Why only 32GB Max RAM on modern computers.

[Compman55]

For a intel haswell example, even on the E3 version, the CPU memory controller is capped at 32GB. So in the future when 16GB modules come out, there is no way to upgrade.

So why is this. I can use up all my 32GB alarmingly easy.

Back when windows 7 just came out, 8GB was difficult to use.

 

[exar333]

Get a X79 system or Xeon if you need more than 32GB... More than 32GB usage is not the average customer the 'consumer' line targets.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

For a intel haswell example, even on the E3 version, the CPU memory controller is capped at 32GB. So in the future when 16GB modules come out, there is no way to upgrade.

So why is this. I can use up all my 32GB alarmingly easy.

could be that they say 32GB is the limit because there was/is no plan for 16GB DDR3 modules, so you're maxed out at 32GB regardless. So if you want more than 32GB, you need more RAM slots or DDR4 support, so basically you either need to upgrade to s2011 now for the 8 slots, or s2011-3 when Haswell-E comes out. s1366's 6 slots would also be an option if you would be willing to buy second hand and take a hit on CPU and chipset performance.

Back when windows 7 just came out, 8GB was difficult to use.

I could easily use up my 8GB back when Vista came out. Granted, Superfetch and no SSD made that task easier.

At any rate, if you're legitimately using up 32GB of RAM (ie not with prefetching or RAM disk, but having programs actually use up that much on their own) you probably should have been on a workstation setup with s2011 from the start.

 

[ethebubbeth]

16gb UDIMMS have been announced recently, so 64gb should be possible on mainstream platforms sometime soon.

For greater than 64gb, or if you want 64gb now, you need to go with something that supports more than 4 dimm slots or has RDIMM support. The buffer used with registered memory reduces the load on the memory controller and allows for larger banks and more DIMM slots.

This is precisely why I went with an Abu Dhabi Opteron on the G34 platform when building my NAS. It was the cheapest platform that gave me access to greater than 64gb ECC memory.

 

[stlc8tr]

I'm just trying to think of scenarios where an average user would need more than 32GBs.

How many Chrome tabs would that be?

 

[cytg111]

VMs .. i got 32GB in this 4770 too, contemplating retiring it to server duty when haswell-e hits... a regular 4770, std clocks and 32GB of ram will make a killer hypervisor (vtd and tsx to boot).

 

[stlc8tr]

But how many "average" users run enough VMs to need more than 32GB?

 

[ethebubbeth]

But how many "average" users run enough VMs to need more than 32GB?

Almost none. However, it is an effective gate to keep RAM hungry enterprise systems from being built on cheaper platforms.

A Haswell E3 Xeon would actually have been ideal for me for performance in my NAS, because CIFS/SMB performance scales almost linearly with clockspeed, and is single threaded per user so having more cores wouldn't have really helped. However, the RAM limit kept me from using it for my build since ZFS is very RAM hungry. Instead I went with a G34 Abu Dhabi Opteron since it was significantly cheaper than a socket 2011 E5 Xeon setup.

 

[Infraction Jack]

There are several fm2/2+ boards that support 64 gigs of ram, also several micro server intel boards that do also.

 

[lamedude]

Couldn't or didn't bother to validate would be my guess.

 

[BrightCandle]

Back with Windows 95 16MB was a tonne of memory, and honestly Windows 8 doesn't look that dramatically different, not 1000x times the memory different. But everytime we get a jump in memory we find ways to use it to bring more performance. Intel and such don't put more address lines than they need on the CPUs as it adds cost for something that no one will use. Part of the extra cost of the Xeon's CPUs goes into those extra memory lines and cache to support it.

 

[mikeymikec]

Windows 8 and Windows 95 are extremely different. Completely different kernel for starters. The only similarity I can think of is due to DirectX compatibility and Win32 compatibility. But compatibility != similarity.

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As for "32GB isn't much" and the "average user", there's a reason why most current mainstream systems have 4GB RAM. In my experience (Win7 or Win8 64-bit), it leaves almost 3GB RAM available for the user. I'm sure that will change in time as it did with Windows XP (the minimum recommended RAM going from 512MB to 1GB because of third party program requirements and to some extent evolving user needs).

With TB and Pale Moon running, I'm using 1.5GB physical RAM on Win7 64 atm (using Process Explorer's 'Physical memory' graph to determine this).

 

[BFG10K]

Get a X79 system or Xeon if you need more than 32GB... More than 32GB usage is not the average customer the 'consumer' line targets.

That's pretty much my line of thinking too.

 

[TerryMathews]

Girlfriend swears by the Logitech Trackman Marble+ trackball for Everquest on our home system. I personally like the optical mice better, but I guess it's up to your own personal opinion.

Same reason any makes any limitations: $$$

 

[Doomer]

I had 32gb in my main rig but soon realized I wasn't even utilizing 16gb so I took half out and put it in another system. No difference noticed.

 

[mikeymikec]

I've thought about upgrading mine to 8GB (I've noticed that SC2 is quite demanding on memory and I wonder whether Windows is taking action because memory is low), but again I wonder whether I'd notice.

 

[biostud]

Because if you need more, you'll need to pay Intel more (Xeon)

 

[Zeldak]

To answer OP's initial question, typically it's been a combination of OS and hardware imposing RAM (as well as hard drive size) limitations. Different versions of Windows 7 are capable of addressing different amounts of memory. The hardware obviously has to allow for it as well. Motherboard manufacturers have sort of kept up with average memory use, but there's little incentive for them to provide for maximum memory when most people install a fraction of that.Windows 7 Pro 64 bit can use up to 192Gb RAM. 32-bit Windows Home can only use 4Gb, I believe. Windows service pack releases have historically changed OS limits at times.

 

[tweakboy]

THe prices of RAM have skyrocketed to more then what they were 1 year and then some,, gl