Unreliable 24GB and 48GB Memory Support on AMD Motherboards

High-density DDR5 memory modules with capacities of 24GB and 48GB have been released by Corsair and Crucial, respectively. Memory providers have demonstrated the new memory kits on Intel processors to showcase their wares. With the appropriate modifications, AMD’s platform might be just as capable as its competitors’. It is essential to make a distinction between what is officially supported and what is actually functional. For instance, the Intel 12th Generation Alder Lake and 13th Generation Raptor Lake CPUs, in addition to the AMD Ryzen 7000 (Raphael) Zen 4 processors, are officially able to support up to 128GB of DDR5 memory.

Hence, bigger capacity support (192GB) isn’t completely out of the question, but it does depend on whether or not your chip is capable of managing it.  It’s comparable to the situation with the officially supported memory speed on processors and the overclocking capabilities of Intel XMP or AMD EXPO. Memory upgrades with a faster clock speed should work, but your results may vary depending on how you use them. Whether one is trying to push the speed envelope or the capacity threshold, the role of the motherboard is extremely important. For instance, MSI and Gigabyte claim that their respective Intel 600-series and 700-series motherboards are compatible with 24GB and 48GB DDR5 DIMMs without the need for a firmware update.

On the other hand, ASRock (opens in new tab) and Asus (opens in new tab) have both published specialized firmware in order to usher in support for the newly available capacities. There is, however, a single thing that all of them have in common: they are all Intel platforms. On the other hand, there is not even a whisper from AMD. It’s possible that the most recent version of the AMD AGESA firmware already supports memory modules with a capacity of 24GB or 48GB of DDR5 memory. If this does not happen, the memory training will be unsuccessful, and the machine will probably refuse to boot. Getting passed the screen that displays the BIOS is a sign of progress; nonetheless, it is clear that there is still some opportunity for improvement. There aren’t a lot of solutions available for 24GB and 48GB DDR5 at the moment.

In spite of the fact that both Corsair and Crucial have introduced DDR5 memory kits with capacities of 24GB and 48GB, only those made by the former company are now available for purchase, and their prices are exorbitant. But now that Intel motherboards support the new memory modules, we anticipate that AMD motherboards will soon catch up and match their performance. It is expected that the 24GB and 48GB DIMM capacities will become more commonplace as DDR5 continues to rapidly advance.