[coreboot] 16GB dimm on Sandy/Ivy Bridge status

[Stefan Tauner]

On Tue, 31 May 2016 07:07:46 +0200
Patrick Rudolph <siro at das-labor.org> wrote:

> Hi Iru,
> From T420 manual [1]:
> "Memory: Up to 8GB DDR3 - 1333MHz (2 DIMM Slots)"
> 
> While it seems possible to use 16GB (2x 8GB), it isn't possible to use
> 16GB DIMMs.
> I haven't tested by myself, but it seems like a hardware limitation.
> Please provide raminit logs, just to make sure.
>

Hi,

it is often not but the manuals are just reflecting what the vendor has
tested. Very often these test are not extended once bigger DIMMS become
available hence the documentation is not reliable at all. The only
hardware limitation I am aware of that could interfere is what the
northbridge supports...
http://ark.intel.com/products/52229/Intel-Core-i5-2520M-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-3_20-GHz
So unlike the manual (the "Up to 8 GB" are meant as total) 16 GB is the
maximum. The question remains if a single channel can address the whole
range but given that it does not make sense economically that point is
rather moot anyway.

-- 
Kind regards/Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Stefan Tauner