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Pastimes : Dream Machine ( Build your own PC ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D.B. Cooper who wrote (9519)	12/6/1999 5:17:00 AM
From: wily	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 14778

I think it's possible to buy Rambus memory now but it's not easy to find plus it's two to three times the price of SDRAM. It should get easier in the next few months. The 840 chipset has dual Rambus channels, meaning the board will have two sets of RIMM slots (two to each set) vs the 820 which has only 2 RIMM slots (but note that the 820 also comes in an SDRAM flavor). With the 840 you have to populate the slots in pairs to keep the channels balanced, so you can't add just one RIMM (i.e. you have to have 2 or 4). I can't tell you exactly why (besides the obvious higher capacity), but the 840 is the high-end chipset and is supposed to have real good performance. This is my meager knowledge from following that stock for quite a while. Some engineers believe the Rambus engineering has left little margin for error (and thus the delays and difficulties with production) and that there may be field problems (i.e. dissatisfied customers). But this may just be FUD... My suggestion if you want a Rambus system would be to ask your questions on the Rambus thread. jdaasoc and Dan3 I'm sure will be glad to tell you more than you want to know or are able to understand. Also check with Dell especially and possibly Compaq, Gateway and IBM to get an idea for pricing and what's available through the OEM route. While you're there check their prices for upgrade Rambus memory (and make sure you're sitting down). Rambus memory is supposed to be going into about 5% (this may be high) of computers now and (optimistically) 30% by the end of 2000. If this happens the price of the parts would come down a lot (and the price of the stock would go up, but I don't own it). wily