 18 of 40, by PCBONEZ

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Nahkri wrote:

Can somebody tell me,what r those switches on the right side,for?

They put those there so people will ask what they are for. 🤣

On those modules it should be easy enough to look-up the pinouts trace the circuit and figure it out.

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Reply 19 of 40, by Callahan

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PCBONEZ wrote:
This is to separate 5v from 3.3v DIMMs and buffered from unbuffered. . […]
Show full quote
Tetrium wrote:

Should have some EDO DIMM which has the notches positioned differently, so they don't fit ordinary SDRAM slots.

This is to separate 5v from 3.3v DIMMs and buffered from unbuffered.
.

SDRAM_Keys_.jpg

Ain't right; proof:
How can it be, some modules both: buffered and unbuffered, so where are buffer chips? Buffering is keyed??? 😲
Look at this, from left:
3,3V sdram, unbuffered non-ecc
5V Edo buffered ecc (buffer chip)
5V Edo unbuff ecc
3,3V edo unbuff ecc
Last, first from the right; Here's the pearl: Universal 5v/3,3V edo unbuff ecc
Full hires, use right click, view image, take a look for nothes.
2yldLY.jpg

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