2 Intern
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444 Posts
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835
February 8th, 2023 15:00
24 Gb RAM installed on Inspiron 570
I have been playing around with my old Inspiron 570 turning it into a "shop" PC. I installed two 8gb sticks of 1600 dual rank RAM in Dimms 3 & 4 and two 4gb sticks of 1600 single rank RAM in Dimms 1 & 2 just to see what would happen. The BIOS says there is only 8gb of installed RAM and I suspect that is because it is only designed for 8gb. In windows, (Win 10 64 bit) It shows 24gb installed and says nothing about only XXgb available. CPU-Z and HWINFO also both report that there is 24gb installed and running dual-channel, unganged. Task-manager also reports 24gb of ram. So, am I to assume that there is indeed 24gb of installed ram or is the BIOS correct that there is only 8gb installed???
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RoHe
10 Elder
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45.2K Posts
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February 9th, 2023 12:00
24 GB isn't a "normal" amount of RAM, like 4, 8, 16, 32 GB are. So that's one possible cause.
The other possibility is BIOS simply can't report a number higher than 8 GB which was the upper OEM spec...
Since it's working, don't worry...
kras1
2 Intern
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444 Posts
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February 8th, 2023 16:00
I uninstalled the two 4gb sticks of ram and left the two 8gb sticks. Bios now reports only 4gb of RAM installed. Windows, CPU-Z, HWINFO and task-manager all report the correct 16gb installed and working correctly. I am gonna put the two 4gb sticks back in and leave it. The PC runs fine and I couldn't find anything online about Windows reporting the correct amount of memory and the bios being wrong. This is a "shop" PC to listen to music and look things up on the internet. It probably isn't worth the time to figure out the discrepancy.
kras1
2 Intern
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444 Posts
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February 8th, 2023 19:00
Thank you for the reply. I tried each stick independently in each slot and they all work and report as they should. I ran the diagnostics with all the sticks installed and all tests were passed.(took over 2 hours) BIOS reports 8gb of ram installed and Win 10 64 bit correctly reports 24gb installed. CPU-Z and HWINFO both report 24gb running in dual channel and task manager shows 24gb and my usage went from like 22% used at idle with nothing open with 8gb to 7% used/idle/nothing open with 24gb. So by all accounts everything is acting like the 24gb of ram is working.....except for not being listed correctly in the bios. : ) It is just odd. The PC is old and not designed for this much memory, but by all accounts seems to be working properly. If it was anything but a shop computer, I would be a little more concerned. I just got a few bar/counter tops glued up and in clamps (I am a woodworker/auto mechanic) so I have some free time and decided to try and figure it out. and yes, I also cleared the bios.
RoHe
10 Elder
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45.2K Posts
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February 8th, 2023 19:00
Did you clear BIOS after each change to the RAM config?
Is it possible the two sets of RAM aren't compatible with each other, possibly because of the Rank differences, or maybe one of the 8 GB modules is defective?
What happens if you reboot, tap F12 and run the full RAM diagnostics with each config?
Chino de Oro
9 Legend
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8.1K Posts
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February 9th, 2023 06:00
That is plenty of memory for shop uses. With 4gb of RAM and 128gb of storage, you can turn it into a Hunter PC (for alignment) or about 8gb to run AllData and 1tb of storage to hold all vehicle DVDs.
You can also turn a Latitude rugged into a diagnostics scanner (with Xhorse mini VCI cable)
kras1
2 Intern
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444 Posts
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February 9th, 2023 08:00
Yeah, it is WAY more RAM than the PC will ever need. I figured since I had it, I might as well try it. I am surprised that it boots. I just wish that the BIOS reported 24gb like windows and all the other programs that measure how much memory is installed and working.
kras1
2 Intern
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444 Posts
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February 9th, 2023 13:00
Yeah, I kinda figured that the BIOS can't register a number bigger than 8Gb. I have a feeling that a lot of the things BIOS are displaying about the memory are limited to what the specs are. But the PC seems to work great, so like you suggest, I am not gonna worry about it.