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? about adding memory to a G3 333 iMac. Is it worth it?

A

amberashby

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 6, 2003
254
0
Hi,

Someone just gave me an old Tangerine G3 333 iMac. I already have a Powermac G5 and am thinking about setting this up in another room just for internet/email. It doesn't have the minimum ram right now to run OS X.

If I upgrade it to 256K would it run OSX well enough to surf the net and do email?

Also, when I opened the case I see what looks like 2 slots for memory. They aren't in the same place though. One slot is under a metal cage right next to a heat sink, and there is another off to the side. They aren't the same type of memory chips though. What is this?

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
jackieonasses

jackieonasses

macrumors 6502a
Mar 3, 2004
929
0
the great OKLAHOMA....
amberashby said:
Hi,

Someone just gave me an old Tangerine G3 333 iMac. I already have a Powermac G5 and am thinking about setting this up in another room just for internet/email. It doesn't have the minimum ram right now to run OS X.

If I upgrade it to 256K would it run OSX well enough to surf the net and do email?

Also, when I opened the case I see what looks like 2 slots for memory. They aren't in the same place though. One slot is under a metal cage right next to a heat sink, and there is another off to the side. They aren't the same type of memory chips though. What is this?

Thanks in advance for any help.
Click to expand...
Just telling you, 256 wont be enough either. go as much as the max is. 768 maybe? Someone else will know, but 256 will be soooo slow it will be pitiful.


kyle
 
varmit

varmit

macrumors 68000
Aug 5, 2003
1,830
0
This would be a good way to help stretch the life of the iBook. It wont screem, but on a iBook G3 600, Panther is not that slow at all.
 
ChrisFromCanada

ChrisFromCanada

macrumors 65816
May 3, 2004
1,097
0
Hamilton, Ontario (CANADA)
varmit said:
This would be a good way to help stretch the life of the iBook. It wont screem, but on a iBook G3 600, Panther is not that slow at all.
Click to expand...

Its an iMac not an iBook

And I would say your best value is either 256Mb (2 x 128) or 384Mb (1 x 128, 1 x 256) any more and you are giving your computer more RAM than it is worth and your bottleneck will be on the processor.

Also don't forget to upgrade your firmware before you load OS X on it!
 
A

amberashby

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 6, 2003
254
0
ChrisFromCanada said:
Its an iMac not an iBook

And I would say your best value is either 256Mb (2 x 128) or 384Mb (1 x 128, 1 x 256) any more and you are giving your computer more RAM than it is worth and your bottleneck will be on the processor.

Also don't forget to upgrade your firmware before you load OS X on it!
Click to expand...

So there are 2 memory slots? I see what looks like 2 slots, but they are in different places and the cards that are already in there are not interchangeable.
 
Mechcozmo

Mechcozmo

macrumors 603
Jul 17, 2004
5,215
2
ChrisFromCanada said:
And I would say your best value is either 256Mb (2 x 128) or 384Mb (1 x 128, 1 x 256) any more and you are giving your computer more RAM than it is worth and your bottleneck will be on the processor.
Click to expand...

It still would be helpful to have 512MB in there. That way, because the processor can't get to things as fast, they can sit in RAM and wait. Also, programs can be loaded into RAM so that there is no reading of off the hard drive, which would slow down the Mac even more.

Linkety has specs for a lot of Macs. Check there. It's a nice site for Mac users...
 
K

kewpid

macrumors regular
Apr 17, 2003
110
0
amberashby said:
Also, when I opened the case I see what looks like 2 slots for memory. They aren't in the same place though. One slot is under a metal cage right next to a heat sink, and there is another off to the side. They aren't the same type of memory chips though. What is this?

Thanks in advance for any help.
Click to expand...

There are two slots for memory, and both are within that metal cage.

The slot that is to the side is for Video memory. Don't try and fit RAM in there :)

There are som good instructions and photos here to help you: http://www.djonmac.com/
 
A

amberashby

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 6, 2003
254
0
Thanks everyone. I'm going to order one 256K DIMM for $35 and see how it works.
 
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