🚀 go-pugleaf

I am looking for some advice on increasing my PC's performance and/or
some upgrade options.

My PC's specification when purchased in August '94  was:

Colossus 486 BL2 33 MHz  processor (IBM Blue Lightning) clock doubled
to 66 Mhz.
8MB RAM (on examination , two 72-pin, 8 chip, SIMMs of 4MB each. 70ns.
NEC 424400-70 chips).
244 MB IDE hard disk.
1MB Cirrus SVGA graphics card.
Windows 3.1 & IBM PC DOS 6.3

In addition the original advert also said:
Enhanced 486-66 processor with 16K internal cache and 256K external
cache (Blue Lightning).
Upgradeable to Pentium technology.
Massive 8MB RAM expandable to 64MB on the motherboard.
State of the art 32-bit VESA local bus windows accelerator with 1MB
video RAM (upgradeable to 2MB).
Very expandable Mini Tower case with 6 drive bays and 8 free expansion
slots (2 VESA and 6 16-bit).

Since then I have added:
Mitsumi FX400 Quad Speed CD-ROM drive.
Soundblaster 16 Value sound card
Windows 95

I have also recently plugged in and extra 8MB of RAM that I was given.

The thing is, since adding the new RAM, I have no noticed no increase
in performance and I am getting fed-up with my PC's sluggish
performance. 

The RAM I added was 8MB on a single 72-pin SIMM. I added this in the
next spare slot after my existing RAM which was two 72-pin SIMMs of
4MB each. I have no idea what type of chips the new SIMM contains, but
thought I would just plug it in and see what happened.

The PC appears to recognise the RAM, i.e. the power-on counter clocks
up 16,xxx KB. Windows 95 also recognises that the RAM is there and
says I have a 16 MB machine.

In desperation I rang Colossus and asked them to give me some more
info on my machine's spec. They gave me the following info:
Machine is equivalent to DX2 66 MHz and runs at 5V.
My RAM was two 1 4MB 72-pin SIMMs with parity running at 70ns.
My new RAM should be working OK if it is being recognised.
My graphics card is part of the motherboard, necessitating jumpers if
I add a new graphics card.

I then asked them for details of what I could put in in the way of
overdrive chips, and they told me the only option was a P24T overdrive
chip which would increase the clock to between 70-80 MHz. Would this
give a noticeable performance increase?

I then double checked by asking Simply Computers in London, and they
told me I could use the P24T, but a better option would be a DX4 100
overdrive chip. Could this also be compatible? Would it be a better
choice?

Confused, I then called IBM (who assembled my PC and made the
motherboard and processor). After being passed around half a dozen
times (each time gradually narrowing the search) I eventually tracked
down IBM Microelectronics whose guru I was told would be able to
answer all my Blue Lightning related questions. I am still waiting for
him to call me back. I got the impression from the way they talked
that they are about three people sitting in a small dilapidated shed
somewhere, and that Blue Lightning is not exactly big news these days!

So, how can I improve my PC's performance? i.e.

1. What processor upgrades ARE possible?

2. I have heard that I may need to rearrange my memory so that the 8MB
SIMM is in the first slot, followed by the two 4MB SIMMs. True or
false?

3. I have heard that some motherboards need paired SIMMs, i.e. having
one SIMM and adding two is a no-no. True or false?

My system manual (what there is of it!) says:
System memory configurations - any combination of industry standard
72-pin SIMMs, of sizes 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16MB, access time 70ns (or
faster) using sockets J2, J19, J20 and J18).
It also mentions 82C3481XM and 82C3482AP chipsets and an upgrade
processor ZIF socket.

4 What voltage IS my motherboard/processor? I am not 100% convinced by
the info given to me Colossus.

5. Is a replacement motherboard a viable option? If so, which one and
how much?

6. Is a replacement graphics card a viable option? My current one is
part of the motherboard. If so, which and how much? Or what do I do to
upgrade it?

7. Does anybody know of any programs I can use to benchmark my RAM? In
particular, to verify that old and new are compatible.

Apologies for the length of this post but I wanted to give as much
info as possible.

Any advice VERY gratefully received.

Please reply directly to jason@thainjm.demon.co.uk and if possible CC
to 100414.2471@compuserve.com 

PS I have removed my config.sys and autoexec.bat files to see if this
would speed things up (i.e. by not loading lots of drivers into
memory) but this made no difference.

Thanks,