z61m memory limitations (workaround neeeded)

[tsr_exec]

The lenovo site specifies max memory to be 3 gigs, but apparently the motherboard's chipset supports 4. So I got 2x2 gb memory (almost with the price of 1x1 and 1x2 gigs).

The bios lists available memory 4096 mb, but amd64 ubuntu only sees 3 gigs.

Upgraded the bios, no effect. Has anyone any clue if it's possible to get all the memory to show?

[Pepa]

it was written many times

it appears to be Intel 945 family chipset limtation and you will stuck on 3GB, as Lenovo warns. Same problem has HP, Apple and others.

[minc3d]

Lenovo modified the chipset, as did HP and other vendors, to stick the limit to 3GB instead. 4GB cannot be seen by any XP 32 bit system or Vista 32 bit so the need for 4GB was worthless back 2-3 years ago.

[jbraddoc]

Not to dig up such an old topic, but even with a 64bit os, or even linux, you can't squeeze 4gb out? (I just bought a Z61m and am looking to max it out.)

[Marin85]

Not to dig up such an old topic, but even with a 64bit os, or even linux, you can't squeeze 4gb out? (I just bought a Z61m and am looking to max it out.)

This thread started exactly one year ago And to answer your question, no, even a 64bit OS won´t change this fact. It is a chipset (=hardware) limitation, so no OS and no software can work around it.

Cheers,

Marin

[underclocker]

Even though only 3 of 4GB are used, all is not lost, you still get the performance increase from dual channel memory mode. 2 x 2GB sticks is faster than 1 x 2GB + 1 x 1GB, even though only 3GB is seen and used. The performance bump is reported to be 5 to 10% depending on the operation/software.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-channel_architecture

[Marin85]

It´s also to note that 2+1 configuration too operates in dual-channel mode (asymmetric dual-channel mode) and too enjoys similar performance gain of dual channel over single channel. The performance difference between symmetric and asymmetric dual channel is negligible though.