Mixing
What happened to ZIP RAM?
Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
I have several retro machines and add-on cards for the Amiga that use ZIP RAM. This vertically mounted chip design enjoyed a brief popularity in the early 1990s, in between the original DIP DRAM and the rise of the SIMM memory.
The advantage with ZIP over DIP was obvious - more RAM chips in the same board area. Of course, you needed different sockets.
SIMM offered the same space advantage, but with a more complicated socket and with the RAM chips having to be soldered onto a PCB. Overall, seems like a more costly way to go than ZIP RAM, but SIMM obviously won in the market.
So why were the added manufacturing costs for SIMMs not an issue and why did they quickly replace ZIPs?
Note: I get that SIMM insertion and removal is relatively easy, but that ease-of-upgrade option only makes sense if it was a major consumer selling point. My recollection is that most motherboard RAM upgrades happened at the point-of-sale, with vendors likely choosing the cheapest solution.
hardware amiga memory
asked 54 mins ago
Brian H
14.6k52128
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
I have several retro machines and add-on cards for the Amiga that use ZIP RAM. This vertically mounted chip design enjoyed a brief popularity in the early 1990s, in between the original DIP DRAM and the rise of the SIMM memory.
The advantage with ZIP over DIP was obvious - more RAM chips in the same board area. Of course, you needed different sockets.
SIMM offered the same space advantage, but with a more complicated socket and with the RAM chips having to be soldered onto a PCB. Overall, seems like a more costly way to go than ZIP RAM, but SIMM obviously won in the market.
So why were the added manufacturing costs for SIMMs not an issue and why did they quickly replace ZIPs?
Note: I get that SIMM insertion and removal is relatively easy, but that ease-of-upgrade option only makes sense if it was a major consumer selling point. My recollection is that most motherboard RAM upgrades happened at the point-of-sale, with vendors likely choosing the cheapest solution.
hardware amiga memory
asked 54 mins ago
Brian H
14.6k52128
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
I have several retro machines and add-on cards for the Amiga that use ZIP RAM. This vertically mounted chip design enjoyed a brief popularity in the early 1990s, in between the original DIP DRAM and the rise of the SIMM memory.
The advantage with ZIP over DIP was obvious - more RAM chips in the same board area. Of course, you needed different sockets.
SIMM offered the same space advantage, but with a more complicated socket and with the RAM chips having to be soldered onto a PCB. Overall, seems like a more costly way to go than ZIP RAM, but SIMM obviously won in the market.
So why were the added manufacturing costs for SIMMs not an issue and why did they quickly replace ZIPs?
Note: I get that SIMM insertion and removal is relatively easy, but that ease-of-upgrade option only makes sense if it was a major consumer selling point. My recollection is that most motherboard RAM upgrades happened at the point-of-sale, with vendors likely choosing the cheapest solution.
hardware amiga memory
asked 54 mins ago
Brian H
14.6k52128
I have several retro machines and add-on cards for the Amiga that use ZIP RAM. This vertically mounted chip design enjoyed a brief popularity in the early 1990s, in between the original DIP DRAM and the rise of the SIMM memory.
The advantage with ZIP over DIP was obvious - more RAM chips in the same board area. Of course, you needed different sockets.
SIMM offered the same space advantage, but with a more complicated socket and with the RAM chips having to be soldered onto a PCB. Overall, seems like a more costly way to go than ZIP RAM, but SIMM obviously won in the market.
So why were the added manufacturing costs for SIMMs not an issue and why did they quickly replace ZIPs?
Note: I get that SIMM insertion and removal is relatively easy, but that ease-of-upgrade option only makes sense if it was a major consumer selling point. My recollection is that most motherboard RAM upgrades happened at the point-of-sale, with vendors likely choosing the cheapest solution.
hardware amiga memory
hardware amiga memory
asked 54 mins ago
Brian H
14.6k52128
asked 54 mins ago
Brian H
14.6k52128
edited 48 mins ago
asked 54 mins ago
Brian H
14.6k52128
asked 54 mins ago
Brian H
14.6k52128
asked 54 mins ago
Brian H
14.6k52128
14.6k52128
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
up vote
4
down vote
Right off the top, SIMM type modules have higher pin densities and are mechanically far more robust than that ZIP chip package. It'd be relatively easy to bend pins getting these things in an out (possibly worse than DIPs even), and protecting the pins in transport looks even harder than doing so with DIP chips.
Remember that many retailers are unlikely to admit to having broken the pin off a chip - they'll return it as defective instead.
Further, each ZIP is one chip, no more, no less. With a SIMM module being a PCB with chips mounted on it, you can build modules in various ways to get the desired density and to use the most cost effective parts available at the time.
