What can go wrong if I put more RAM on a computer than it's processor supports according to Intel ARK?

Question

I have recently aquired a PCBOX Kant 4 ; a very basic computer that just works for the work I do and everyday use.

So far I pleased with it, it performs much better than I expected (I guess stuff with Celeron in it just makes my mind expect little). However, I have an issue. 4GB of RAM isn't exactly enough for me anymore. And I plan to switch to an SSD too, which also means I will have to say bye to SWAP space, which will just make things worse in that matter.

I was planning to fix this issue by simply upgrading to an 8Gb RAM stick, but apparently, according to Intel ARK, the maximum supported RAM is 4Gb.

What does this exactly mean? Will the processor just not recognize more than 4Gb no matter how much ram i stuff in it? Will it malfunction? Will it melt a hole through my table (or at least overheat)? Is it just an official number for whatever reason Intel may have and the computer will do just fine with 8Gb?

Another curious note, while Intel ARK says the type of ram it uses is DDR3L, according to Speccy, it is right now running on normal DDR3 ram

Answer 1

If the Intel Ark site says 2 gigs max for the processor, then thats what it is - it will either fail to see more then 4 gigs of memory or it will fail to see anything as this limitation is built into the chip. The system should not be damaged if you attempt to use more then 4 gigs of memory in it (but you may need to replace it with the 4 gigs again, and you need to be careful of electrostatic discharge when swapping it)

You SHOULD put swap on SSD - this will speed things up A LOT - the fears of it wearing out your disk quickly are unfounded - because of "wear leveling" and the actual number of writes being high. A laptop/desktop PC will become obsolete way before the writes become a problem.

Answer 2

davidgo already answered, but I think I'll give you some data based on personal experience.

After nearly a year of using SSD in my computer - Windows 10, games, software/database development, lots of downloading (~500GB/month), hiberfil, pagefile, phone sync+backup (10 gb/wk) and other stuff - I'm at 10TB of total writes and I still have 990TB to go according to Samsung warranty, but close to double that according to legendary SSDs tests carried out by some people and with results posted/updated regularly.

In other words: Don't worry about "rewriting NAND"

As for the answer to the question: your CPU is 64 Bit and there are other systems with same CPU and >4GB RAM, so it's possible. Unfortunately, since there's quite a few unknowns in your computer, best answer is: you just have to try. Go to the store or laptop repair shop and "try before buy", or - if you know someone - borrow two modules.