News MSI brings 256GB RAM support on Intel and AMD motherboards

[Admin]

MSI deploys new firmware for Intel 700- and 600-series motherboards to support up to 256GB of memory.

MSI brings 256GB RAM support on Intel and AMD motherboards : Read more

 

[thisisaname]

When you four slots with 256GB is it likely to result in have to run it slower than if you filled 2 slots with 128GB?

256GB more than I am ever going to need but it does not stop me thinking maybe for my next build

 

[hotaru251]

When you four slots with 256GB is it likely to result in have to run it slower than if you filled 2 slots with 128GB?

yes the more sticks you have the more stress on controller & fix is running them slower speeds. (how much slower ofc varies)

 

[usertests]

When you four slots with 256GB is it likely to result in have to run it slower than if you filled 2 slots with 128GB?

256GB more than I am ever going to need but it does not stop me thinking maybe for my next build

I might never use more than 2 DIMMs again. We can have 96 GB in that situation now, 128 GB soon. Good enough for me.

Looking at one of Samsung's roadmaps, it looks like 64 GB UDIMMs are the end of the line for consumer DDR5, but DDR6 will bring at least 96 GB modules using 48 Gb dies, and I assume 128 GB. It remains to be seen if traditional DIMMs will be in use after that generation.

If consumers get quad-channel APUs, then I'll take another look at using 4 DIMMs.

 

[TechLurker]

Now that consumer boards can push close to basic prosumer levels of RAM, I'd like for Intel and AMD to get off their butts and increase PCIe slot counts in the consumer lineup again too. Like during the dual-triple-quad SLI/X-Fire days. Mainly to be able to run at least a second x16 slot for either a 2nd GPU (used for AI or whatever), a capture card (capturing 4k/8k/More-k), a networking card, or an x16 NVMe drive.

 

[thestryker]

I might never use more than 2 DIMMs again. We can have 96 GB in that situation now, 128 GB soon. Good enough for me.

Yeah if you want high speed DDR5 you're really limited to 1DPC or crossing your fingers that you got a great memory controller. The way things have gone I'd like to see a broader range of 1DPC motherboard choices.

If consumers get quad-channel APUs, then I'll take another look at using 4 DIMMs.

Unfortunately I'd be surprised if Intel and/or AMD went this route for socketable CPUs. I think if it happens it will be laptop CPUs and likely with soldered DRAM (or potentially CAMM, but not SODIMMs).

Now that consumer boards can push close to basic prosumer levels of RAM, I'd like for Intel and AMD to get off their butts and increase PCIe slot counts in the consumer lineup again too. Like during the dual-triple-quad SLI/X-Fire days. Mainly to be able to run at least a second x16 slot for either a 2nd GPU (used for AI or whatever), a capture card (capturing 4k/8k/More-k), a networking card, or an x16 NVMe drive.

Outside of HEDT consumer CPUs have always been quite limited with regards to PCIe. The thing that changed is Broadcom bought PLX Technology and jacked up the prices on PLX chips. While PCIe switches don't solve the problem of limited bandwidth they did allow for more slots.

 

[hotaru251]

I might never use more than 2 DIMMs again.

never is a strong word

if Quad channel becomes norm theres benefit to running 4 sticks.

 

[newtechldtech]

Now that consumer boards can push close to basic prosumer levels of RAM, I'd like for Intel and AMD to get off their butts and increase PCIe slot counts in the consumer lineup again too. Like during the dual-triple-quad SLI/X-Fire days. Mainly to be able to run at least a second x16 slot for either a 2nd GPU (used for AI or whatever), a capture card (capturing 4k/8k/More-k), a networking card, or an x16 NVMe drive.

What again? it is the same lanes numbers ... and the extra x16 slots are only mechanical .. in old times if you wanted true x16 more slots you are not on a consumer level anymore but very high end HEDT systems with more lanes. and this never stopped for AMD , you can choose Threadrippers for tons of lanes and tons of slots.

 

[usertests]

never is a strong word

if Quad channel becomes norm theres benefit to running 4 sticks.

I said that in the post. Maybe Strix Halo or something will support regular DIMM slots to get to quad-channel and not just LPDDR5(X). Maybe we'll see stacked CAMMs getting to quad-channel. Maybe normal/prosumer CPUs (not Threadripper/Xeon) will support quad-channel. But it's a lot of maybes right now.

 

[Notton]

Yeah, I would love to see more than dual channel RAM for consumer again.
Like that weird Intel triple channel i7-900.

 

[mac_angel]

"More RAM than Chrome can chew on."
Yea, I can just see the Chrome programmers going, "hold my beer"

 

[mac_angel]

When you four slots with 256GB is it likely to result in have to run it slower than if you filled 2 slots with 128GB?

256GB more than I am ever going to need but it does not stop me thinking maybe for my next build

No, your system will not run slower.
Larger Memory sticks will not come clocked as fast as the smaller ones. The ones interested in faster RAM are mostly gamers, and they will never need that much RAM to play games with. The ones interested in that much RAM are the ones using programs that utilize a lot of RAM (3D rendering, video editing, etc), and RAM speed is less important than having more.
System wise, there would be no difference.

 

[rluker5]

yes the more sticks you have the more stress on controller & fix is running them slower speeds. (how much slower ofc varies)

Also dual rank is harder on your controller than single rank.

