How do you calculate mem needed to construct a mem system

[09larin]

please help me with this question. how many memory chips are needed to construct 2M* 16 memory system using 512K * 8 static memory chips?

 

[Joe Ciancimino]

I am guessing you are talking about 2M with a bus width of 16 bits from 512K with a bus width of 8 bits? As such there are 1024K in 1M because a computer counts in binary and not decimal. Plus you are doubling the bus width so you need twice as many per bus access. Expect is to run really slow though, and you might need to verify that the system BIOS can run RAM at the access speed of the older chips.

512K = 0.5M * 2 per bus = 8 - 512K x 8 bit bus needed for 2M x 16 bit bus

 

[Chronos]

It also depends on the operating system. Windows xp had a 4 gig memory ceiling [ncluding graphics]. Win 7 bumped it to 32 gigs, due to 64 bit processing capability.32 bit windows OS is still stuck on 4 gigs. Adding more than 4G memory to 32 bit windows is like ****ing on a forest fire - you feel better but that's about it.