Hi, everyone! I have an Intel DQ45CB Desktop Board that I love. Recently I upgraded the video card and it's performing much better, even when performing under the heavy load of Windows 10 and all of the apps and software that I have loaded on top of the operating system.
Here are the facts: When I read the Intel reference guide, it tells me that my system memory is limited to a total of 8 GBs. But when I go to any of the reputable memory shops online, it tells me that my board can take up to 16 GBs of memory. Now I know, in terms of the speed with which computer hardware improvements occur, my board is considered old by anyone's standard, But I love the board and want to keep it.
So, I'm concerned about two things because the Intel Reference Guide for my board indicates as follows concerning addressable memory:
2 Technical Reference
2.1 Memory Map
2.1.1Addressable Memory The board utilizes 8 GB of addressable system memory. Typically the address space that is allocated for PCI Conventional bus add-in cards, PCI Express configuration space, BIOS (SPI Flash), and chipset overhead resides above the top of DRAM (total system memory). On a system that has 8 GB of system memory installed, it is not possible to use all of the installed memory due to system address space being allocated for other system critical functions. These functions include the following: • BIOS/ SPI Flash (32 Mbits) • Local APIC (19 MB) • Direct Media Interface (40 MB) • Front side bus interrupts (17 MB) • PCI Express configuration space (256 MB) • GMCH base address registers, internal graphics ranges, PCI Express ports (up to 512 MB) • Memory-mapped I/O that is dynamically allocated for PCI Conventional and PCI Express add-in cards • Base graphics memory support (1 MB or 8 MB) • Intel® Management Engine Interface (Intel® MEI) single channel (8 MB) or dual channel (16 MB) .
QUESTION 1: Is what is stated above an absolute limitation on how much memory my board can use? If not, can I then look for the 4 GB modules that the system memory sellers says my system is capable of running.
QUESTION 2: If my board can in fact run the 16 GBs that the system memory sellers say it can run, does anyone know of one (and hopefully many more) online sources of such memory? I've searched and searched and except for possibly some very, very expensive Patriot memory, I've not been able to find a supply.
Thank you for all your help. I really do want to hold on to this board for sometime into the foreseeable future.
Thanks again.