Does my motherboard support 8gb of ram?

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ioanniskappes

Nov 30, 2018
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Hi. I have got a GA-945GM-S2 (rev. 3.x) motherboard. The Gigabyte site says that it only supports 4gb of ram but I found the product at cnet and it says that it supports 8gb of ram. I want to upgrade to 8gb but i don't know if it will work. If 8gb isn't supported would there be a way of working around the problem?
P.S. I have update to the lastest BIOS.
 
Solution
Dark Lord of Tech
https://www.memorystock.com/memory/GigabyteTechnologyGA945GMS2rev3x.html

4 DDR II DIMM memory slots (supports up to 4GB memory)
Supports 1.8V DDR II DIMM
Supports dual channel DDR II 667/533/400 DIMM

4GB is officially supported: That is your limit.
GA-945GM-S2 (rev. 3.x)
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https://www.memorystock.com/memory/GigabyteTechnologyGA945GMS2rev3x.html

4 DDR II DIMM memory slots (supports up to 4GB memory)
Supports 1.8V DDR II DIMM
Supports dual channel DDR II 667/533/400 DIMM

4GB is officially supported: That is your limit.
GA-945GM-S2 (rev. 3.x)
 
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Solution
When you do install more One of two things generally happens. The memory works, but is limited to the maximum amount supported by the motherboard, or the memory doesn't work at all.

On every motherboard, there is a controller for accessing the RAM. The limiting factor is how much memory can be accessed (or addressed) by that memory controller. Theoretically, a 64-bit CPU can access 2^64 bytes of RAM. For practical reasons, however, the number of addresses lines actually etched into a motherboard is much smaller, and the controller is created to be able to access up to a specific number of addresses. It can address fewer memory locations just fine as well. That determines the range and maximum amount of memory.

So when memory is installed with more addressable bytes than the controller understands, the best outcome is that only the lower portion of the RAM is used. However, because of the way memory is constructed, it's also possible that the larger memory won't work at all.

Edit: If you g above the motherboards supported RAM.
 
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I doubt it. I’d suggest upgrading to a cheaper processor with a new motherboard (about $150 total, depends on the processor and board you choose).
 
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Thank you for your answers. However, @ebosss03 at the start you said that max supported is 8GB. DO you think I should go for it? Considering that I can find DDR2 4gb ram sticks pretty cheap nowadays...
 
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Thank you for your answer. I am asking because I am already upgrading cpu with 40 pounds and buying a new graphics card with 80 pounds which already brings me up to 120. It is a really old PC but with this config I will get to run almost anything but 4gb of ram I think is not ideal. I don't want to change the motherboard because I might as well build a new pc from scratch.
P.S. It is not my primary PC so I am just exploring how good I can make it after 14 years of having it...
 
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You are pretty clear. Thanks. I was just wondering why I found another site saying that it actually supports 8GB and not only 4GB.
 
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One more question. Considering that I am going to get an Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q9650 and most probably an AMD RX550, would there be a bottleneck with only 4GB of ram? Would such an upgrade be worth it?
 
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Sites have errors , but when Gigabyte , Crucial and Memory Stock say 4GB , that's conclusive to me.
 
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