Question Adding more memory than manufacturer support. HP Pavilion elite m9520

[cocopuf975]

Question, my old computer says that it supports 8GB of Memory. At the time I do not believe that 4 GB sticks were available (in general). The computer has an available 4 slots. Can I upgrade and push the motherboard to 12 or 16 by using 4GB sticks? Just curious.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

It may work, but likely the BIOS will not detect over 8gb.

 

[cocopuf975]

It may work, but likely the BIOS will not detect over 8gb.

Even if I have upgraded to Windows 10?

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Even if I have upgraded to Windows 10?

Windows has nothing to do with it. The motherboard is not programmed to recognize over 8gb, so it is very unlikely it will work with 16gb ram. Why do you want 16gb ram anyhow? It is unlikely to be very beneficial over 8gb with a system that old.

Spoiler: HP memory upgrade specs

• Dual channel memory architecture
• Four 240-pin DDR2 DIMM sockets
• Supported DIMM types:
  • PC2-5300 (667 MHz)
  • PC2-6400 (800 MHz)
• Non-ECC memory only, unbuffered
• Supports 2GB DDR2 DIMMs
• Supports up to 8 GB on 64 bit PCs
• Supports up to 4 GB* on 32 bit PCs

*32-bit operating systems cannot address a full 4.0 GB of memory.

 

[cocopuf975]

Windows has nothing to do with it. The motherboard is not programmed to recognize over 8gb, so it is very unlikely it will work with 16gb ram. Why do you want 16gb ram anyhow? It is unlikely to be very beneficial over 8gb with a system that old.

Spoiler: HP memory upgrade specs

• Dual channel memory architecture
• Four 240-pin DDR2 DIMM sockets
• Supported DIMM types:
  • PC2-5300 (667 MHz)
  • PC2-6400 (800 MHz)
• Non-ECC memory only, unbuffered
• Supports 2GB DDR2 DIMMs
• Supports up to 8 GB on 64 bit PCs
• Supports up to 4 GB* on 32 bit PCs

*32-bit operating systems cannot address a full 4.0 GB of memory.

Indeed. Thanks for the info. Yes, I was just curious. I was just trying to do a cost effective upgrade to this older system. I for example have a fresh install of Win 10, new SSD, and a 1030 graphics card (best single slot I could find). Going to buy a new system. Just wanted to push this one to its greatest upgrade capacity.

 

[Wolfshadw]

If you can get an excellent return policy, there's no harm in trying. Otherwise, I'd probably take the whole thing over to a local computer store and see if they could help test it out.

-Wolf sends

 

[NightHawkRMX]

If you can get an excellent return policy, there's no harm in trying. Otherwise, I'd probably take the whole thing over to a local computer store and see if they could help test it out.

-Wolf sends

I second this thought process.

You could buy 16gb and see if it works. If not, return it.

I would also try to update the bios to the latest version first in case they did improve ram support or maximum capacity.

 

[kerberos_20]

memory support is limited by memory controller
your mainboard has support for 2GB dimms, so only 8GB
it wont be able to adress more, its not bios limitation

 

[BFG-9000]

The G33 chipset itself only supports 8GB so it is highly unlikely to work. Furthermore, 4GB sticks of DDR2 have always been ridiculously expensive.

The only time this works is when the chipset supports more than the system manufacturer has qualified the BIOS for. I had a G965 laptop (2 slots) which Dell claimed only supported 4GB, while Intel said the chipset supported 8GB. I tried every combination of brands of two 4GB sticks at a store and none would boot, but my original 2GB stick plus any one 4GB stick worked fine.