Question What is the deal with DDR4 DIMMs in an H110 chipset?

[Doug S]

I've tried twice buying a pair of 16GB DDR4 DIMMs for my H110M-ITX board, both times they didn't work. The second time I checked the compatibility on Crucial's site when I figured out that Intel STILL screws people by limiting what DIMMs are supported beyond size (or maybe I should blame JEDEC for enforcing standards worse than USB does) Still, no dice.

What the heck is it I should be looking out for? A certain number of chips per DIMM? A certain size of chip per DIMM? Something hidden inside like number of ranks or x whatever width?

How am I supposed to buy DIMMs for this board when you can't get specs at purchase time beyond size, speed and latency, and I know those are the problem? Is there a site where I can select DIMMs based on whatever magic factors are required to make DIMMs that work?

Is DDR5 going to fix this mess or is it more of the same?

 

[In2Photos]

The QVL on ASRock's site doesn't list any compatible 16GB modules from Crucial. They list very few 16GB modules.

ASRock > H110M-ITX

ASRock Super Alloy; Supports 7th and 6th Generation Intel Core™ Processors (Socket 1151)<div class=Remark><span style=color:red;>*</span>8th Gen Intel Core™ desktop processors are supported with Intel 300 Series chipset motherboards only; Supports DDR4 2133; 1 PCIe 3.0 x16; Graphics Output...

www.asrock.com

 

[Doug S]

The QVL on ASRock's site doesn't list any compatible 16GB modules from Crucial. They list very few 16GB modules.

ASRock > H110M-ITX

ASRock Super Alloy; Supports 7th and 6th Generation Intel Core™ Processors (Socket 1151)<div class=Remark><span style=color:red;>*</span>8th Gen Intel Core™ desktop processors are supported with Intel 300 Series chipset motherboards only; Supports DDR4 2133; 1 PCIe 3.0 x16; Graphics Output...

www.asrock.com

I'm assuming there are many newer modules that would work because they aren't updating that for e.g. 2666 MHz or 3200 MHz versions. Finding 2133 MHz DDR4 DIMMs now would be difficult unless you find old stock. I know it can't run at a higher speed in this case, but the memory will run just fine at a lower speed than it was designed for.

There just doesn't seem to be any way to figure out exactly what it is about the DIMMs on the qual list that makes it work, and makes other DIMMs not work.