I'm putting together a new PC with a 9950x3d CPU and a GIGABYTE X870E AORUS Elite WIFI7 motherboard. I mistakenly bought 256GB of RAM while the processor maxes out at 192GB. I'm curious to know what will happen if I install the 256GB. Will the CPU just ignore the extra RAM and use only 192GB, or could there be some issues like the system not booting?
6 Answers
Chances are, it will work, but what speeds are your RAM sticks rated for? That could affect stability.
Honestly, at this point, you might want to think about upgrading to a different hardware level or even running two separate systems. Your CPU might just refuse to boot with all that RAM!
It has been done before, but stability at higher speeds might be a challenge. Just something to consider!
If it posts, there's a chance it will work, but keep in mind that with four DIMMs, AM5 might not even guarantee a successful boot. With that much RAM, a Threadripper might be something to think about, or maybe check if all those containers can run efficiently elsewhere.
Be careful! There's a good chance your setup might not boot at all with that much RAM. It might be smarter to stick to what's recommended. Also, maybe double-check if you actually need all that RAM—it's a lot!
FYI, using four sticks over two could slow things down a bit. It’s usually more complicated to tune four sticks, too. Think wisely!
Are you suggesting I should just go with two 128GB sticks instead? That seems more manageable.