Determining your computer's specifications when there are no manuals

December 8, 1999

Question:

I'm trying to find out the technical specifications of my motherboard...i bought this computer used, from a local computer place. I want to upgrade my computer, and i have no idea what kind of a processing chip i can upgrade to or what kind of ram (EDO, or fast page non-parity) or how much MB of ram i can install...I don't know if it will help, but i do have a few details I can give you. the serial number on the computer is: 1S65777AT23TC908 the motherboard has 4 simm slots and 1 dimm slot...its an IBM computer, and i THINK it has a pentium processing chip, but i'm not positive...HELP! My friends have also had computer questions and have had a hard time finding anyplace on the internet that can help...If you can help me, i'll be more than happy to refer your website to them for their questions...thank you.

Answer:

As you have found out, it is very important to ask for the motherboard manual when you buy a computer, be it a new one or a used one, since it will allow you to determine what your upgrade options are, and how to go about doing so.

If you want to find out what speed and type of processor you have installed I would recommend you download a free diagnostic tool called Sandra. You can download this from the Silicon Guide File Center. This utility will diagnose and run your system through a series of benchmarks to determine various different things such as Processor speed, cd-rom speed, etc... It could be very useful in getting to know your new computer, and determining you best upgrade options (heck, I even learned a few things about my own system).

If you know the model name of your IBM computer, you could visit IBM's web site (http://www.ibm.com) and find out what your motherboard specifications are from their support site. However, if you have no idea as to what the model you have is, you won't be able to find any support for it.

You could also open up your system and look at the motherboard to determine what brand, and what model it is. You could then go to the motherboard manufacturers site and see what the specifications for your motherboard are. It is possible though that your motherboard is not marked with any name.

If all else fails you could follow these general guidelines which I have provided below:

1.

Determining the processor and how you might go about upgrading it:

Open up your computer and look for the processor. If it is simply a black chip, it is probably a 486 or lower speed processor. If however it is covered with a heat sink (a metal cap with many ends on it) and/or a fan, it is most probably a Intel Pentium, AMD K6, K6-2 or AMD Athlon processor. In this case you might be able to swap the processor with a quicker model, providing the chip you are going to install is a Pentium or an AMD chip (not a Intel Pentium II or Pentium III chip). You will however have to change settings in your BIOS and flick switches on your motherboard (you can see how this might be hard if you don't have your motherboard's manual). If on the other hand, the processor is a big cartridge, that sits vertically into a slot, your processor is either an Intel Pentium II or Pentium III (though these are usually labeled).

2.

Determining how you can upgrade your memory:

Since your computer has only one dimm slot, it is certain that you don't have to install dimm's in pairs. You can therefore install a single dimm to increase you memory (dimm's range in sizes from 16 megabytes to 256 mb (and possibly more). If you wish to install simm's (72 pins), you may have to install them in pairs or something like that. You may also need, if you want to use simm's, a certain type of memory (EDO, Sdram, Fast Page Ram, etc...).

I would therefore recommend you use a dimm memory modual, if you want to increase your system's ram. If you choose to do this, you should remove your old memory, if they are simm's, to avoid any conflicts.

Also, note that Windows 95 won't benefit from any more then 64 mb of ram, since it doesn't make full use of anything above that. Windows 98 claims to make use of larger amount of ram, but whether it actually needs this or will benefit from such a large amount of memory is yet to be determined. So if you have 64 mb of ram, I don't see why you would want to add more.