Maximum RAM allowed in a G41 Express Chipset.

[Davjwx]

Hey guys, long time lurker first time poster with a question I hope you can help with.

I have an HP Pavilion Slimline S5-1020 with the 8600 processor and G41 express chipset.

Rather than spend $500 on a new tower I'm planning on upgrading the processor and maxing out the RAM. However, from what I can dig up I have almost no options. Intel says I can have a max DDR3 of 4gb which is already installed, or swap it out for 8gb of DDR2.

I do a mix of gaming and graphic design (Photoshop, After Effects) so I don't want to swap out my DDR3 for the 2 if it's worse. And I'm using Windows 7 64bit so it should be able to utilize more than 4gb of RAM. So my questions to you guys are:

What would happen if I placed more than 4gbs of DDR3 in it?

Would 8gb of DDR2 perform better?

And what would happen if I used a stick of both?

Sorry if these seem like stupid questions, I'm more of a software expert than hardware.

Thanks!

David

 

[Tradesman1]

4GB is the max according the HP web site

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02866366

 

[Davjwx]

4GB is the max according the HP web site

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02866366

I'm aware of that, but shouldn't the DDR2 be limited to 4gb too? Seems that if it will accept 8gb or DDR2 it should accept DDR3.

David

 

[Tradesman1]

It depends on how they put the mobo out, with Hybrid mobos that run either DDR2 or DDR3 some allowed for up to say 8GB of 2 and only 4GB of 3 or vice versa, there were a few that allowed 16GB of 2 and 8 GB of 3 - those that used this in prebuilts normally did it on the cheap

 

[Davjwx]

OK, after a little more digging I found this, not sure how reliable it is.

http://www.findlaptopdriver.com/h-i41-uatx-eton-motherboard-specs-005h715/

This says it will support 8gb of DDR3. ???