Anyone seen official memory limit specs for Windows 8?

M

MeatballCB

Weaksauce
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Oct 8, 2008
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Just wondering if they're sticking to the same limitations in Win 7 (16 GB for 'consumer level'/192 GB for pro level).

I can't find anything official from them yet.
 
Found one chart in the Windows 8 Secrets book that listed Windows 8 as max of 1 CPU/16 GB RAM, Windows 8 Pro as 2 CPU/64 GB RAM. Don't think it's official, but seems about as close as we're going to get until release. 32 Bit versions are still stuck with the 4 GB RAM limit.
 
Hiyruu said:
When are the 16GB sticks going to be available?
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I expect never. I am talking about DDR3 unbuffered dimms. My reasoning is by the time manufacturers are able to produce 16GB DDR3 unbuffered dimms using 16 total chips DDR4 will be available and they will be moving away from DDR3.
 
drescherjm said:
I would highly doubt its 128GB for any home version.
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I would not.

Consider the following - this is Windows NT, not 9x-based or DOS-based. Except for features and licensing, there is NO difference between the various non-server SKUs. (Apart from licensing, there are but three - core, Pro, and Enterprise, with the first two also available volume-licensable (VL); Enterprise is ONLY available volume-licensed.) If anything, the SKU differences are less - far less - in the case of Windows 8 than even Windows 7 or Vista, let alone XP.

In the case of the x64 SKUs (all of them) there are certain inherencies that carry over, such as lack of support for x16 installers (why GOG had to write Capsule) and support for larger amounts of memory. Still, unless RAM riser cards make a comeback, I don't see home users approaching the memory ceiling of any Microsoft non-server OS this year.
Even if the limit were the same as Vista - 64GB - how many ATX motherboards can go that high today?

The other reason for the taller RAM ceiling, though, is an improvement in a feature that had really not seen any improvements since its introduction - built-in virtualization support (borrowed from Windows Server, which Windows 7 and 8 share LOTS of code with). If you have any recent-generation Intel or AMD CPU, you also have support for Hyper-V 3.0 available. I've been kicking it around in Windows Server 2012 (which has lower requirements for Hyper-V support than Windows 8 does) and, quite frankly, it puts a serious hurt on other general-purpose desktop virtualization software, even, if not especially, vmWare and VirtualBox. If you want to explore the high-end of virtualization, you no longer need high-end hardware - just any Nehalem/Westmere/Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge CPU (or AMD equivalent), 16 GB or more of RAM, and Windows 8 will do. (Extra cost - none; it's added via Add/Remove Windows Features in the Programs subsection of Control Panel. It's not SKU-locked, either - it's in every SKU of Windows 8, even Core.)
 
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