16 Gig on an Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM ... How's that work?

I am looking for a new laptop, and got the following suggestion:

MSI GT680R-008US MSI Gaming Laptop

I see that they offer 1 16 gig option, but when I look at the intel FAQs for the 2630QM

Intel® Core? i7-2620M Processor (4M Cache, 2.70 GHz)with SPEC Code(s)SR03F, SR041


It indicates 8 Gig max.

Can someone educate me as to what I am missing?

 

The i7 2620M and i7 2630QM are two different CPUs

Here is the link to the smallest CPU in the MSI GT680R.

The i7 2630QM is the smallest CPU in the Apple Macbook Pro 15. And there are some confirmations that 16gb do work in that computer too.

My guess is that Intel does not officially support this but also does not limit the CPU to not use 16gb. With support from the bios and mainboard it can work.

 

The way I understand it, those memory specs are per channel. So 2 channels x 8GB.

Based on the Clevo / Sager models that support 4 slots of RAM, that they do run 16GB RAM. I am running it currently. But it also depends on the BIOS and chipset support for it.

 

Values like that on the Intel ark seem to not be updated very often, for whatever reason. For example, the old 1st generation Clarksfield (quad-core) i7s are also listed as being capable of only 8 GB of memory, when there are systems shipping with 32 GB... and can use all 32.

 

Intel's just got inaccuracies in some of their Ark Info. Core 2 Duo could only take 8GB but ppl with Asus G71/G72 had 12GB in 3 slots.. For the i7 series , 16-32GB is no problem. Question is are you going to use it?

 

TBH you would probably know if you need more than 8gb, if you are unsure then 4-8gb is going to be plenty.

 

8GB per channel. So if it were quad core you'd be able to max out at 32GB.

 

No, 8GB per channel as in memory controller = 2.

 

yep exactly that, refer to the tech docs of the mobile chips for more info

 

As far as I know, as the others have stated, even quad cores only have 2 channels (it's the desktop Bloomfields that had 3). As the others have also stated, I think the ark just happens to be wrong. And for the most part, it's not as if most people really notice.

 

So what if there are only 2 channels?
The RAM limit is predominantly determined by the chipset and manufacturers BIOS, not the cpu.
If there are 16GB RAM chips for example and your chipset supports 32GB (along with the BIOS), then simply plug in 2x16GB and run Win 7 x64.
Case closed.

 

Except that in the core-i series, it depends on the CPU and not the chipset, because the memory controller (that used to be in the chipset) now resides in the CPU. BIOS limits still remain, of course.

 

I don't think BIOS limits are that much of an issue now as it was the case with older 945 chipsets etc. However , whatever the case , question is what you need? 16GB is pretty cheap and 32 is just absurdly priced.

 

Hi, I recently bought an DELL XPS with 2630QM, does somebody have any experience of upgrading this laptop to 16GB?

 

I recently bought an Acer AS 8950G that has a max of 16 GB but came with 8GB. If i open it up I see 4 slots of 2 GB memory chips. I haven't seen any 8 GB memory chips for sale so I could use 4x 4GB memory chips to get the 16GB. The 4 GB memory chips were like 400.00 2 years ago.

 

^ 4G sticks are much cheaper these days, so getting to 16G via 4x4G is not a show stopper.

8G sticks are now available, although limited where you can get 'em, and they're predictably pretty expensive for the near term.

 

AFAIK the memory controller is the same and 4*4GB definately works on my 2600k so as long as you have the slots on the laptop. The spec for 8GB is because 90+ percent of laptops only have two slots and there were no easily available 8GB chips at the time of the spec (which would still most likely work).

 

Does this means that my I7 740QM can handle 32GB of ram? Motherboard allowing...