目前好像只有華碩因此改了x79 的BIOS支援16G的DIMM...


Do 16GB DDR3 SO-DIMMs work in my Macbook, iMac, Dell, HP, Lenovo or other notebooks?

- We do understand that there is a high demand for 16GB memory modules especially by notebook-users, as the amount of memory slots is limited. Unfortunately, the majority of notebooks on the market utilize Intel processors. Most of these Intel based systems hang during the boot process when 16GB SO-DIMMs are installed. Others do boot, but then can not load the operating system. According to our information this issue is related to the memory-reference-code (MRC), which is a piece of software-code inside the BIOS that initializes the memory. This software seems to be not prepared for the new 16GB modules. If there is no additional limitation from the CPU, Intel or the notebook manufacturers could release a BIOS update to fix the problem. Please contact your manufacturer to ask if there are any plans to release such an update.

With other processor manufacturers like i.e. AMD, we have not experienced such issues, yet. But notebooks based on other processors than Intel are rare.

On which Intel-CPU based systems will the Intelligent Memory 16GB unbuffered DIMMs and SO-DIMMs work?

- To be exact, the problem for most Intel systems is not related to the capacity of 16GB, but to the fact that unbuffered DIMMs and SO-DIMMs with 16GB are built of DRAM-chips having a capacity of 8 Gigabit. As of now, Intel only added the support for 8Gb components to their Atom C2000 series processors, codenamed 'Avoton' and 'Rangeley'. For all other Intel processors, the datasheets today only show a support for max 4Gb per memory-IC. Interesting enough, older datasheets showed 8Gb, but have then be revised to a maximum of 4Gb.

The company ASUS has modified the memory-reference-code (MRC) inside the BIOS to support 8Gb components for all their X79 chipset based boards and the 16GB modules worked fine. The BIOS-update for their X79 boards is available on the ASUS support website. Until today, ASUS still is the only company able to support 16GB modules with standard Intel processors on their X79 boards. This example from ASUS shows that the issue is mainly software related, but so far, Intel has not decided to officially support 8Gb components / 16GB modules on their processors by releasing such software-updates - except for the Atom C2000 series.