p55 & 8gb dimms

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tenks

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Apr 26, 2007
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I'm on a temporary borrowed machine while I wait to upgrade. Gigabyte p55a-ud3.

obv p55 chipset. current has 4x2gb (bleh) and I was looking to upgrade to 16GB. It supports 16max in the manual..So I ordered a 2x8gb kingston kit because it was on a great sale price.

I got a email from kingston saying it's not compatible with the p55 because it doesnt support 8gig dimms. So I cancelled my order.

I've done a little bit of research and the few places I could find any info said they got 8gig dimms to work fine. Now the kingston rep specifically said none of their ram works on p55 because they use 4Gbit DRAM chips..So maybe 8gb dimms work on p55, just not kingstons?

Thoughts? This is really frustrating..Was going to try the ones I ordered but his comments made me cancel..
 
Deders

Deders

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Oct 14, 2012
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If it's only temporary wouldn't 8GB suffice? I'm pretty sure 8GB dims are not supported. 4x4GB is the only way to get 16GB.
 
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tenks

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Apr 26, 2007
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Deders said:
If it's only temporary wouldn't 8GB suffice? I'm pretty sure 8GB dims are not supported. 4x4GB is the only way to get 16GB.
Click to expand...

I've seen a lot of people on forums with screenshots of 2x8GB working on their p55 boards..

Just not mine specifically..Was trying to figure out what the real deal was. According to the kingston guy its the 4GBit dram chips they're using..So whats the alternative..finding 8GB dimms that used 2GBit dram?
 
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zir_blazer

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Jun 6, 2013
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As far that I know Nehalem platform don't support 4 GBit DRAM ICs, which are what are needed to make a Double Sided 8 GB DDR3 module. This also applies to Single Sided 4 GB modules which also uses them.
Different people I saw seems to have either POST or severe stability problems with them. I don't know if its possible to actually get them running good enough if you run it at a very relaxed setting (Namely, low Frequency, high Timmings, 2T Command Rate). I'm rather curious about that since I was able to do 4 * 8 GB on an Athlon II 620 (Deneb RB-C2) which was around the same era.
 
redzo

redzo

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Nov 21, 2007
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A p55 motherboard supports 16GB max and features 4 memory slots.
A h55 motherboard supports 8GB max and features 2 memory slots.

Now since the memory controller sits on the CPU die the chipset is irelevant and it is safe to assume that all nehalem 1156 based cpu's support a maximum memory capacity of 4GB / memory slot. Otherwise the h55 motherboards would have supported a 16GB max with 2x8GB modules.
 
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tenks

Senior member
Apr 26, 2007
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zir_blazer said:
As far that I know Nehalem platform don't support 4 GBit DRAM ICs, which are what are needed to make a Double Sided 8 GB DDR3 module. This also applies to Single Sided 4 GB modules which also uses them.
Different people I saw seems to have either POST or severe stability problems with them. I don't know if its possible to actually get them running good enough if you run it at a very relaxed setting (Namely, low Frequency, high Timmings, 2T Command Rate). I'm rather curious about that since I was able to do 4 * 8 GB on an Athlon II 620 (Deneb RB-C2) which was around the same era.
Click to expand...

You raise some good points about stability..None of the people who got 8GB dims to work really followed up with more posts other than saying they got it to work and everything boots fine. This will be a work machine for editing, so I probably should just do 4x4GB and get it over with and not risk any instability.


redzo said:
A p55 motherboard supports 16GB max and features 4 memory slots.
A h55 motherboard supports 8GB max and features 2 memory slots.

Now since the memory controller sits on the CPU die the chipset is irelevant and it is safe to assume that all nehalem 1156 based cpu's support a maximum memory capacity of 4GB / memory slot. Otherwise the h55 motherboards would have supported a 16GB max with 2x8GB modules.
Click to expand...


That's some pretty solid logic there, I didn't think about that. It's just so weird because while I was researching this, some kids even got 32GB (4x8) to work "fine".

Oh well, 4x4GB it is...

This is the cheapest kit I could find on Amazon for the speed/latency I desire..Thoughts? (I can find cheaper on newegg but I have amazon GC to burn)

Patriot Viper 3 Series DDR3 16GB 1600MHz (PC3 12800) Quad Kit PV316G160C9QK

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00453T0X6/?tag=pcpapi-20

Thanks for all your help guys.
 
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zir_blazer

Golden Member
Jun 6, 2013
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I totally disagree with the "motherboard supports" logic. Motherboard makers just test whatever higher capacity modules were available at the time they released it, and do NOT go back to old Motherboards to add new stuff. When Nehalems and Deneb were available, there were no 8 GB modules, heck, 4 GB ones were rare enough, so all the Motherboards maxed out at 16 GB, like my old ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO. I don't take a no as an answer unless otherwise proven, so I decided to try and got it working with 32 GB.
4 GB modules do not even guarantee you that they will work, since newer DDR3 modules can use just 8 4 GBit ICs (They're Single Sided) and they have the same issues than 8 GB ones, since Nehalem doesn't like 4 GBit ICs at all. Very recently I saw on another forum a guy with a Nehalem platform having issues with a 4 GB module and the shop where he purchased it from suggested him to get an older module for that same reason.
 
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tenks

Senior member
Apr 26, 2007
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Yea I'm actually kinda mad at myself for jumping the gun and just cancelling based on the Kingston reps word..but thats what he's there for right?

The 8GB dimms were $15 cheaper and 1866 vs 1600 for the 4x4GB.

I got the ram today, and it's working fine. Its not worth the hassle to send back and wait again just for 2 less dimms and 266more mhz...Although Im tempted because I really wanna know if 8GB dimms will work...Just the curious cast in me :/
 
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