Does the Core 2 Quad have a maximum amount of supported memory?

[EquineHero]

On Intel's ARK page there's no specification for maximum supported memory on the Core 2 Quad Q9400. I'm adding 2x2GB to my existing 6GB 2-1-2-1 layout and removing the 2x1 sticks, but I have quad channel so I wanted to go with 16GB because having the Fallout 4 creation kit and Fallout 4 running at the same time (I'm a modder) on only 8GB is near impossible. I looked at the Dell website for my motherboard and it said that my machine came with up to 8GB but it doesn't specify the macimum amount of supported memory. I understand that I can upgrade my motherboard but I can't find a cheap LGA 775 motherboard with quad channel DDR3 specifically on Amazon.

 

[Herc08]

Well what type of motherboard do you have? And what type of RAM does it deliver?

 

[EquineHero]

I've got an OEM Dell board and I have 6GB of DDR2 at 800MHz.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

The limitations will be with the motherboard and OS. The memory controller was still on the motherboards with Core2. Also DDR3 will not make your system faster. DDR3 was only added to Core 2 late in its life cycle because it was becoming the new standard. Core 2 couldn't make use of the faster speeds. Meaning if you bench it with DDR2 it's the same as with DDR3.

No such a thing as quad channel with Core2. Triple channel came about with LGA 1366 and quad channel didn't become possible until LGA 2011. You have a dual channel board with two channels, A and B.

I can't imagine playing Fallout 4 with a system that old much less trying to create mods for it. The best thing you can do is spend no money on obsolete tech and save what you would have spent on this for a new system. An i3 6100 with 16GB of DDR4 and a cheap board is a little over $200 and would run circles around that Core 2.

 

[Herc08]

The limitations will be with the motherboard and OS. The memory controller was still on the motherboards with Core2.

No such a thing as quad channel with Core2. Triple channel came about with LGA 1366 and quad channel didn't become possible until LGA 2011. You have a dual channel board with two channels, A and B.

I can't imagine playing Fallout 4 with a system that old much less trying to create mods for it. The best thing you can do is spend no money on obsolete tech and save what you would have spent on this for a new system. An i3 6100 with 16GB of DDR4 and a cheap board is a little over $200 and would run circles around that Core 2.

This I agree with. When I saw that the CPU had DDR2 support, it let me know that it's a bit too old. Getting the i3 with a H110 motherboard will probably do you just. Throw in a pair of 8GB sticks, and you should be fine.

 

[EquineHero]

I play Fallout 4 at an average of 90FPS, and Skyrim is a joke for this machine. It's got a GTX 460 SC I've got some benchmarks on my YouTube channel, but even though it's a Q9400 and DDR2, it's still a nippy machine. I have almost no money (I have round $100 to spend right now) so I'm doing what I can with what I have.

 

[Herc08]

I play Fallout 4 at an average of 90FPS, and Skyrim is a joke for this machine. It's got a GTX 460 SC I've got some benchmarks on my YouTube channel, but even though it's a Q9400 and DDR2, it's still a nippy machine. I have almost no money (I have round $100 to spend right now) so I'm doing what I can with what I have.

I get that, as everyone has limits. But my question is, how did you find DDR2? Ebay? But to answer your question, it should detect it. I am assuming you have 64-bit if Windows reads 6GB.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

It's all about acceptable settings. Skyrim with 50+ mods and an ENB gives me ~60 FPS at 1440p. Fallout 4 with max settings including godrays also gives me ~60 FPS. Dips to the upper 50s in both games. In the case of Skyrim that's more the limitations of the engine than my system ( 6700K at 4.6Ghz, 16GB DDR4 3200 and a 980 Ti ). Fallout 4 is quite demanding though. It also likes fast memory. It's one of the few games to respond to memory speed.

 

[EquineHero]

I run Fallout 4 at 1600x900 and Ultra textures, with AA and AF off, plus Medium shadows and everything loading on Far, and Medium godrays.
I have Windows 7 Professional 64bit, 6GB of non-ecc DDR2, a 240GB SSD for Windows, a 500GB 7200RPM for games, (loading time doesnt bother me, at most 30 seconds), and a 160GB 7200RPM specifically for FRAPS. The GTX 460 is overclocked quite a bit, and is stable and I run at 1600x900 on a 32 inch monitor. I pulled the machine out of a dumpster and at the time it didn't have any HDDS and it only had a 300w PSU, now the one it's got is 700W. Honestly it just needs more RAM and maybe a Q9650. Speaking of, what is the fastest LGA 775 non-X edition processor, the 9650? I use Passmark, so if you can post the Passmark average score.
Also, I found the DDR2 on Amazon.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

The CPU on your Dell OEM board will not be upgradeable. At most it will support 2 or 3 specific CPUs right at the Q9400 level. The only way to know for sure is to either contact Dell directly or hunt down the datasheet and that can be impossible. Even if the chipset 'officially' supports an entire generation of CPUs the BIOS will not as they will be system specific.

A $200 i3 system still beats a Q9650 in every metric.

 

[EquineHero]

I know, but I'm using the old parts to build an inexpensive machine for someone else in the process of making this rig better.