GR8RAM (GW4205A) provides an Apple II-series machine with 8 MB of RAMFactor- or Slinky-type memory usable as a fast RAM disk or as RAM by supported applications.

Low-Power, SDRAM-Based Design

Thanks to a modern, low-power design, GR8RAM uses a maximum of 0.2 watts when idle (40 mA @ 5V) and 0.4 watts in active use (80 mA @ 5V). Unlike other Slinky- and RAMFactor-compatible RAM cards, which are built with vintage asynchronous DRAM chips, GR8RAM uses modern SDRAM. This design allows for low power consumption and improved reliability over other memory cards using 15+ year old chips.

Adjustable Capacity, Highly Compatible

GR8RAM’s capacity and firmware can be changed to either emulate an original 1 MB Apple Slinky RAM card, a 1 MB Applied Engineering RAMFactor card, an 8 MB RAMFactor, or, experimentally, a 16 MB RAMFactor.

USB Firmware Update Capability

GR8RAM includes a USB firmware update adapter. The firmware update utility requires a 64-bit Intel or ARM PC running Windows 10 or later. Supported systems also include Windows 10 or later running under Apple Boot Camp or Parallels Desktop on both Intel and ARM Macs.

Ecologically Friendly, Gold-Plated PCB

GR8RAM is built with a lead-free, ENIG gold-plated, 4-layer PCB and is fully EU RoHS-compliant. All units are tested extensively before shipment, and only new parts are used to build GR8RAM.

Open-Source Design

GR8RAM's design is fully open-source. The schematics, board layouts, CPLD firmware, and utility software are all freely available for commercial and noncommercial use. To download the design files, visit the Garrett's Workshop GitHub page: https://github.com/garrettsworkshop

Compatibility Note - RAMFactor and Slinky Firmware Selection

GR8RAM supports two separate firmware options and three separate RAM capacity settings. GR8RAM can be used with either the Apple “Slinky” Memory Expansion Card firmware or the Applied Engineering RAMFactor 1.4 firmware. The Slinky firmware supports only 1 MB capacity, but the RAMFactor firmware supports 1 MB, 8 MB, and 16 MB capacities. The firmware and RAM capacity settings are chosen using the Firmware Select switch on the right side of the card.

Compatibility Note - 16 MB Capacity

The GR8RAM card has 16 MB of RAM onboard, so it can provide as much as 16 MB of RAMFactor memory. Most applications, however, do not work correctly with 16 MB of RAMFactor memory. We therefore recommend only using the 16 MB capacity setting with programs known to be compatible with 16 MB of RAMFactor memory.