G23 RAM specifications

[Yoeddy1]

Hi guys,

Could somebody please post the RAM specs for a G23? 

Thanks,
Jason

[sixcardmark]

240 pin DDR2 800mhz   I have extra 2gb sticks if you need any.

[Fordfan]

hello I know this is an old thread but do you still have that extra ram? and what would you need for some

[sixcardmark]

hello I know this is an old thread but do you still have that extra ram? and what would you need for some

I think I do, I will look for them and send you a PM if I do.

[Fordfan]

great thank you

[sccarlso]

The spec is 240pin PC2-6400U 800Mhz memory for AMD only.  Harder and harder to find as time passes, and those who do have 2-4GB sticks will charge like $70 for a pair of 2GB sticks!  Crazy.  But PC recyclers can cash in when supply dries up and folks are looking for max memory for older devices.

If you want to run fam20 with 8GB of RAM, I had good luck with this seller for 4GB DIMMs.  Have to wait for it to ship from China, but actually only took about 10 days.
Worked with no issues.  But fam14 is limited to 4GB RAM.  So no reason to install 8GB unless you are going to run fam20 on your machine.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/356017626885?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=3APQYok5RJ6&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=d_r1zrCHRrq&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[Yoeddy1]

Interesting.  I bought a few sticks from that vendor, tossed them in my FAM14 game (knowing that it would only recognize 4GB), and it just hung on the blue AVP screens.  It did post, and I threw in my ekey and Diag key.  It did recognize the 8GB of RAM under Non Volatile Storage, but I guess there’s no way to even boot a game if it has 8GB installed on Fam14.

Thanks,
Jason

[sccarlso]

Yep, only 4GB in a fam14 bios. 

8GB likely confuses it since it's 32bit and can't address more than like 3.8GB of RAM.

With fam20 bios and fam20 boot2 chip in the PCI card it will.

But there aren't any fam14 games that can utilize any more than 4GB, so it's never been a bottleneck on those systems.

4GB, and the E4690 video card, and you have the best fam14 system available.   Works very well. 

[Stoodo]

4GB, and the E4690 video card, and you have the best fam14 system available. 

Well that and the 8 chip PCI card.

[Yoeddy1]

4GB, and the E4690 video card, and you have the best fam14 system available. 

Well that and the 8 chip PCI card.

Speaking of that does anybody on this forum have this more powerful elusive grapics card?  This is the card that allows Fam20 games to play smooth as silk on a G23, right?

Jason

[sccarlso]

I wouldn't say smooth as silk on Fam20.  lol

Some of the Fam20 games are just too hard on the older graphics card.
But most are indeed just fine.

And as stupid as it is, the cheapest way to snag an E4690 video card is to just get a refurb 660 brainbox from GET-T

https://get-t.net/product/cpu168/

They have no on board video so they must have the E4690 installed.

The whole 660 brainbox (including the video card!) is only $150.  And they all have 4GB of ram even though it says it only has 2GB...   Bonus if you don't have 4GB in your current brainbox.

If you want to buy only the video card, GET-T wants like $299....  Huh???    Pretty stupid.

So get the whole box, yank out that card, and put it in your brainbox.  lol

You can of course put the 660 in your AVP too.  As long as you have matching power connectors, and you pull your boot chips from your current box and put them in the refurb 660 from GET-T. 

But putting the vid card in your current brainbox that has onboard video is essentially the same.  Same CPU. it just disables on board video when the PCIe card is installed.  Just as good as a 660 brainbox.

[Yoeddy1]

No, there’s another video card aside from the E4690 card that is very low in numbers.  I don’t know if it’s a card that was being used during the transition from the AVP to Crystal Core machines or what, but somebody had mentioned that these cards exist.

Did I make that up?

Jason

[sccarlso]

Been there, did it, doesn't work.  I wish it had!

So you can avoid trying yourself as I can tell you why it doesn't work. 

Still have the card somewhere, it's like an E6790 or such.  PCIe video card that AVP 4.0 brainboxes use.

Reason I tried it...   Because the Fam14 OS only has embedded drivers for the onboard video and the E4690 cards.

Fam20 has drivers for the E4690 AND since it runs on AVP 4.0 brainboxes, it also has embedded drivers for that E6790 card (The exact model is somewhere on the boards here, it has 4 mini DVI ports on it for displays).

Tried it, mini DVI to VGA and Mini DVI to DVI adapters, and all was looking great.  Then got the error of unsupported video card.  Boooo.

Fam20 does indeed have the driver for it.  BUT...   For that card to pass their check and not halt there, it looks to see if it is indeed an AVP 4.0 box by looking at the bios, which is a totally different chip and is larger.   It sees it's not AVP 4.0 bios, fails the check, unsupported.

Only way to use it is with an AVP 4.0 brainbox.   Downside is their PCI system card with the boot2 chip is a PCIe card, and doesn't use the ribbon cable.   They have a tiny mini PCI cable to connect to the backplane.  So you can't put an AVP 4.0 brainbox in a G20-G23 system, no way to connect it to the backplane.   

There are reports (and some pics) of an AVP 4.0 PCIe system card with a ribbon cable.  4.0 boxes don't have a PCI slot, only a PCIe.   So they're kind of a unicorn.  If you find an IGT PCIe system card with a ribbon cable connection, that would be pretty lucky.  And unique.   Have yet to see good close up images of one.   Would like to though so I know what to look for should I ever see one.   Because if you do, you can use it to put an AVP 4.0 brainbox in a G20-G23 cabinet. 

Comments welcome if anyone has found any other workaround to put a 4.0 box in a G20-G23.