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MBP with up to 12GB memory?

C

crystalgpc

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 9, 2007
8
0
I am not sure if it is true what I am asking now, but is it really possible to put up to 12GB ( 2x 6GB) memory onto a MBP?

You are probably thinking that I am crazy... :D

The question why I am asking is that the owner of a retailer (Gravis) here in Germany told me that it is possible to do that. He knew it, because he was working as an Apple-Tech before. Surely this is a custom product, but Apple is able to do it and is doing it for an extra money. They question would be: How much?
He also said, that the most people from Apple would maybe say it is not possible, just because they did never get an order of that custom MPB.

Don´t think I am nuts...Just wanna know if it´s really done by Apple :)
 
No such things as 6GB DIMMs to my knowledge.

Currently the top option is 2GB DIMMs with 4GB DIMMs on the horizon.
 
The largest I have heard of are 4GB DIMMs but those are full size let alone small outline modules. Even if 6GB DIMMs did exist, I don't think the processor can address that much memory. I might be wrong about that, but it is my understanding that the Santa Rosa processor can only address 4GB.
 
kwood said:
The largest I have heard of are 4GB DIMMs but those are full size let alone small outline modules. Even if 6GB DIMMs did exist, I don't think the processor can address that much memory. I might be wrong about that, but it is my understanding that the Santa Rosa processor can only address 4GB.
Click to expand...

Santa Rosa is 64-bit, so it should be able to address more than 4GB.
 
I'm pretty sure that SR can only address 4GB, just because it is 64 bit doesnt mean it can. The Merom chips were 64 bit, yet they could only address 3GB.
 
Hrm, I guess the 4GB is a limitation of the motherboard chipset. I remember reading the Merom couldn't address more than 3GB because of some kind of memory overlap.

I thought one of the major points to 64-bit computers is the ability to address more than 4GB memory, though.
 
I don't believe there will be any 6gb ram cards ever. I agree with an earlier post it will go from 4 to 8gb ram cards
 
RAM increments double, so as said above after 4gb modules there will be 8gb modules, not 6gb modules. there will never be such a thing as 6gb modules, so don't listen to this person.
 
theres no such things as 6GB Ram and even if there was no MBP would be able to capture it

and there will never be a 6GB, the pattern goes like this
32
64
128
256
512
1,024
2,048
4,096 (about to be made)
8,192
16,384

etc...
 
polevault139 said:
I'm pretty sure that SR can only address 4GB, just because it is 64 bit doesnt mean it can. The Merom chips were 64 bit, yet they could only address 3GB.
Click to expand...

Crestline (the 965 Express chipset that is part of SR) can address up to 8GB for RAM 4GB of RAM and up to 64GB for memory mapped IO (probably; data sheet is unclear as it discusses both second 4GB range and a 36bit range. At least 4GB in IO range beyond what the DDR controller can handle). The CPU in the current SR platform is still Merom. Why the MBP only supports 4GB is an implementation detail. Perhaps just down to signal routing on the motherboard.

The limitation on Napa/Merom (ie C2D MB/MBP machines) isn't the processor. It's the memory controller in the northbridge, which can only address 4GB in total (32bit address space), for both RAM and memory mapped IO.

mongoose8p said:
I don't believe there will be any 6gb ram cards ever. I agree with an earlier post it will go from 4 to 8gb ram cards
Click to expand...

You're right. RAM has to increase in powers of 2, because each increase involves an extra address line becoming active. So, 1, 2, 4, 8, etc. is the order of the day.
 
kwood said:
The largest I have heard of are 4GB DIMMs but those are full size let alone small outline modules. Even if 6GB DIMMs did exist, I don't think the processor can address that much memory. I might be wrong about that, but it is my understanding that the Santa Rosa processor can only address 4GB.
Click to expand...
lol, 32 bit cpus can only address 4GB, 64 bit cpus can address a *******-l-o-a-d of GBs, I won't even check how much.

The chipset is another story, I have no idea how much intel 965 can use, but even if it could use 8GB or whatever the two memory slots limits it atm.
 
It amuses me just how many people don't know there's a difference between the width of the data bus and the address bus. So many people presume they are the same width.
 
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