RAM capacity

I

idyllhands

New Member
I recently ran System Information for Windows on my Gateway SX2800-03 and it says that the max RAM capacity is 8 GB. There are 4 slots for RAM, my question is: why the limitation? Is it a MB cap limitation, or is it a limitation on the max size of each stick of RAM? ie..can I put 2 x 4GB in it, or would it have to be 4 x 2GB?
Also, is this limit realistic? ie..what happens if I put 16GB in it?

edit: Also, can someone point me to a good tutorial to understand RAM timings, and also, let me know if there's any other features I should look for when purchasing RAM as far as speed and compatibility go.
 
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idyllhands said:
I recently ran System Information for Windows on my Gateway SX2800-03 and it says that the max RAM capacity is 8 GB. There are 4 slots for RAM, my question is: why the limitation? Is it a MB cap limitation, or is it a limitation on the max size of each stick of RAM? ie..can I put 2 x 4GB in it, or would it have to be 4 x 2GB?
Also, is this limit realistic? ie..what happens if I put 16GB in it?

edit: Also, can someone point me to a good tutorial to understand RAM timings, and also, let me know if there's any other features I should look for when purchasing RAM as far as speed and compatibility go.
Click to expand...

Because that is the max supported ammount of ram that it can take, I am not to sure what will happen if you put 16GB of ram in it but my best guess would be that it would only use 8GB IF it turns on at all.

I am not to sure if a mobo will run with unused ram. either way if it does work there will be 8GB of ram that wont be used. (2 of them on a 4x4 setup).

http://www.techpowerup.com/printarticle.php?id=131
Not really a tutorial but it does help a bit.

You would want another 4GB (2x2) But I am kinda confused about it because the Newegg specs say that it takes DDR3 800
And this is a question I have I looked it up even and I dont think they make any DDR3 800 ram? Is this a HP spacific? Or just a typo

Here is the specs from newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883113111
Just to make sure this is your computer right?
 
Yep, that is my PC. Not sure about the DDR3 800, SIW says that the RAM in it is DDR3 1333. That means up to 1333MHz, correct?
But it also says the speed is 667 MHz, and the "supported frequency" only goes up to 685.7MHz

What is also kind of weird is that the 2 chips (2x2GB) are each a different brand: one is Kingston, one is Samsung.
 
idyllhands said:
Yep, that is my PC. Not sure about the DDR3 800, SIW says that the RAM in it is DDR3 1333. That means up to 1333MHz, correct?
But it also says the speed is 667 MHz, and the "supported frequency" only goes up to 685.7MHz

What is also kind of weird is that the 2 chips (2x2GB) are each a different brand: one is Kingston, one is Samsung.
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Hmm, Then it probably is a typo.

I believe that is what the 1333 is, but I am not 100% sure.

It seems to me they have the bus speed and the ram speed backwards.

CPU FSB: 1333MHz Memory Speed: DDR3 800 What I think they meant is the FSB is 800MHz amd the ram is DDR3 1333 LMAO xD
And yeah I find that really weird, was it a refurbished computer?
I mean It really doesn't seem to affect it. As long as the 2 are compatable with each other :)

Here is some more kingston you could probably use in it to get to the 8GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134792
 
the 667 is reffering to your ram it is roughly half of of the rated speed because it is double data rate, just like in this link

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4677/avexirram.jpg

ddr3 is shown at 800mhz meaning that it is efectively 1600 mhz, always times by two.

yes they make ddr3 ram 800, there are more changes in ddr3 than just overall rated speed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR3_SDRAM#Modules

if you could run cpu-z, select mainboard and tell me what motherboard is in the computer i (or someone else) will tell you what ram you can get

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
 
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I read a little up on it, but didnt find much about it <.<
Other than it is atleast capable of 4GB obviously lol, and max is probably 8GB, but honestly 8GB is unneeded, 4GB should suffice for if you are gaming and roaming the internet.

ddr3 is shown at 800mhz meaning that it is efectively 1600 mhz, always times by two.

yes they make ddr3 ram 800, there are more changes in ddr3 than just overall rated speed
Click to expand...

You would think that they would make a "uniform" specificatation, as not to confuse people like me ;).
 
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