ASUS ROG Teases 192GB DDR5 Memory Support On AM5 Motherboards For Ryzen
by
Aaron Klotz
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Thursday, March 16, 2023, 11:47 AM EDT
ASUS has shared a sneak peek of 48GB DDR5 modules operating at a functional state on one of its AM5 motherboards featuring an unknown AGESA microcode update. The test setup used included a Ryzen 9 7950X and four 48GB DIMMs installed onto a ROG Strix X670E-E Gaming WiFi motherboard, making up a grand total of 192GB of system memory that was booted up in Windows. This confirms that AMD is making good progress on supporting these new (and unusual) DDR5 memory capacities and AM5 users won't be regulated to just 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB modules for much longer.
Consumer-focused 24GB and 48GB DDR5 modules are brand new to the DDR5 ecosystem, with new kits being launched less than a month ago. These unusual capacities aim to diversify the amount of memory capacity users have access too, and give users access to 48GB, 96GB, and 192GB's of system memory while utilizing the full dual channels of memory support featured on consumer-based Intel and AMD DDR5 platforms right now. These modules are already operational on Intel Alder Lake and Raptor Lake platforms but cannot be booted up by AMD AM5 motherboards right now. Though previous reports indicate AMD has been working on a new AGESA microcode update to support the new memory capacities fully.
ASUS's news suggests AMD is making good progress on this new AGESA microcode update. ASUS says the X670E-E motherboard was using the latest version of an AGESA microcode test and the system was stable enough for it to get a screenshot of the memory working inside Windows 11, with Task Manager and CPU-Z open at the same time. The most shocking part is that AMD's Ryzen 9 7950X was able to run all four DDR5 modules at a relatively quick 5200MHz, despite the fact AMD rated Ryzen 7000's memory controller for just 3600MHz when four DIMMS are utilized.
Hopefully, this means AMD's future AGESA microcode update will also come with a serious amount of DDR5 memory optimizations as a whole, which should improve the memory support and overclocking capability of Ryzen 7000's memory controller. On top of the 24GB and 48GB memory support. We don't know when this new mysterious AGESA microcode will come to market, however, based on ASUS's successful test run, we wouldn't be surprised if AMD ships it out in a finished state to motherboard manufacturers in a few months.