I'm building a new PC using a 9950x3d CPU and a GIGABYTE X870E AORUS Elite WIFI7 motherboard. I mistakenly bought 256GB of RAM without realizing the CPU only supports a maximum of 192GB. Since the 256GB kit was only about $40 more than the 192GB, I'm curious about the impact of trying to install the larger RAM. Will the CPU limit it to 192GB, or could this create issues for my system?
4 Answers
That’s a lot of RAM! Just a heads-up, you might run into problems booting your PC if you try to use all 256GB. It's usually safer to stick to the max supported by your CPU. Also, double-check if you really need that much—128GB is already pretty hefty!
Make sure you're using DDR5 UDIMM sticks because AM5 setups don’t take RDIMM. Most 64GB DDR5 sticks aren't widely available either, so check what you've got! Otherwise, you might experience stability issues or it simply won’t fit.
If your PC can handle it, it might post and run, but keep in mind using four sticks may slow things down compared to two—could be a pain to tune too! You might want to consider if all those Docker containers really need to be local, two systems could be better!
It might work, but you could run into stability issues at higher speeds with all that RAM. Just be careful! Some users have managed to run 256GB with that CPU, but it’s hit or miss depending on the system's configuration.
It’s for my development setup. I’ve got 6 VMs and a bunch of Docker containers, so 128GB isn't cutting it!