Will 8GB RAM stick work if my motherboard has limit of 16GB (for 4 slots)?

This one is quite tricky and I can't find any decent information source/documentation.

I have Gigabyte motherboard from 2008: Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P rev. 1.0.

It has 4 RAM slots and total limit of RAM of 16 GB.

My question is - what if I buy 2 8 GB sticks. Will they work? Because if there's limit of 16 GB, it gives 4 GB per slot. How does motherboard RAM limits work, is it slot-dependent or more likely this is the top limit of chipset so even 16 GB stick would work?

I've been looking for info about AMD 770 chipset itself but I can't find any public documentation anywhere.

There's memory support list for my mobo, but it's really outdated.

Any ideas, hints, anything? :)

Thanks a lot!

Solution 1:

The Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P main board will only accept memory modules with a size of 4GB or less in pairs of 2 for best performance. This is a limitation of the AMD 770 + SB710 Chipset see AMD support.

Just to clarify, it is possible that an 8GB memory module will work in your system, however it is unlikely you will find one that is compatible. Even worse it would most likely require you to run them in slots 1 and 3 instead of 1 and 2. This would dramatically decrease the performance of your machine.

Solution 2:

It should work. As far as I know memory slots do not set the limit, but the chipset behind it do. (their software allocates the memory) so 2 sticks of 8 GB should in theory work. But the best solution here is to just contact the company where you are planning on buying it and ask them if it will work and if you can return the memory for 4x4 if you find out it won't work.

And yes, as I think its the chipset that limits it, 1x16 gb would also work, but dual channel is always faster. 4x4 may actually be the fastest option.