The past month has seen the introduction of DDR5 memory modules with densities of 24 GB and 48 GB, resulting in capacities of 48 GB (2x 24 GB), 96 GB (2x 48 GB or 4x 24 GB), and even 192 GB (4x 48 GB). The only catch is that these modules only function with processors from the 12th and 13th generations, Core “Alder Lake” and Core “Raptor Lake,” whose memory controllers can accommodate up to 192 GB of memory and 24/48/96 GB DIMM densities, respectively. When one of these kits is put on an AMD Ryzen 7000 “Zen 4” platform, MEGAsizeGPU wanted to see what happens.

With an ASUS ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming motherboard and an AMD Ryzen 5 7600X processor, a Corsair Vengeance DDR5-5600 48 GB (2x 24 GB) memory kit was added (BIOS version 1222). As it turns out, the computer POSTs and can launch the UEFI configuration application. Here, the application can show the correct 48 GB of memory as well as the two modules’ individual memory densities. The issue is that Windows won’t start and won’t proceed past the Boot Manager. An error message that denotes a hardware issue causes it to stop.

The maximum memory size for AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors is 128 GB. This suggests that even for AMD, there may not be a hard limit, and the company could collaborate with motherboard manufacturers on firmware-level updates to enable support for 24 GB and 48 GB memory modules to at least operate under the 128 GB limit. Until a few months ago, so did 13th Gen and 12th Gen Intel Core processors (think 2x 24 GB, 4x 24 GB, or 2x 48 GB). The availability of 24 GB memory modules expands options for PC enthusiasts because they enable the use of faster single-rank DIMMs to achieve 48 GB of memory (2x 24 GB). Also, it strikes a balance between 64 GB (2x 16 GB) and 32 GB (2x 32 GB).