In the end, as busses widenened, the advantages of being able to use multiple chips probably were the final determinant.
answered 43 mins ago
Michael Kohne
28815
Zip is far worse than DIP IMHO, I have had some that had broken pins, some that had bent up pins, and if something doesn't work, it is extremely hard to see where the problem is. And, they are a nuisance to plug in correctly.
– tofro
13 mins ago
add a comment |Â
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
4
down vote
Right off the top, SIMM type modules have higher pin densities and are mechanically far more robust than that ZIP chip package. It'd be relatively easy to bend pins getting these things in an out (possibly worse than DIPs even), and protecting the pins in transport looks even harder than doing so with DIP chips.
Remember that many retailers are unlikely to admit to having broken the pin off a chip - they'll return it as defective instead.
Further, each ZIP is one chip, no more, no less. With a SIMM module being a PCB with chips mounted on it, you can build modules in various ways to get the desired density and to use the most cost effective parts available at the time.
In the end, as busses widenened, the advantages of being able to use multiple chips probably were the final determinant.
answered 43 mins ago
Michael Kohne
28815
Zip is far worse than DIP IMHO, I have had some that had broken pins, some that had bent up pins, and if something doesn't work, it is extremely hard to see where the problem is. And, they are a nuisance to plug in correctly.
– tofro
13 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
4
down vote
Right off the top, SIMM type modules have higher pin densities and are mechanically far more robust than that ZIP chip package. It'd be relatively easy to bend pins getting these things in an out (possibly worse than DIPs even), and protecting the pins in transport looks even harder than doing so with DIP chips.
Remember that many retailers are unlikely to admit to having broken the pin off a chip - they'll return it as defective instead.
Further, each ZIP is one chip, no more, no less. With a SIMM module being a PCB with chips mounted on it, you can build modules in various ways to get the desired density and to use the most cost effective parts available at the time.
In the end, as busses widenened, the advantages of being able to use multiple chips probably were the final determinant.
answered 43 mins ago
Michael Kohne
28815
Zip is far worse than DIP IMHO, I have had some that had broken pins, some that had bent up pins, and if something doesn't work, it is extremely hard to see where the problem is. And, they are a nuisance to plug in correctly.
– tofro
13 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
4
down vote
up vote
4
down vote
Right off the top, SIMM type modules have higher pin densities and are mechanically far more robust than that ZIP chip package. It'd be relatively easy to bend pins getting these things in an out (possibly worse than DIPs even), and protecting the pins in transport looks even harder than doing so with DIP chips.
Remember that many retailers are unlikely to admit to having broken the pin off a chip - they'll return it as defective instead.
Further, each ZIP is one chip, no more, no less. With a SIMM module being a PCB with chips mounted on it, you can build modules in various ways to get the desired density and to use the most cost effective parts available at the time.
In the end, as busses widenened, the advantages of being able to use multiple chips probably were the final determinant.
answered 43 mins ago
Michael Kohne
28815
Right off the top, SIMM type modules have higher pin densities and are mechanically far more robust than that ZIP chip package. It'd be relatively easy to bend pins getting these things in an out (possibly worse than DIPs even), and protecting the pins in transport looks even harder than doing so with DIP chips.
Remember that many retailers are unlikely to admit to having broken the pin off a chip - they'll return it as defective instead.
Further, each ZIP is one chip, no more, no less. With a SIMM module being a PCB with chips mounted on it, you can build modules in various ways to get the desired density and to use the most cost effective parts available at the time.
In the end, as busses widenened, the advantages of being able to use multiple chips probably were the final determinant.
answered 43 mins ago
Michael Kohne
28815
answered 43 mins ago
Michael Kohne
28815
answered 43 mins ago
Michael Kohne
28815
answered 43 mins ago
Michael Kohne
28815
28815
Zip is far worse than DIP IMHO, I have had some that had broken pins, some that had bent up pins, and if something doesn't work, it is extremely hard to see where the problem is. And, they are a nuisance to plug in correctly.
– tofro
13 mins ago
add a comment |Â
Zip is far worse than DIP IMHO, I have had some that had broken pins, some that had bent up pins, and if something doesn't work, it is extremely hard to see where the problem is. And, they are a nuisance to plug in correctly.
– tofro
13 mins ago
Zip is far worse than DIP IMHO, I have had some that had broken pins, some that had bent up pins, and if something doesn't work, it is extremely hard to see where the problem is. And, they are a nuisance to plug in correctly.
– tofro
13 mins ago
Zip is far worse than DIP IMHO, I have had some that had broken pins, some that had bent up pins, and if something doesn't work, it is extremely hard to see where the problem is. And, they are a nuisance to plug in correctly.
– tofro
13 mins ago
add a comment |Â
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fretrocomputing.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f7859%2fwhat-happened-to-zip-ram%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password