# There is talk online of getting 48GB working on x58 motherboards (I7 9xx), hmmmm



## adg21 (Apr 9, 2012)

Has anyone here investigated this at all?

Is this a dangerous idea if they are not officially supported.

This is news to me, and would save a grand or so if it's true, (& celebration for that fact). Has this been common knowledge for a while? 

Does anyone with good knowledge of the PC tech scene have any opinions on this?


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## José Herring (Apr 9, 2012)

You would have to find out if your motherboard either officially or unofficial will run using 8 gig ram sticks.

Personally I would just put the money on a new build. The first gen i7 are still great chips, but they're getting long in the tooth for computer years.


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## chimuelo (Apr 9, 2012)

Intel is doing some interesting stuff for older chipsets and mobo tweaks, so al least that's good to know they aren't sitting on their laurels.
As a matter of fact without market competition from AMD, Intel wouldn't even be bothering with such considerate moves, and the prices would be Governmental...

But I would jump on something newer like the X79 if RAM is the big deal.
But only because it hold more and runs stable, the improvement factor still hasn't been proven with lower latency or faster top end speeds.

But on the newest Z77 chipset, Asus has learned to change the way Dual Channel RAM works, and instead of running 4 x DIMMs in serial, they are sending out data streams in parallel. It actually shocked Intel.
This means they are actually sending 4 channels of data. Just a rumor on their latest mobo for the Ivy Bridge, but these guys are always giving gamers a woody, so I tend to believe this new tweak.

So there's lots to get excited about with some new gear this year.
No reason to stop using the i7 you got though.
8GB sticks are damn cheap and stable if you use Samsung and stay away from the " Brand " names.
They Overclock the RAM in the SPD< throw on some colorful fins and ask twice the price.
Much cheaper buying Copper Cooling sheaths for 10 bucks, then overclocking the RAM and CPU to find your sweet spot.

Voltage on 48GB's will definately not work at 1600, and might even need 1.5v @ 1066, but that is what MacPros run at so there Ya' go.

Have fun though, as upgrades and new hardware get me more excited than another Sampled Piano ot Tympani...


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## adg21 (Apr 9, 2012)

Great thanks for the posts. The last thing I want to do is make my system unstable in any way as it's been rock solid and i wouldn't want to compromise that.

I may ask Scan PCs advice (who built it for me) and see what they think of 48GB.

A year in computer tech is a lightyear in most other developments, but actually buying a 980 with 24GB when realistically 64GB ready systems came out 6 months later is unusually annoying. That _really_ will hold all I need for quite a while (not in an over the top / I want everything in the world in my template way, it's pretty good estimate for using EastWest stuff + a bit of variety - and doesn't help that I don't always think the Main Mics alone sound the best. In fact rarely. Anyway.) I _have_ come around to the fact that templates are great and effective if you know your DAW well enough and what you are doing (took a while), which is very bad news for my wallet. One thing I am glad of - I spent more on SSDs than the actual Build, which I can use on anything.

I expect I'll get a nominal amount for last years system on Ebay. Slightly off-topic: but for a system like this: Gigabyte UD3, 980, 24GB RAM would it be better to sell the system complete or parts separately? I have no interest in using a slave, so I would almost certainly sell it.


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## chimuelo (Apr 9, 2012)

I have so many slaves I ended giving a couple to my kid so he has 2 x Scope/FL Studio DAWs, and a super faster gaming box.
I can;t imagine being a kid in the early '70s what having that kind of power and connectivity to the Internet would have done to me....


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## Gusfmm (Apr 10, 2012)

My Intel DX58SO2 lists 48GB RAM in its specs. Since 8GB sticks became available and affordable rather recently, I only got 24GB back when, but it shouldn't be an issue.


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## Carillonac1 (May 9, 2012)

We've tested on our old X58 Gigabyte (UD5) and Asus (P9 PRO?) and 48GB works well, the Asus needed a little tweaking on the BIOS to get the RAM stable but once that was done it's rock solid.

This is 6x8GB 1333MHz. If you need the extra RAM on an older i7 system (and the 6 core 970/980 chips are still VERY powerful) then it's a lot cheaper then a whole new Sandybridge-E system.


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## Carillonac1 (May 9, 2012)

Oh and the Dual Xeon 1366 socket boards can do the same so 12x8GB for 96GB of RAM!


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## adg21 (Aug 6, 2012)

So I'm thinking of taking the plunge with 3 of these
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... ID=rewrite
2 comments below say they work with their x58 motherboards.

"Pros: 48GB of RAM working with my GIGABYTE X58A-UD3R.
This is twice as much as officially supported!"

"I bought 2 more sets, and replaced all 6. Now my system is 48GB machine! It's working fine without issues. "

Though I'd love to hear if anyone have any word of caution before I do? Thanks


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## devastat (Aug 6, 2012)

Let me know how it goes, I am very tempted to try that as well on my i920 EX58-UD5. Hopefully it won't increase the cpu temp much (i currently have 24gb).


