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What will happen if I install more RAM than specified in manual?

What will happen if I install more RAM than specified in manual?

I just installed a new motherboard, MSI K9N Neo V3 with an Athlon X2 4400+. I bought a 2GB stick of RAM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220228), with the intention of ordering 3 more when I have the extra money, for a total of 8GB. The problem is, in the manual for this board, it said that the maximum RAM is 4GB. So is there a chance it will work with more than 4? Its kind of an old board, I thought maybe at the time they wrote the manual, the maximum available was 1GB per stick.

Asked by: Guest | Views: 407
Total answers/comments: 2
Guest [Entry]

"Take the confusion out of the issue. What does Crucial or Kingston say about the memory capacity of the computer?

The manufacturers manual is a snapshot in time, it only reflects what the manufacturer tested, when the manual was being written. They are rarely updated, unless a new version of the computer / motherboard / etc comes out.

Kingston & Crucial are willing to test with newer memory chipsets, etc. So if they say your model will accept more, then it should work.

I couldn't find the board on Crucial, but Kingston states:

Standard Memory: 0 MB (Removable)

Maximum Memory: 8 GB

Expansion: 4 Sockets

CPU & ChipSet: AMD Athlon 64 (AM2) Nvidia nForce 560
AMD Athlon 64 X2 (AM2) Nvidia nForce 560
AMD Sempron (AM2) Nvidia nForce 560

Bus Architecture: PCI; PCI Express; USB

Mfgr's System P/N's: N/A

Comments MODULES MUST BE ORDERED AND INSTALLED IN PAIRS for Dual Channel mode. Kingston offers ""K2"" Kit part numbers for Dual Channel mode.

If 4GB is installed, the recognized memory may be reduced to 3.5GB or less (depending on system configuration and memory allocation).

Maximum configurations require 64-bit operating system.

AMD Sempron processors support DDR2-533 and DDR2-667 memory only. DDR2-800 modules are not supported with this processor.

At 1066MHz, this system supports up to two single rank modules ONLY.
DDR2-1066 is supported by AM2+ CPUs only."
Guest [Entry]

Maybe your manual is out of date. According to MSI website this motherboard supports up to 8 GB. Athlon64 processors feature an integrated memory controller so I believe every system with 4 memory slots supports 8 GB of RAM.