It's magic! I have 16GB of RAM where I should only be able to install 8GB.

relztrah · Jun 5, 2021

Well, it just goes to show that you can't believe everything you read. Here's the spec sheet for an old Dell Vostro that I have a work.

And yet, just out of curiosity I stuck two 8GB modules in there and voilà:

Digerati · Jun 5, 2021

Not sure about magic but for sure, pretty tricky. What is the exact model number of this computer? I note there are several different Dell Vostro models.

FleetCommand · Jun 5, 2021

Judging by your CPU model and the Vostro model numbers listed in the first image, the documentation predates the invention of 8 GB RAM modules.

relztrah · Jun 5, 2021

It's a model 3550. Yes, maybe FleetCommand is on to something and it was manufactured before 8GB modules were available.

Digerati · Jun 6, 2021

I don't think that is it. DDR3 has had a maximum capacity of 16GB per DIMM from the beginning. And DDR3 came out in 2007. That model laptop has been around for only about 10 years.

The limitation really was due to the processors at the time. So I suspect when the documentation was published for that laptop, they were not using the most current, for the day, processors and thus 8GB was the max. Your processor does indeed support 16GB of RAM. Your specific model probably came out after the documentation and specs were published.

FleetCommand · Jun 6, 2021

Oh, yeah, my bad. I read that DDR3 SDRAM allows DRAM chips DRAM chip capacities of up to 8 gigabits (Gbit). I forgot to do the calculations. Since there are up to four ranks of 64 bits, that maximum capacity is 16 gigabytes.

But according to Wikipedia, Intel CPUs had problems addressing beyond 8. This problem was fixed in 2013. I guess a firmware update has done it.

Digerati · Jun 6, 2021

FleetCommand said:
Oh, yeah, my bad. I read that DDR3 SDRAM allows DRAM chips DRAM chip capacities of up to 8 gigabits (Gbit)

LOL

I laugh only because I almost went down that path too!

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It's magic! I have 16GB of RAM where I should only be able to install 8GB.

relztrah

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Digerati

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Microsoft MVP (Ret.)

FleetCommand

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relztrah

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Digerati

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FleetCommand

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Digerati

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It's magic! I have 16GB of RAM where I should only be able to install 8GB.

relztrah

Contributor

Digerati

ModeratorHardware ExpertMicrosoft MVP (Ret.)

FleetCommand

Member

relztrah

Contributor

Digerati

ModeratorHardware ExpertMicrosoft MVP (Ret.)

FleetCommand

Member

Digerati

ModeratorHardware ExpertMicrosoft MVP (Ret.)

Moderator
Hardware Expert
Microsoft MVP (Ret.)

Moderator
Hardware Expert
Microsoft MVP (Ret.)

Moderator
Hardware Expert
Microsoft MVP (Ret.)