i845 DDR RAM maximum

[Sust]

My work place just got a P4 2.0(williamette,ugh) from dell with the i845 DDR chipset.
Dell only sells the 512MB DIMMs and claims that the total max upgradeable is 1 GB of DDR.
However, on Intel's page for the chipset and motherboard, they state that it was designed for a theoretical max. of 2GB.
http://developer.intel.com/design/motherbd/bg/bg_mem.htm

Well, more specifically, they state that they have not fully tested the system with two 1GB DIMMs so they are not going to stick their neck out and openly say that it works.

My question is why there would be any errors with 1GB DIMMs such that there would have to be extensive testing done on Intel's part before they will even say it's okay to use them. I was just looking to see if the computer would even boot+POST if I tried two 1GB DIMMs.
Another question is... has anyone else crossed the 1GB line for RAM? And if so have there been any complications?

And for those wondering why anyone would need more than 1 GB, my office does neuroimaging and we use a program called matlab and SPM. Apparently, RAM is important when you're running statistical analyses on brain maps.
Yeh, yeh, the Athlon has better FPU and matlab hasnt been recompiled for P4 optimizations, but we had a dell contract and I had to go the intel route.

 

[AndyHui]

The i845D chipset supports up to 2GB of DDR SDRAM, or 3GB of SDR SDRAM.

In order to reach this limit, you need 1GB DIMMs.

The problem is that all 1GB DIMMs that are currently available, are ECC Registered DIMMs.

The i845D chipset is not compatible with ECC Registered DIMMs, but is fine with ECC DIMMs. You will need to wait until a RAM manufacturer gets good enough yeilds on very high density RAM chips to start offering ECC DIMMs instead of ECC Registered DIMMs.

 

[Buz2b]

Just another thought to add to the mix is that mfg's such as Dell usually do some "wonderful" things to the systems they sell that can hinder and "dumb down" a component. The board you have in that system is a Dell board based on the i845 chipset. That doesn't mean that they have enabled all it's features. It is a common practice for Dell (and others) to "restrict" some features, either through the BIOS or actual hardware manipulations, of the boards they use. A few years ago, "The Thing" to do was to flash your BIOS (of an Intel based Dell board) with an Intel BIOS so that you could enable higher and better upgrades. Now I think that Dell uses something that can detect and disable an "non-Dell" BIOS flash. Wonderful folks they are! So, just because the chipset itself allows something, that doesn't mean that Dell has permitted it on their system. Of course they do this under the guise of better reliability and/or fewer support calls. In other words, it saves them money on one hand and you have to buy more often; which makes them more money on the other hand. What a racket!!
I cannot absolutely say that this is the case with your unit and configuration, (and certainly if Intel is even "shakey" about using 1 GB Dimms then I'd be hesitant) but it would not at all suprise me if it wasn't a least part of the reason that Dell only offers a total of 1 GB of RAM.

Anyway, just a couple of cents worth.