I'm curious about Asus motherboards, specifically the Pro WS W680-ACE IPMI and its micro-ATX sibling, the Pro WS W680M-ACE SE. They both share the same CPU and chipset, yet the ATX board supports up to 128GB of DDR5 ECC RAM, while the micro-ATX version claims it can handle up to 192GB. What factors could lead to such a difference in maximum RAM support? Is it likely that the first board could also accommodate 192GB like the second one?
1 Answer
The difference likely comes from the release timing of the motherboards. The newer Pro WS W680M-ACE SE could have been designed with support for the latest 48GB DIMMs that just became available in 2023, while the other board's specs may not have anticipated those larger sticks when it was released. Sometimes, a BIOS update can allow compatibility with newer RAM sticks even if they weren't initially supported. Just keep an eye on updates from Asus!
So if they list 4x48 DIMMs compatible now, does that mean it might work on the older board too? I see they have some listed for the full ATX. Maybe I'll try to use ECC as well.