Harsha,

        I can answer some of your questions about the ram.

> My system consists of the following:
>
> Motherboard P5HX-B (I believe its made by ECS) supports upto P200(MMX)
> CPU :   iP120
> Mem :   32 meg EDO
>
> and all the usual peripehrials FDD, CDR,Modem, etc. running WIN95 ver2.0
>
> I would like to upgrad the CPU to iP200MMX and add an extra 64 meg of RAM
> (2 x 32 meg 72pin SIMMS)
>
> I understand that Windows 95 has trouble recognising/using memory beyond
> the 64 meg (even if the chipset can handle the extra RAM) Is this trueand
> is there a work around it?

Win95 will have no problem recognizing the added ram.  Some cmos require
you to go in and tell the system how much ram you have.  My Micron with
Phoenix Bios had no such difficulty.  I just put the new larger simms(a
pair of 32M edo) in the primary bank.(0 or 1 depending on how your system
numbered the banks) Then I put the original smaller simms( a pair of 8M
edo) in the next bank of memory. When I booted back up my system recognized
all (80MB)of the ram.

That said, several of the chipsets can not cache main memory ram above
64MB.
I have heard several discussions on the ramifications of this subject.
Main drawback, if your program/s are sailing along and decide they want to
cache some addresses above 64M, it will not happen and to the degree that
caching speeds things up you will be penalized.  On the other hand, if you
are doing lots of things to the point that your computer wants to use
virtual memory(swap file on the hard drive) and it does not have to because
you have all that extra ram, then you gain tremendously.  The hard drive
accesses are in the 10-15 millisecond range, my extra edo ram is in the 60
nanosecond range.  End result can I see a difference.  Only that my
harddrive is not being accessed during processing.  And I have to run just
about everything on my computer at the same time before I can see any
swapfile being used.
>
> Are there DOS programs which will actually slow down the system with that
> much (96meg) RAM?

I don't know.

>
> Finally in doing this swap what do I have to be looking out for?

I have heard of people having problems when they just stick the extra ram
in open slots instead of putting the larger value simms in the lower
numbered memory banks.
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> Regards
> Harsha Godavari ([log in to unmask])

HTH

Tom Kelly