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## Bunford (Aug 6, 2012)

I'd imagine this is more about unlocking the BIOS rather than hardware. Usually, if a motherboard has 6 RAM slots, each capable of accepting up to 8GB sticks, then you can stick 48GB in without damage to any component.

However, your motherboards BIOS will only allow it to detect what is set in their firmware, being 32GB. If some clever so-and-so were to manage to find the firmware elements that need to be tweaked and created their orn custom firmware, then hypothetically it is do-able I'd imagine.

I know the above is the case because of a previous Dell laptop I had a few years back. Dell told me (and the World) the specific laptop could only accept 2GB RAM and no Core 2 Duo processor. Upon investigation and research, I found a customised firmware and took the plung, bought the parts and installed. With the customer BIOS it recognised the full 4GB RAM and a Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2GHz chip (which is still in it as a general use laptop I have). There are zero errors. Out of interest, I reverted to Dell's official latest BIOS. True enough, it reported a CPU error and only saw 2GB RAM.

To me, this is pretty conclusive proof that manufacturers use their firmware to 'tie in' customers in a purchasing loop by locking down specs in the hope consumers will buy a new model instead of pursue via other means. If I'd have listened to Dell, I'd have bought a new £400 laptop. Instead, I bought parts off eBay for a total of £40 and downloaded a free customised firmware.


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## adg21 (Aug 7, 2012)

Thanks for your responses. My wish is to stick in the RAM in and do nothing but enjoy it. But if it comes to changing something in the BIOS or having to update some kind of firmware I'll just have to call someone in that knows more about computers than me. Thanks.


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## Bachemusic (Aug 7, 2012)

Hello,

First post but longtime reader of this wonderful forum.

I have the exact same board (X58A-UD3R) and just recently upgraded to 48GB with no problems at all. I had been running 32GB for some time now (Kind of a test to see if the UDR3 could run 8GB sticks and I also had a VE pro slave computer that could have taken the 32GB if things did not work out wiith the UDR3)

I have the version 2 of the board with the FF Bios. (not the latest Bios)

I'm using the Mushkin Enhanced Silverline DDR3 1333.

Hope this helps


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## devastat (Aug 7, 2012)

Bachemusic which processor do you have? According to the Intel site 24gb is the maximum that 920 (and all 9xx processors?) is supporting, but strangely enough it does seem that people have managed to get 48gb working on them.


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## Bachemusic (Aug 7, 2012)

The i7 930.

Also I forgot to mention that the only thing I had to do in the Bios was to change the multiplier in the memory setting so it matches with the 1333mhz frequency of the RAM because, for some reason, the board was detecting the memory at 1066 on auto mode even if it is rated at 1333mhz. 

Cheers


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## devastat (Aug 7, 2012)

Glad to hear its possible, will try to upgrade mine to 48gb as well.


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## chimuelo (Aug 7, 2012)

The i7 930 is also limited to 4.8GHz throughput, 6.4GBs is what the faster i7 chips will get you. 
I suggest grabbing a spare CPU for cheap and the extra RAM.
Get Slow RAM though. Rated at 1066 or 1333.
In the BIOS drop the DRAM voltage to 1.35v, and just work your way up until you get memory error or crash. THen take the voltage down, usually 1.5v ( default ) is what the memory controller likes.
This will give you odd CPU and RAM settings but stability is guaranteed on large RAM footprints.
My 930 was retired, but while I had it, my RAM speed was 1266MHZ and the CPU at 3.5Ghz. Worked really well and was using 14GBs out of 23GBs. Even though the OS says it will read more, the motherboards max out at 23GBs. as 1GB must be used for some swapping baloney, ???

Be Festive.


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## devastat (Sep 10, 2012)

Ok, I can confirm this - installed 48GB RAM on my i7 920 (Gigabyte EX58-UD5) today. Bought 6 x 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1333mhz.

It is working fine! Windows recognises all the RAM and if anything, everything is working a bit snappier than before. I'm really happy as I don't have to spend money on a slave machine for a while.


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## adg21 (Sep 10, 2012)

Great stuff! I still haven't gotten round to it. Have you tested it with EastWest stuff / filled the RAM to the brink and tried stressing it out for a few days?


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## devastat (Sep 10, 2012)

Not yet as I just installed the RAM and my current template is only 20GB - but I ran the memory diagnostics and everything seems to be working smoothly. I'll update this thread if any problems occur at any point.


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## adg21 (Sep 10, 2012)

Sounds good. If you can remember you should report back after a good burn in too...


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## devastat (Sep 10, 2012)

I was also happy to see that there is no increase in CPU temp (my i7 is overclocked quite heavily) even the RAM has doubled.


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