Adding RAM slots

Can you post the make/model of the motherboard? Odds are he is right and you will need to upgrade to a newer board.

For a definative answer, please post the mainboard manufacturer and model number.T

As said... Need more specific info.

Most (but not all) PIII boards with two slots can do 512 MB. Often the documentation doesn't -say so- because it's printed for the first run of motherboards and never updated. But but when you actually -try it-, it works.

It depends on your board ,some boards allow higher memory stick sizes by flashing the motherboards bios.

In the days of the PIII, 256MB was a VERY LARGE amount of system RAM.  It would not be uncommon for a motherboard to only support that amount.  What you've been told is entirely reasonable but unless you check the actual specifications of the motherboard manufacturer and/or the exact support chipset used you will not know for sure.

ok, i will do that and report here

I dont think so.
Can you spesify the brand and molel no of your mother board.
Most of the motherboards for PIII will support atleast or more than 512 Mb.
Check your motherboard spesifications.
When you try to add more ram check the frequency also.
Check there is any dip switch or jumpers to adjust the frequency.
Also try afrer flashing  the bios to newer vershion.

I have a PIII and i was told by a hardware guy that my motherbord will not support more than 2 128+128 MB =256 RAM
It's RAM is not extendable by including more momory slots. So to increase my RAM i have to buy a new motherbord is that true.


let me guess, he was sugesting that you buy a new pc ?... i highly doubt that a p3 can only support 256... like the other said post your model of your mother board, or even he pc model and make and people here will get you the answer your looking for

256 MB large on a PIII ?? -- NOT TRUE -- NO WAY!!! -- NOT even close!!!

Including VIA, SIS, and Intel,, there are only 3 PIII Chipsets that won't support AT LEAST 512 MB (256MB/slot).

Those are the Intel 400EX, 440MX, and 440ZX chipsets. (None of these were popular/common.)
That's according to Intel but even that isn't necessarily the true limit.
I HAVE a laptop with a 440ZX Chipset the runs 512MB on two 256 MB slots. (Per the manufacturer's spec.)

Here is a good guide that may help you find the right type of memory as well.
~ Note: It covers socket 7 chipsets and up, not just PIII Chipsets.
http://www.oempcworld.com/support/PC_Chipset_Guide.htm
.

Common PIII Chipsets:

440BX - 1.0 GB - 256/slot

i810 and i815 - 512 MB - 256/slot

Lowest SIS PIII is - 1.5 GB - 256/slot

Lowest VIA PIII is - 1.0 GB - 256/slot

errata
400EX should be 440EX

You can't add new slots to any motherboard...

maybe your mobo support 256x2=512 and not just 128x2=256... but as said before... specific mobo model is required to be sure

examan... Wanna bet?

Realistically it's not practical anymore but it's very possible to do that if you ~really~ wanted to.

When RAM was WAY expensive they sold these RAM expansion riser gadgets (similar to a PCI riser card in a server).
They fit into one RAM slot and allowed installing up to 8 (or more?) memory modules into one mainboard RAM slot.
The reason they existed was the VERY high cost of RAM at the time.
The origional use (1995-ish) was to convert multiple 30-pin modules for use in 72-pin slots in (then current) MoBo's.
They later showed up in other configurations. I've seen them for 30, 72, and 168 pin memory.
Many weren't pin count converters, they simply allowed more than one module in one MoBo memory slot.
You could take two (or more) modules and effectively make one larger capacity module.
(I think the intent of the 168-pin version was to convert two single sided into one double sided. ~ Not sure. Been too long. 168-pin versions were rare (RAM got cheaper about then) but I HAVE seen them. I considered using them on an N440BX board at one time because I had gobs of 32 MB modules.)

~ Naturally the motherboard had to support the higher capacity module in the first place. ~

They worked -okay-.
Were never very popular other than re-using 30-pin memory in 72-pin slots.
They weren't too hard to find (back then) if you wanted some but they usually weren't all that cheap either.

I can only find hints that even existed anymore...
http://www.homestead-products.com/simtree.htm
http://pauillac.inria.fr/~lang/hotlist/hardware/simmsaver/

I used a few of the 30-to-72 pin type myself 'back then' to pump up my old 486 / 72-pin board when 8 MB of 72-pin RAM cost over $200 and I had loads of left-over 30-pin I wasn't using for anything.
.

PCBonez...

What I meant by you can't install memory slots is the normal RAM slots in current systems not old ones...

because if I'm going to say it for every one, I can say even newer systems can do it ( some FB-DIMM on new Intel Xeon Systems can really do it, and the next generation AMD Opteron will for sure do it ( it's with FB-DIMM, so any FB-DIMM system can support it if the mobo is designed to go with it ) )

But what I was talking about is his current system and most modernd systems that you can find every where, every time...

or.. why you just install one of these for your current PC ?? can you :) see this is my point dude ;)

Go to http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner and have them scan your system.  It auto detects most motherboards and gives you information about the current type and amount of memory installed, as well as the maximum available per slot, number of open slots, etc.

Thanx for that. I was finding difficult to get my hand on the mobo manual.

examan
That's NOT what you said.... Besides.
His PIII (as you say, current system) takes SDRAM.
As I said. They made SDRAM versions.
It could be done. Just not practical........

aman_greval
You can usually ID a motherboard by the BIOS string.
Google search for "BIOS string" and you'll understand what I mean.

 

PCBONEZ...

what I said is ( You can't add new slots to any motherboard ).. so not ANY motherboard accept adding new slots !!

( You can't add new slots to any motherboard )..
What I said is that statement isn't true, you can add new slots to some motherboards.

I think you missunderstand my statement...

I said ( You can't add new slots to any motherboard ), I didn't said ( You can't add new slots to all motherboard )

so ( any motherboard ) means that there's some motherboards accept that, just the majoraty of today's mobos just can't, and if they can it will be useless as no bus can achive the RAM bandwidth...

I did a system scan from http://www.curcial.com and here are the results:
Computer Manufacturer: MSI (Micro Star)
Computer Model           : MS-6178
CPU Manufacturer         : Genuine Intel
CPU Family                   : Intel (R) Pentium (R) III processor
CPU Speed                   : 602 MHz
Front-Side Bus Speed    :133 MHz

Currently Installed Memory       :256 MB
Maximum Memory Capacity       :512MB
Total Number Of Memory Slots  :2
Available Memory Slots  Get Compatible Memory :0

RAM type: Non parity SDRAM, PC133
 

So it seems that you can upgrade to 512MB, but you'll have to remove your 2x128MB and replace them with 2x256MB.