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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Question About Vram Upgrade In a Bondi Blue Imac 233
KolorBlind - Sep 15, 2005 - 11:14 pm
Hi
I just recently inherrited my first apple computer, a Rev A Bondi Blue iMac from a friend that was gonna throw it away (sheesh) and I have been piddling around with it a bit, upgrading it peice by peice.
It came with 160mb ram, the standard 2mb VRAM, 4gb HD, and Mac OSX 10.2. So I upgraded to OS 10.3.9, replaced the 32mb SO-DIMM underneath the daughter card with a 128mb, then popped in (supposedly) a 4mb VRAM module as well.
So i restart the mac after puttin it back together, and the system memory reads fine at 256mb, but my VRAM went from 2mb before, to only 4mb total now. Was the 2mb that it was reading before being robbed from the system memory? I thought it already had 2mb on the motherboard.
Well anyways, just wondering what the deal with that is, did I do something wrong?
I have been working on PCs for about 9 solid years now, but this is my first ever mac, I am very impressed, and will find it hard to invest any $$$ in another PC EVER again, so my enthusiasm along with past experience with computers means that nothing (short of soldering) is beyond my ability or will to try for that matter, so ANY suggestions will be taken to heart.
Thanks for any help in advance
KolorBlind
I just recently inherrited my first apple computer, a Rev A Bondi Blue iMac from a friend that was gonna throw it away (sheesh) and I have been piddling around with it a bit, upgrading it peice by peice.
It came with 160mb ram, the standard 2mb VRAM, 4gb HD, and Mac OSX 10.2. So I upgraded to OS 10.3.9, replaced the 32mb SO-DIMM underneath the daughter card with a 128mb, then popped in (supposedly) a 4mb VRAM module as well.
So i restart the mac after puttin it back together, and the system memory reads fine at 256mb, but my VRAM went from 2mb before, to only 4mb total now. Was the 2mb that it was reading before being robbed from the system memory? I thought it already had 2mb on the motherboard.
Well anyways, just wondering what the deal with that is, did I do something wrong?
I have been working on PCs for about 9 solid years now, but this is my first ever mac, I am very impressed, and will find it hard to invest any $$$ in another PC EVER again, so my enthusiasm along with past experience with computers means that nothing (short of soldering) is beyond my ability or will to try for that matter, so ANY suggestions will be taken to heart.
Thanks for any help in advance
KolorBlind
samworthynl - Sep 16, 2005 - 6:07 am
hi mike,
the imac rev a does come with 2 meg vram on a chip, so all i can think is either the chip you installed is incorrectly marked, or something is wrong with the hardwired chip.
the usable difference between 4 and 6 meg of vram is probably not to noticable (unless you want to game) and then even 6 is pretty useless. For not much money you should be able to find a much better second hand mac (now you have the bug) and anyway, from what you tell about the imac, you've pretty much maxed it out anyway (more than 4 gig of hard-drive is very useful though, i have 80 in mine)
you should also check out www.xlr8yourmac.com, this is a good site for those of us not afraid to go at the macs with a soldering iron and pliers.
sorry i couldn't be more help with the problem, but i think you'll find other things will be the limiting factor before the vram
good luck
sam
the imac rev a does come with 2 meg vram on a chip, so all i can think is either the chip you installed is incorrectly marked, or something is wrong with the hardwired chip.
the usable difference between 4 and 6 meg of vram is probably not to noticable (unless you want to game) and then even 6 is pretty useless. For not much money you should be able to find a much better second hand mac (now you have the bug) and anyway, from what you tell about the imac, you've pretty much maxed it out anyway (more than 4 gig of hard-drive is very useful though, i have 80 in mine)
you should also check out www.xlr8yourmac.com, this is a good site for those of us not afraid to go at the macs with a soldering iron and pliers.
sorry i couldn't be more help with the problem, but i think you'll find other things will be the limiting factor before the vram
good luck
sam
KolorBlind - Sep 16, 2005 - 10:38 pm
Thanks alot Sam
Youve been alot more help than you know, you have given me a great place to start, as well as let me know not too get TOO into upgrading this, as the potential is pretty limited. I will have lots of fun with this machine no matter what, so thanks alot for helpin me just dig right in.
Have a good one & THANKS AGAIN!
KolorBlind
Youve been alot more help than you know, you have given me a great place to start, as well as let me know not too get TOO into upgrading this, as the potential is pretty limited. I will have lots of fun with this machine no matter what, so thanks alot for helpin me just dig right in.
Have a good one & THANKS AGAIN!
KolorBlind
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