did you know? you can hotplug RAM

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,570
10,202
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Erm, not recommended, and can burn out chips.

That said, some recent version of Windows, does have OS support for "hot add" RAM.

Like I said, though - like PS/2 ports - RAM is NOT meant to be hot-plugged on a consumer board. Sure, it may work, the one time that you try it, but it could fry something too.
 

2is

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2012
4,281
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I'll pass. Even if it's safe to do as far as the PC is concerned, it's not safe to do as far as my fingers are concerned as they seem to be attracted to spinning fans.
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,110
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91
Why on earth would you ever find yourself in the position of resorting to doing this?

Did you know you can drive your car 110mph and NOT wear your seatbelt? True story, you will not die from driving at those speeds or from the lack of a seatbelt...until something goes awry. At which point you'll have 100ms to conclude that you should have chosen a safer speed and to perhaps wear a seatbelt.

Next up, "you can hot-plug your CPU, just don't unplug it though!", can't wait for the ensuing discussion :)
 

BigDaveX

Senior member
Jun 12, 2014
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Why on earth would you ever find yourself in the position of resorting to doing this?

If you were running a Xeon server farm, and needed to either replace a bad memory stick or add in some extra memory without taking a server offline. That's the sort of situation this feature is really designed for, not desktop users who for some bizarre reason are afraid to turn their PC off for two minutes.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,570
10,202
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If you were running a Xeon server farm, and needed to either replace a bad memory stick or add in some extra memory without taking a server offline. That's the sort of situation this feature is really designed for, not desktop users who for some bizarre reason are afraid to turn their PC off for two minutes.

...but those server boards, have the facilities to do so, safely. (Same with hot-add PCI/PCI-E cards in servers.)

Consumer motherboards, which I presume the OP has, do NOT.
 

ShintaiDK

Lifer
Apr 22, 2012
20,378
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Hotplug memory is "old". I know its been supported since Windows 2003 Enterprise for example.

You can actually hotplug CPUs as well from the software side.
 
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TeknoBug

Platinum Member
Oct 2, 2013
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I wouldn't even try, you want to fry RAM? be my guest.

2U rack servers... perhaps since a lot of them has hotswap features (even CPUs).
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
69,705
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www.betteroff.ca
Interesting. Though I would not trust the actual process of it being removed/added as the pins might short in the process. Electronically/software wise it might be supported but physically not so much I don't think.

I can't really think of a situation where I'd need this though. I suppose a ram upgrade on a server, but for the amount of times that might happen it's probably safer just dealing with a shut down and downtime than risking hardware damage or some kind of OS glitch where it does not take properly.
 
Dec 30, 2004
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Interesting. Though I would not trust the actual process of it being removed/added as the pins might short in the process. Electronically/software wise it might be supported but physically not so much I don't think.

I can't really think of a situation where I'd need this though. I suppose a ram upgrade on a server, but for the amount of times that might happen it's probably safer just dealing with a shut down and downtime than risking hardware damage or some kind of OS glitch where it does not take properly.
I keep a stack of sticks. Depending on the day, if I'm feeling blue, or yellow, or red, my PC feels blue, yellow, red too.
 

Abwx

Lifer
Apr 2, 2011
11,782
4,689
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seriously, how is this going to fry RAM?

If it is not plugged perfectly verticaly the RAM data bus tracks can eventualy contact a supply rail (as there s several pins providing the 1.5/1.35V voltage), theses inputs/outputs are not supposed to be fed a voltage when in read mode while it is the case in write mode, but the exact state is forcibly undeterminated when plugging the RAM..

It wouldnt be a problem if this is the adress bus that is sent the RAM supply voltage, though, hence it can be done but not safely if the hardware has not support fo such manipulations.
 

podspi

Golden Member
Jan 11, 2011
1,982
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Consumer electronics are so fault-tolerant these days...

I wag my finger and tell people that it isn't if a hard drive will fail, it's WHEN a hard drive will fail, and they look at me like I'm crazy!


Not surprised this works (if done physically correctly). All our gadgets these days are designed wonders.
 

jhu

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
11,918
9
81
Consumer electronics are so fault-tolerant these days...

I wag my finger and tell people that it isn't if a hard drive will fail, it's WHEN a hard drive will fail, and they look at me like I'm crazy!


Not surprised this works (if done physically correctly). All our gadgets these days are designed wonders.

Mine were made with unicorn tears. That's why it's so awesome.
 

Maximilian

Lifer
Feb 8, 2004
12,604
15
81
Didnt know that was a thing... pretty cool!

Not gonna be trying it anytime soon though, sounds risky.
 

PliotronX

Diamond Member
Oct 17, 1999
8,883
107
106
That sounds so sketchy and that's coming from a habitual delidder. Wouldn't the DIMM have to be engaged perfectly level, otherwise only certain contacts will mate? I can only see fun things happening™.
 

Madpacket

Platinum Member
Nov 15, 2005
2,068
326
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So who's going to test this out and let us know if works on regular consumer boards? :D
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
21,019
3,490
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Hotplug memory is "old". I know its been supported since Windows 2003 Enterprise for example.

You can actually hotplug CPUs as well from the software side.

u can hot plug entire PCs' from a node... and in essence remove a couple of cores from the hive.... and this probably the only hardware form of hotplug, minus USB + HDD's that i would ever do.

So who's going to test this out and let us know if works on regular consumer boards? :D

no one is stupid enough to do that... crossing a voltage pin on a RAM can spell serious issues with space time itself like ghost busters..
image.jpg
 
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Denithor

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2004
6,298
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81
"Can do" and "should do" are two completely different things.

Count me out on this one.
 

TeknoBug

Platinum Member
Oct 2, 2013
2,084
31
91
"Can do" and "should do" are two completely different things.

Count me out on this one.
Like Chris Rock once said, "you can drive a car with your feet on the steering wheel, but it doesn't mean you should".