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I'm trying to upgrade the RAM on a desktop computer, which currently has 4x2G m378b5773ch0-ch9 sticks.

When I look up the manufacturer's website, It says that it Supports up to 16 GB (unbuffered) on 64-bit computers , however when I inspect the maximum capacity of the motherboard using dmidecode, I get the following

 $ sudo dmidecode -t 16
# dmidecode 3.3
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.7 present.


Handle 0x000D, DMI type 16, 23 bytes
Physical Memory Array
Location: System Board Or Motherboard
Use: System Memory
Error Correction Type: None
Maximum Capacity: 32 GB
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Number Of Devices: 4

Which one is which?

kqvanity
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  • Where is proof you have a mempis-s.? Thing is: dmidecode gets its info from the BIOS so that might give out wrong info. I'd check from within BIOS but it likely will state 32 as its max and you can stuff 4x8 sticks into it. – Rinzwind Dec 17 '23 at 17:05
  • @Rinzwind I've tried to inspect System Information, but all it shows is the installed Memory Size 8192 MB DDR3 / 1333 MHZ with Channel A/B DIMM1/3 / DIMM2/4 2048 MB respectively, but no sign of maximum capacity of the motherboard itself. – kqvanity Dec 17 '23 at 17:17

2 Answers2

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It's strange that the manufacturer doesn't state total RAM capacity for registered memory.

However on Supermicro motherboards, it's not unusual that they support e.g. 64 GB unbuffered, but 128 or 256 GB registered memory.

So judging from this, I'd say it's "probable" that the dmidecide info is correct, so it supports up to 32 GB of registered RAM.

Artur Meinild
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I would be hesitant to upgrade to 32GB of RAM even though dmidecode claims it is possible. Motherboard manufacturers are free to modify their BIOS firmware and reduce the max installable memory and dmidecode might not be clever enough to detect that. Apple has done this with the mid-2012 MacBook Pro. The official max memory is 8GB but unofficially it is 16GB. People have had mixed success with installing the unofficial 16GB.

Even though dmidecode states a 32GB max and websites like Wikipedia state 32GB as the max for the Intel H87 chipset (which is on your motherboard), HP states the max memory is 16GB on your website link so I would trust them and not upgrade beyond 16GB.

A. Hed
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    The official website mentioned rather buffered RAM capacity. I've upgraded to 24GB, and haven't faced any noticeable repercussions so far – kqvanity Dec 23 '23 at 22:03