Do computers really have "maximum" ram it can hold?

Hi. I have a Lenovo Ideapad Y530 laptop and it currently has 3gigs of ram. According to crucial.com, my maximum ram is only 4gigs. So does that mean that if I buy more than 4gigs of ram, for example, 6 or 8 gigs, it won't work on my computer?

Thanks!

 

You can check out the Lenovo forum to see if anyone has tried with more than 4GB. I bet it would work but some manufacturers do artificially limit the memory in the BIOS (for whatever reason).

 

It depends on the motherboard and the CPU you have. I'm not a technical guy but as far as I am aware, the current max ram you can have on a laptop is 32GB. However as I have looked up the laptop, seems like the max you can go is 8GB (most laptops have 2 DIMMS -ram slot- and yours is one).
I think you have a 3GB stick in your laptop atm. If so you can grab another same 3GB stick and put it in. If not, you may consider buying a new ram kit of your desired amount. Found one 8GB kit here
And make sure you're on a 64bit Operating System.

 

Hmm. I currently have 1 2gb stick and 1 1gb stick. And when i scanned my computer with crucial.com, it said max. 4gb, where did you see 8?

 

Mostly it's how much your particular motherboard chipset is setup to address. 64-bit systems are capable of addressing HUGE quantities of RAM, but there are limitations on most systems. Then past that there are manufacturer limitations they implement in your computer's BIOS.

Most newer systems can handle 8GB, even though they might not technically say it's supported. That's when you decide if you want to take the risk and purchase the RAM as it may actually not work.

My Vostro states it maxes out at 8GB, but I went ahead and bought two 8GB sticks and now have 16GB. Works fine and is the limit of my notebook, since that's what Intel states is the limit of the model i5 I have in it. I haven't needed to try more than 8GB in the MBP, but I'm fairly certain it can handle it. I believe my Vaio maxes out at 8GB though, and the Viliv's RAM is BGA.

 

i would get one 4gb stick, throw out the 1gb stick and test if it works. if not, throw out the 2gb stick (spend it to someone who has even less ram).

if i wouldn't find the info on lenovo, that is. at worst, i would end up with 4gb ram, at best with 6gb ram (and be able to throw out the 2gb later for another 4gb stick).

 

Your ram limit depends on a few factors:

-The maximum amount of ram supported by your chipset
-The number of soDIMM slots on your laptop's motherboard
-The configuration of your BIOS(whether or not there are artificial limitations set below your chipset's limit)
-The maximum address size of your OS(32bit vs 64bit)

i think i am missing some :/

EDIT:

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/IdeaPad...d-to-8gb-ram-and-slow-as-a-turtle/td-p/635585

according to this, 4GB+2GB seems to be the max the bios will allow. I'm pretty sure that will disable 'dual-channel'-ness, but I don't know how that will actually affect performance.

 

It depends on a variety of options as other noted.

I usually orient myself with the type of chipset/hardware one has rather than on what manufacturer of the laptop claims, because more often than not, there are inconsistencies that can play in your favor.

I looked over your laptops specs and it would appear it comes with an Mobile Intel® GM45 chipset.
Intel states that max. supported RAM is 8GB for that chipset.
So based solely on that, you could upgrade.

Though be cautious if you do so because there's still a possibility that Lenovo might have artificially limited RAM to 4GB (by means of the BIOS not supporting it).

Aside from that, it seems that it uses DDR3 type of RAM, so price won't be an issue.
You can definitely try it.

Also keep in mind that Acer for example stated that max. supported ram in my laptop is 4GB.
My chipset is PM45 that came with DDR2 type of RAM... and 8GB RAM works just fine (the 4GB sticks are a tad expensive indeed, but ultimately beats buying a new laptop altogether).

 

3GB sticks don't exist.

 

I had an old laptop (ASUS Z70V) which supported 2 x 1GB max. I bought a 2GB stick to try and it did not boot.

So yes, there is a max. ram limit.

--

 

That was predominantly a limit instilled either in the BIOS by the laptop manufacturer, or by the hardware/motherboard/chipset manufacturer.

Remember that laptops are in a different category than desktops, and majority of manufacturers don't really give out too many details like they do with desktop computers, hence the limited info and necessity of 'trial and error' approach... they prefer that people just buy the laptops as a one time thing, then replace them as soon as possible, not upgrade them in order to avoid the cost of getting a new laptop.

 

I seem to remember the earlier C2D processors used chipsets that did have a hard 4GB RAM limit. But to answer your question, yes, computers really do have maximums. Memory controllers are only designed to handle so much RAM and deal with so many address bits.

 

I have a C2D T60 that is chipset limited (945) to accept only 3GB of RAM at the most.