The Gigabyte X399 supports 32GB and 64GB DDR4 DIMMs.
The Gigabyte X399 supports 32GB and 64GB DDR4 DIMMs.
I recently received some inquiries about increasing my compute server’s RAM from 128GB to 256GB or 512GB. I’m curious if anyone has experience with 32GB or 64GB DIMMs on consumer motherboards that don’t support more than 128GB of RAM. The current configuration looks like this:
- Model: Gigabyte X399 AORUS PRO ATX sTR4
- Max supported RAM: 128GB
- CPU: AMD Threadripper 1950X
- RAM specs: DDR4 16GB x8 at 2666MHz
My application is running into a memory bottleneck, and I’m looking for affordable solutions—preferably without buying dual-socket server boards. I’m open to adjusting the RAM capacity and would love to know if anyone has tested 32GB or 64GB DIMMs on this board type. It might be worth considering a 64GB kit first before committing.
I apologize for the confusion earlier. It was DDR3 that reached a limit of 16 GB, while DDR4 can handle up to 64 GB per stick. I should disregard what follows since I think 128 GB represents a theoretical upper bound for that technology. My understanding is correct, though I’m open to being wrong. Here are the details as I see them. DDR4 supports a maximum of 16 GB per stick (excluding duel-channel configurations your board doesn’t support), and with 4 channels available, the total would be 128 GB.
Threadripper accommodates up to 1TB storage. The 128GB limit existed when the motherboard was first released, as only 16GB units were offered. With the introduction of 32GB modules, 256GB becomes feasible. I didn’t locate any 64GB options through a quick search.
The CPU design allows up to 1TB of RAM with 128GB DIMMs, though this isn't commonly encountered yet. I'm aware DDR4 32GB and 64GB DIMMs are available, and there are options for larger capacities like 256GB and 512GB. The main concern is whether the Gigabyte BIOS imposes a restriction on the total memory it can detect, which can sometimes differ between budget and high-end motherboards.
The original Threadripper is restricted to 128 unregistered ECC memory due to BIOS limitations on Epyc systems with registered dimms and higher capacities. The newer model can support up to 32 GB, though a motherboard upgrade will be necessary. For guidance, consider the link: https://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1786569. A quad e5-4650 with 128 GB RAM is recommended, paired with a Supermicro X9QRi-F+ board capable of handling 1 TB registered DDR3 memory. Registered DDR3 sticks are affordable, around $25 each, and come in 16 GB packages.
Consider the importance of clock and memory speeds for the datasets we're handling. My CPU runs at 4.5GHZ across 16 threads, though multithreading isn't enabled for our use case. It seems you might be correct about the first-gen Thread Ripper memory support—official AMD docs indicate it only covers 128GB. I’ll need to opt for a Gen 3 thread ripper build to meet my memory requirements.