Old Skool SiS chipset help...

Cashman

Cashman

Cashman

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Joined
20 Jan 2004
Posts
1,136
Location
Petersfield, Hampshire
Hey there guys...

Im messing with my Mother's old skool PC. She either needs a new PC or just a RAM upgrade.

She is getting very keen in her Digital Photography and now wants to use Photoshop too.

Anyway the PC is very slow. I have her on Broadband, just got her a decent 19" tft and was gonna see if that would do... however, she only has 192mb of RAM :(

Under system it says:

packard bell
intel celeron 2.53ghz
CPU 2.55ghz
192mb ram

I know its a SiS chipset but wondered what type of ram it's likely to be?

Would pputting a gb of ram into that PC be a waste?
 
I think ram does wonders for old pc's... adding ram to it would reduce its need to use the pagefile.

Anyway, My 400Mhz laptop has 192MB of ram.. i have stripped down all the crap from the startup and it boots very fast and seems fine for web browsing and software development.

try these things before u upgrade:
1. going to start --> run --> msconfig and removing some junk from startup.
2. go to start --> all programs --> accessories --> system tools --> defrag give your hard drives a good defragging.

see if that helps, however photoshop may use a lot of ram and if thats the case.. just shove in more ram and it should be fine.
 
Seems to me that it has a 256mb stick but 64Mb is given to integrated graphics.

No 1Gb will not go to waste, especially if she is into photoshop. Judging by the spec it should be using DDR266 RAM, best thing to do is to check CPU-Z or just open the case.
 
NICE... THANX LADS.

Don't suppose overclockers stock that sort of old RAM?

Steve, will a portion of the RAM always be donated to the old integrated gfx card? If so I have an old AGP ATI card 8500 that I could pop in for her.. should be better right ?

Im sure my watercooled, 8800, nf4, 2x1gb is much easier so understand!
 
I am assuming that your mom's mobo is using the chipset's integrated graphics.

Normally you should be able to go into BIOS and adjust the amount of RAM shared to the onboard graphics, but I am not sure since your mom has a Packard Bell; the option maybe removed from BIOS.

Yes I'd use the ATi 8500, may help with the photoshop work too with independent graphics memory. But first make sure that Packard Bell has a AGP port.

And yes OCUK still stock DDR400 RAM:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-004-OK

This is the cheapest 1Gb kit, even the 2Gb can be had for as little as 115 quids. It will also work on DDR266 mobo. But first do make sure the mobo is using DDR though.
 
just to let you know that not all ddr400 will work in ddr266 boards. apparntly the timings aren't stored in the chips spd or something, but i could never use ddr400 in my parents packard bell machine.
 
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