Asus G50 - 8gb ram??

Hey there,

I am just wondering if anyone is running with 8gb of ram in their G50?
I need a lot of memory for Vmware and am looking for something that can not only install 8gb but address at least 6.8gb as well

Will give all of the usual 64bit suspects a run before deciding on what to use: 24XP, Vista, server 2008, *nix variants
If anyone has any feedback that would be cool.

thanks

Z

 

The G50 has the PM45 Express chipset, so it can theoretically handle 8GB in the right densities. Here is a spec sheet (page 59) that you can reference when shopping for memory modules to get the compatible density. Keep in mind the G50 supports only 800MHz.

http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/datasheet/320122.pdf#page=59

Edit: I forgot an important point the G50 can only handle DDR2

 

Does G50 recognize all 8GB RAM?

 

No, chipset limits to around 6.8GB.

 

If it's the same PM45 chipset as Dell has lol witch it should be then yes all 8GB will be seen I had the M4400 with 8GB and it was all there and not 6.8 unless ASUS block's part of it.

 

The PM/GM45 can address upto 16GB, so 8GB shouldn't be a problem.

 

FWIW, one of the main reasons I went with the G71G was for the 3 memory slots (and out of the box 6GB) for dev work with a bunch of vmware images. If 6GB is close enough then you could do it pretty cheaply or get up to 8GB by just upgrading one of the slots.

I'm hopeful (but not betting on it) that when 4GB modules actually get a lot cheaper I'll be able to move up to 12GB since it has the extra slot. It also uses the PM45 chipset.

Granted, at 17" it's a fair bit bigger than the G50 but the extra memory slot and higher res screen make a pretty big difference for the dev work I do with multiple vm's running.

 

But the question still is, does the DDR2 version support 8-12GB?

EDIT: 8GB most supported.

 

Yes it does. The memory controller in the 45-series chipset supports upto 4 connectors, and can address upto 16GB.

 

Any risk of the BIOS not supporting it? Only reason I asked is that in the spec sheets they list 6GB installed and 8GB max (for the G71G) so I'm confident 8GB will work fine but 12GB is less clear.

 

I cannot say about BIOS Support. Manufacturers have the spec sheets based upon the info given in the Intel Datasheets, which are get out-dated, with the release of new hardware.

Usually the mobile chipsets have various features in-common to their desktop counterparts, for eg. the MCH (memory controller). Since the G/P45 supports upto 4 Connectors and can address upto 16GB, the same should apply for the GM/PM45.

 

sorry to bring this thread back from the dead, but i quoted the ram capability with the chipset pm45, which states it will handle dd2 and ddr3 rams.

" • Supports DDR2 and DDR3 SDRAM
• Support for DDR2 at 667 MHz and 800 MHz
• Support for DDR3 at 667, 800 and 1066 MHz
• One SO-DIMM connector (or memory module) per channel
• Two Memory Channel Configurations supported
— Dual-channel Symmetric (with Interleaved access)
— Dual-channel Asymmetric (with or without Intel® Flex Memory Technology)
• 8-GB maximum memory support
• 64-bit wide per channel
• 256-Mb, 512-Mb, 1-Gb, and 2-Gb memory technologies supported
• Support for x8 and x16 DDR2 and DDR3 devices
• Support for DDR2/DDR3 On-Die Termination (ODT)
• Supports partial writes to memory using data mask signals (DM)
• No support for Fast Chip Select mode
• No support for ECC
• No support for 1N operation"

 

Yep, but the G50 doesn't support it...

 

I heard something similar about the Asus F3 series like I got, supposed to be able to support 4GB RAM but Bios limits it... No update available to increase capacity.
So while it may be technical possible, it does depend on Asus...

 

Nobody has confirmed that 8GB is possible. I quoted the intel whitepaper because it was all there was.

Now, concerning DDR3, that is a separate issue, and will never ever work. BIOS update/limitation or not. It is a hardware limitation.

 

Bang on the money

 

The PM45 will address upto 16GB. But will the BIOS support 4GB/8GB modules is unknown. Its upto ASUS if they wanna keep the end-users happy.

And DDR2/DDR3 modules are kinda motherboard specific. Each needs a different connector.