Well, this sucks...

[jecook]

So I'm working on this dell I've brought into the shop, mostly to install SP2 and a metric fuckton of updates, when I notice that it's got 128 MB of ram.

No problem, I've got a stick of 128 PC133 that should drop in without a problem. So I get out the trusty data-vac, clean the dust kittens out of it (quite an infestation there!) and move everything out of the way and look at the momery slots.

Not good, both slots are used. This is ordinary not a problem ,but now I'm expecting a pair of 64 MB stick in there.

As I get closer, I notice that one of the sticks looks different, and has a heat sink pad on it... This does not bode well.

So I pull both sticks out. Only one of them is, you guessed it, a C-RIMM!! This fucker uses RDram, and No one on this earth carries is for under $100 for a 256 MB upgrade.

Personally, I'm thinking junk the fucker at this point, or beat the boss into submission con the boss into letting me max the damn thing out, so I only have to do this once.

Way to go, Rambus and Intel, for letting AMD and SDram and DDR memory not only pound you senseless, but beta-max any hope of replacement parts into the stratosphere...

Comments

[valiskeogh.livejournal.com]

i LAUGH at those who actually bought computers that used rimm's... BWWAAAAAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[klytus.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way about my now non-upgradable, such a bargain at the time, PIII Slot 1 motherboard.

[jecook]

Oh, I can buy a module for it, It's that I have to go for the full 512 MB kit instead, and the price I saw on it was somewhere around the $200-300 range, and frankly, I'd rather buy the memory direct from the manufactur, except that Kingston does not seem to want to sell Rdram here in the U.S.... ::grumps::

Plus, boss shot it down. ::grumps more:: "Let's upgrade all the machines first, then upgrade the memory in the borderline machines".

If I'm lucky, and the stars are in the right place, and the moon is in the right phase, I might find this memory again at this price...

[valiskeogh.livejournal.com]

it'd be cheaper to buy a new motherboard/ram than go that route!

[jecook]

Yeah, but then I'd also have to multiate the case to put it in. It's a White box Dell tower.

For us, it's be cheaper to upgrade the memory, and leave it out for another year or two, and then replace it when we move to longhorn or whatever MS is pushing by then...

[jecook]

It's a Dimension XPS B800r.

Old-skool.

The date sticker on the front reads 9 jan 2000, so my guess is that's when the machine was put togather, as Dell (not surprisingly) had no info on this machine in their databse.. ::sigh::

Apparently, five year old machines are not expected to still be working...

[jjjiii]

Huh, you'd think that when the computer is no longer working would be just the time that you'd want some support docs... nice logic, Dell!

[nem0.livejournal.com]

Ugh, lame. All the computers my old shop supported used RIMMs, which was a huge pain in the ass. Luckily, they like to die every once in a while, and we've been able to cannibalize enough of the bastard sticks to keep our users from going insane every time their software gets upgraded.

[ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com]

I must admit I've never quite figured out why the stuff was worth so much in the beginning. It was marginally better than SDRAM even when it came out, who the hell needs the supposed bandwidth it offers, and its timings were even slower. About the only thing that gives it any redeeming value is its way of boosting the commission checks of my reps at the expense of customers that shoulda known better, but then again, they purchased their machines from my client, so they're used to getting scr000000d :).

Seriously, why does this stuff beat the cost of typical registered/ECC/server memory? Licensing to Rimjob?

[jecook]

Licensing to Rimjob?

Yep.

That, and Certain early P3 and P4 boards only use it.

Rambus was/is involved ina a number of lawsuits with other memory companys over royalties and other such nonsense over the DDR standard it helped make, negleting to mention that it held the patents on it. Not a very honerable company...

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/01/26/rambus_sues_over_gddr/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/06/19/ftc_declares_war_on_rambus/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/02/27/intel_scales_back_rdram/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/08/13/rambus_must_pay_infineon/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/05/03/rambus_very_high_ddr_royalty/

[jjjiii]

You need to refer to this project as the "RIMM job" a few times to your boss when he is around other people whose opinions matter.

[jecook]

Hell, NO. I'm on thin ice as it is. That would push me over and I rather like the meager pittence of this thing called a paycheck...

[gholam.livejournal.com]

Heh, for $200, you can get a new CPU + motherboard + 512MB DDR, and depending on what you pick, there might be enough left for a case with a power supply...

[jecook]

Normally, I'd love to, but the machine runs acceptably, if a bit slow on startup, and boss has issues with replaceing mainboard/cpus on otherwise OK machines.

Plus, I expect in a year or two it'll be too slow to do a whole lot with, so it'll get replaced. right now we are working on getting rid of the Pentium 2s that were outdated three years ago but are still soldiering on.. :)

The state of IT in our company is a shambles, namely because it's never been run like a proper IT department. Unfortunately, it's probably going to take another year or two to get it fully straightened out...

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

Iron filings do wonders to the speed things get replaced :>