How can you determine the max amount of memory a motherboard can handle? I've upgraded an old computer from 512MB of ram to 1GB of ram because the manufacter said that was the max amount. Now my old computer is running a little sluggish and I would like to upgrade again. I ran Lavalys' Everest and it says my motherboard can support up to 2GB or ram. How can I determine which one is right?
What motherboard is it? You would go by what the manufacturer says is the max. You have two maximums when it comes to memory. One is the maximum size memory for each memory slot then there is the max memory the board can address.
It's an old Asus P4G533-LA. I see what you're saying. A 32-bit machine (2^32) supports < 4GB vs A 64-bit machine (2^64) can support < 16 Exabyte. But how do you determine how much each slot supports?
I never trust the manfacturer's specs. Many times I have put more in and it has been recognized, Often these manufacturer's specs are based on the "approved" memory modules and those are usually decided when the board is designed.. I would look at the chipset specs... My Inspiron 6400 for example has a manufacturer's max of 2x1Mb, I have had 3.25 Gb installed for a couple years now (2x2Gb installed, 3.25 Gb actual chipset max). I have also seen that with desktop boards as well, I have seen many that were spec'd in the XP days and been labeled as a max of 3.5 Gb or 4 Gb when the actual max is much higher if using 64 bit OS.. I bet that tool from crucial is much more reliable... update, tried the crucial tool, it relies on manufacturer's spec! pos, I have 3.25 Gb used memory, crucial says I am maxed at 2 Gb! I bet the chipset specs are much more reliable!
Max memory is determined by the chipset used on the old type processors that use external Northbridge. For new ones that have Northbridge on processor like i7 and higher and Athlon x64 and higher it will have a max for the memory controller on processor.