Windows can only support two system architectures, which are 32-bit and 64-bit. When you install more RAM than the system can handle, the extra RAM would be unreadable. For example, when you install more RAM on 32-bit Windows, the motherboard won’t recognize it.
What happens if RAM is more than supported?
Nothing will happen. It will work, computer becomes faster. Computer becomes slower.
What happens if you add more RAM?
In a nutshell, installing more RAM may improve computer speed if you frequently use many programs or browsing tabs at once, or if you do memory-intensive tasks like gaming or Photoshop. Under regular use, however, a CPU upgrade will probably have a greater immediate effect on performance.
Can I install RAM that is faster than my motherboard supports?
Your computer will work just fine if you install the faster RAM. It will simply run at the slower 1333Mhz speed. Your motherboard will recognize those faster RAM sticks as being compatible (because they are) and allow the system to boot up and operate normally after you install them.
Can my CPU handle more RAM?
You can’t just add more RAM to your computer without confirming a few things in advance. Every PC has two limits on its maximum RAM: its motherboard and its operating system (OS). Whichever limit is lower is the maximum RAM for your PC.
What happens if I install more RAM than recommended?
It depends on what motherboard and cpu you are using. In many cases, if you install more than the officially supported amount, it will not boot. In other cases it will detect the ram, but only use the supported amount. Sometimes it will accept more than the recommended amount.
Is it possible to add more RAM to a motherboard?
So in most cases on Modern motherboards the idea of more RAM than what it can handle is something of a misnomer. Generally a few things are what is going on the motherboard was tested to be able to handle up to what is a reasonable cost add capacity of ram at the time the motherboard was designed.
What happens if you exceed the maximum amount of RAM?
You shouldn’t exceed the maximum supported memory by the motherboard because if you do, the computer may or may not detect the RAM properly. Some computers might work. Some computers can just say something similar to “Installed System Memory: 16Gb (8Gb usable)”. Some might refuse to boot at all. It can be unpredictable.
Why does the OS have to allocate so much RAM?
The OS has to allocate RAM in data structures to track the rest of the RAM so it can know what programs, file cache or swap it is assigned to. As the total amount of RAM increases, the amount of RAM used for tracking increases, and this chunk of RAM is generally grabbed at operating system startup and its size is often compiled into the OS.
