Upgrade RAM beyond manufacturer's tested capacity?

I seek to upgrade RAM from 12 to 64GB for deep learning, but remain uncertain about compatibility; this Quora thread suggests all's good as long as key specs of the new RAM match that of current RAM, whereas a manufacturer rep. informs my system's been "tested to work" with up to 32GB. Further, a Crucial test recommends only up to 32GB - but vast majority of its recommendations are its own products, so unsure about credibility there.

Below are my system specs vs. Crucial's 32GB recommendation specs vs. the seeked RAM's specs. All considered, is it 'unsafe' to upgrade to 64GB against manufacturer certification?

SYSTEM: ASUS ROG Strix GL702VSK, 12GB DDR4 2.4-MHz 1.2V (2 slots), i7-7700HQ 2.8 GHz

32GB Crucial: --DDR4 2.4-MHz PC4-19200, CL-17, 1.2V, Dual Ranked
64GB Mushkin: DDR4 2.4-MHz PC4-21300, CL-19, 1.2V, Dual Channel, SDRAM

OverLordGoldDragon

Posted 2019-09-02T18:28:15.770

Reputation: 188

Unsafe? No. Guaranteed to work? No. Unless ASUS tech support tells you it can recognize a 32GB module, I advise against spending cash money on buying any. – K7AAY – 2019-09-05T15:50:42.393

Answers

whereas a manufacturer rep. informs my system's been "tested to work" with up to 32GB.

Your system absolutely does not support 32 GB modules which is the only way you could install 64 GB DDR4 in your system. 32 GB DDR4 module support does exist on 7th Generation Intel hardware it barely exists with 9th Generation Intel hardware.

All considered, is it 'unsafe' to upgrade to 64GB against manufacturer certification?

Safety isn’t a legitimate concern in a case like this. Your system will absolutely not recognize 32 GB DDR4 modules.

Ramhound

Posted 2019-09-02T18:28:15.770

Reputation: 28 517

1"7th gen Intel hardware" - meaning the CPU? I presume an i9 would support it, then? Either way, thanks for the info – OverLordGoldDragon – 2019-09-02T18:58:11.457

1@OverLordGoldDragon - I looked up your laptop, and the device I found was a 7th Generation Intel Core device. You indicated your device has an i7-7700HQ processor not an i9 which only exists for the 8th and 9th Intel Core Generation processors. Besides, 32 GB DDR4 module support is determined by the motherboard, not the processor. – Ramhound – 2019-09-02T19:09:56.687

"Generations" of Intel CPUs are shown in the first place of the model number after the hyphen. An i7-7700HQ is 7th Generation; see https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/97185/intel-core-i7-7700hq-processor-6m-cache-up-to-3-80-ghz.html whereas an i9-8950HK is 8th Gen https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/134903/intel-core-i9-8950hk-processor-12m-cache-up-to-4-80-ghz.html

– K7AAY – 2019-09-04T23:23:36.920

1@K7AAY How misleading on behalf of Intel - I had no idea; good to know – OverLordGoldDragon – 2019-09-04T23:50:05.167

1@OverLordGoldDragon - They advertise and specify the generation on all their products. They don't purposefully mislead anyone, just because you didn't know, does not mean they mislead you. – Ramhound – 2019-09-05T12:26:39.167

@OverLordGoldDragon The first digit (after the i) in an Intel CPU name differentiates between i3, i5, i7, and i9 designs. It's not misleading at all, as they are very different. Here's a good explanation of the difference, as well as details on the rest of their naming system: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/intel-core-i3-vs-i5-vs-i7-one-really-need/

– K7AAY – 2019-09-05T15:48:45.400

1@K7AAY Let's just say it's consumer-unfriendly - as in nearly all non-technical literature, the main differentiator between types of CPUs is the generation - hence it'd make sense to have it lead the name, rather than denote a more involved definition. It's akin to code naming practices - make things easier, not harder. Anyway, knowledge acquired - thanks for sharing – OverLordGoldDragon – 2019-09-05T16:07:40.733

@OverLordGoldDragon - AMD product codes are just as consumer-unfriendly as Intels. Just because you were unware that an i9 product was not a 9th Generation Core processor does not mean the product name was misleading. – Ramhound – 2019-09-05T21:13:11.590

It's not dangerous, but it just likely won't work, if it's not within the spec supported by the hardware. Asus lists the maximum ram as 32Gb so you'll find it likely won't show anymore than this even if you put more in.

This is why Crucial also only recommend 32Gb. Occasionally there is hardware which supports higher values than shown on the spec sheets, but this isn't usual and unless you know someone who's tested it with higher there's little chance it's going to work.

Also as pointed out in

djsmiley2k TMW

Posted 2019-09-02T18:28:15.770

Reputation: 5 937