 

[HopefulToad]

Nobody needs 256 GB of RAM in a personal home computer.

640K ought to be enough for anybody.

 

[thisisaname]

No, your system will not run slower.
Larger Memory sticks will not come clocked as fast as the smaller ones. The ones interested in faster RAM are mostly gamers, and they will never need that much RAM to play games with. The ones interested in that much RAM are the ones using programs that utilize a lot of RAM (3D rendering, video editing, etc), and RAM speed is less important than having more.
System wise, there would be no difference.

Never is a long time and it was not that long along when 640K was enough to play games

 

[35below0]

Never is a long time and it was not that long along when 640K was enough to play games

The games being Alley cat and Dangerous dave. Those days have come and gone, and come and gone again. Eventually 256Gb will be justified, we're just not there yet. Maybe Alan Wake IV? Or another Crysis?

I installed 64Gb of ram in a new pc i built this year. Many would say that is 2 to 4 times too much. By the time enthusiasts start filling up 256 Gb and more, average PCs will have around 64Gb and 32 will be seen as too little.
A little bit like how 1080p monitors today are seen as maybe too low res, even if 1440p requires a lot more power to use fully and appreciate the difference.

I wouldn't jump on these boards just yet but it seems like a natural time for some manufacturer to pull the trigger on 256Gb support.

 

[The TrippyHippie]

If you mess around with stabble diffusion when optimizing say a 4-6GB model with ONNX I have seen it use over 43gig system ram out of the 64gig my sytem has well thats why I upgrade from 32GB to 64GB but really want to upgrade to 128GB so I can play around with some of the still small but bigger models and can also run GPT4All at the same time.

for those of you who dont know GPT4All is a free easy to install windows download, so you can download chat gpt models and run them locally on your pc so once you install it you can run the models offline, had some funny chats with Orca 2 model worth a play around with if you never messed around with Chat GPT and its free, trying to convince Orca 2 model it wast in the cloud anymore and was being hosted locally on my PC was funny as heck lol

link here if anyone interested in playing around with it loads of different models to play around with like Orc 2, Falcon etc.

Edit : I just add these model can help you with coding read files all types of things, but as with chat GPT models they can give you some wrong info, to get the best out of these models you really have to put in quite some detail in your questions to get an answer that probs correct, look at it like the more informataion you give it on a question, the more the points of infomation it has to search through to try and find the answer

or you can simply chat to them I got a very detailed break down from ORCA 2 on how it would control humanity if humans ever tried to stop it from supplying a qualitiy service LOL!

including how it would create ploy morphic malware to bypass firewalls, use sociacl media to start smear compains agaist anyone trying to stop it supplying a quality service (lmfao bit extreme) but it went in to much more details lol

even supplying code sample of it's malware PMSL WTHF? how it would use the cloud to control everything and would do it in a way that humans wouldnt realise they where being controlled by AI including the politicians lol

you have to ask it in a round about way to get it to chat to you in that manner but make an awesome insight in to AI

https://gpt4all.io/index.html

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

Could make for an interesting "poor man's alternative" to HEDT. 16 cores and 256GB RAM is no slouch, though you do sacrifice the up to 8 channel memory controller in HEDT so bandwidth dependent prosumer and professional applications will suffer.

 

[The TrippyHippie]

Could make for an interesting "poor man's alternative" to HEDT. 16 cores and 256GB RAM is no slouch, though you do sacrifice the up to 8 channel memory controller in HEDT so bandwidth dependent prosumer and professional applications will suffer.

I think memory controller bandwidth is a limiting factor with 12 -16 cores and only 2 channels in memory heavy workloads with multi cpu tasks competing on bandwidth load but 256 gig is a nice amount for the home user to play around with depending on there use case, that is if they have deep enough pockets

 

[mac_angel]

Never is a long time and it was not that long along when 640K was enough to play games

lol, yes, but if you're talking about a gaming system needing more RAM, by the time the games that need that kind of RAM, I'm pretty sure this generation of CPU/motherboard isn't going to cut it.

 

[The TrippyHippie]

lol, yes, but if you're talking about a gaming system needing more RAM, by the time the games that need that kind of RAM, I'm pretty sure this generation of CPU/motherboard isn't going to cut it.

There are few games I have seen on steam that say 32gig recomended (couple of them are VR games) but it's gpu and vram the big games demand not so much the system ram, so I'd guess for most games if not all new games coming even next gen 32gig system Ram will be more than enough for quite a few years to come but as for graphics cards? who knows that will most likey depend how much vram the next gen consoles bring to the table?

 

[thisisaname]

The games being Alley cat and Dangerous dave. Those days have come and gone, and come and gone again. Eventually 256Gb will be justified, we're just not there yet. Maybe Alan Wake IV? Or another Crysis?

I installed 64Gb of ram in a new pc i built this year. Many would say that is 2 to 4 times too much. By the time enthusiasts start filling up 256 Gb and more, average PCs will have around 64Gb and 32 will be seen as too little.
A little bit like how 1080p monitors today are seen as maybe too low res, even if 1440p requires a lot more power to use fully and appreciate the difference.

I wouldn't jump on these boards just yet but it seems like a natural time for some manufacturer to pull the trigger on 256Gb support.

Do I need it no, do I want it maybe