RAM Swapping

[SirFoxx]

Recently, someone gave me a beige G3 that is still functional, and a 7300/200 that is partially. The 7300 has a partially working HDD, but it doesn't seem to want to load past the happy mac logo. Anyways, I opened the 7300 opened and noticed the ram it had and said to myself, "Wow! I have a whole box of this kind of ram!" I took a stick out and noticed that it didn't fit...Why? Because the slots are slightly off from one another. I was curious that if I sanded off part of the slot to make the "windows" ram fit my mac, will it work..? Or will it make my mac burst into flames?
[URL=http://s1177.photobucket.com/user/Foxx1996/media/2013-09-20_23-18-08_787_zpseab75600.jpg.html][/URL]

In the picture (sorry it is soooo big) all the pins line up perfectly. However the slots do not. Mac ram on right, windows ram on left.

 

[mindingulove]

Recently, someone gave me a beige G3 that is still functional, and a 7300/200 that is partially. The 7300 has a partially working HDD, but it doesn't seem to want to load past the happy mac logo. Anyways, I opened the 7300 opened and noticed the ram it had and said to myself, "Wow! I have a whole box of this kind of ram!" I took a stick out and noticed that it didn't fit...Why? Because the slots are slightly off from one another. I was curious that if I sanded off part of the slot to make the "windows" ram fit my mac, will it work..? Or will it make my mac burst into flames?
[URL=http://s1177.photobucket.com/user/Foxx1996/media/2013-09-20_23-18-08_787_zpseab75600.jpg.html][url=http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x345/Foxx1996/2013-09-20_23-18-08_787_zpseab75600.jpg]Image[/URL][/URL]

In the picture (sorry it is soooo big) all the pins line up perfectly. However the slots do not. Mac ram on right, windows ram on left.

be careful man... maybe they are similar but different kinds of memory, and force placing it could toast your beige mac

 

[SirFoxx]

be careful man... maybe they are similar but different kinds of memory, and force placing it could toast your beige mac

I'm not too concerned with the 7300/200 because the insides of the case isn't in the best of shape, and I will probably use the G3 more than the 7300, so i most definetly will not try this on the g3...However, I may not try this on the 7300 because it is still an older macintosh, not too sure though...I will keep thinking about it.

 

[tdiaz]

I've dealt with people who did just that, and even just shoved hard and made it fit.

..and then said "you sold me a bad motherboard.

"Well, I might have sold you one, but I do know that the DIMM sockets were intact, and these capacitors were not smoked, so I think this is your problem."

;-)

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Do not ever sand/cut/grind down any computer part to fit in a machine unless you know with absolute certainty that it will work that way. (Example: 64-bit PCI cards work just fine in 32-bit slots, but boards with only 32-bit slots often have components in the physical location that the extended slot for a 64-bit card should be. A 64-bit PCI card will work if you cut off the extra slot part of the card, as long as you make sure not to cause any pin-shorts in the process.)

In your case, do not attempt what you have suggested.

The notches in RAM are there to make sure you don't break something. In your case, the Power Mac 7x00 series uses FPM or EDO (Fast Page Mode or Extended Data Output) RAM, at 5 volts, while the Beige G3 uses SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic) RAM at 3.3 volts. If you plug the wrong type of memory in, you are going to (at least) send the wrong voltage to the DIMM. This can cause damage to both the motherboard and the DIMM.

To recap: DO NOT DO THIS

 

[SirFoxx]

The notches in RAM are there to make sure you don't break something. In your case, the Power Mac 7x00 series uses FPM or EDO (Fast Page Mode or Extended Data Output) RAM, at 5 volts, while the Beige G3 uses SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic) RAM at 3.3 volts. If you plug the wrong type of memory in, you are going to (at least) send the wrong voltage to the DIMM. This can cause damage to both the motherboard and the DIMM.

To recap: DO NOT DO THIS

Thats what I thought...I feel kinda stupid for making this post >_< I noticed that the ram used in the g3 is the same as what old PC's used (DIMM?) and that the 7300 uses a different type of ram. And the moral of the story is, don't ever modify computer parts unless you know it will work safely that way.

 

[MacTech68]

To recap - Don't - never a truer word spoken.

Mind you, the number of people that used to come back with SO-DIMMs for an iMac TrayLoader saying "you sold me the wrong RAM", when in actual fact they were trying to fit it into the VRAM slot, are numerous, so don't feel too bad.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Don't feel bad. You learn by asking or doing. You chose the safe route here: asking. In this case, it saved you from causing damage. Feel free to ask away.

As one of my college professors once told me "There's no such thing as a stupid question, only a sarcastic answer."