Asus P7P55D Evo (P55 Express chipset) and an i7-860 with 32GB DDR3 12800/1600MHz RAM

System Requirements:

  • Asus P7P55D Evo
  • 32GB DDR 3

The Problem:

The i7-860 and the P55 Express chipset are both listed as only supporting 16GB RAM. The product page for the P7P55D Evo lists it as only supporting 16GB RAM across 4 DIMM slots. I wanted to try it with 32GB to see if it would work.

View: P7P55D Evo Product Page
View: Intel Core i7-860 Specifications

More Info

I found some reasonably priced Crucial Ballistix Sport DIMM’s with the following specification.

  • DDR3 PC3-12800
  • 9-9-9-24
  • Unbuffered
  • NON-ECC
  • DDR3-1600
  • 1.5V
  • 1024Meg x 64

The set that I picked up was a BLS4CP8G3D1609DS1S00BEU a 32GB set in 4x8GB for £113, which is (as of writing) a discontinued set that you cannot seem to pick-up from crucial.com, but is in essence 2x BLS2CP8G3D1609DS1S00CEU 16GB kits.

The Crucial RAM checker lists it as being incompatible with the P7P55D Evo although the only difference between this and the compatible equivalent are the fact that the last entry on the compatible DIMM’s specification shows a value of 512Meg x 64 rather than 1024Meg x 64, making them 4GB DIMM’s – in fact these were exactly what I removed from the system to perform the test.

The results?

  • The system went through POST fine
  • The system went through the comprehensive POST Memory Test fine
  • The BIOS could see all 32GB
  • The system booted to Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Windows could identify all 32GB RAM as present and usable
  • The RAM passed the Microsoft Memory tester
  • The RAM accepted memory reservations made by Hyper-V for 30GB RAM for several different VM’s (i.e. it could address and allocate past 16GB)
  • The system has been running for 4 days without incident running Windows Server 2012 R2

I call that a result and it would seem that the P55 Express Chipset and the i7-860 are capable of making use of 8GB DIMM’s.

NB: Please keep in mind that the home editions of Windows are memory capped, if you want to address more than 16GB of RAM in Windows 7 or higher, you need the Professional or Enterprise versions of Windows or a Server Edition of Windows. Remember also that it must be x64 (64-bit) and cannot be an x86 (32-bit) edition.

Buy: BLS4CP8G3D1609DS1S00BEU 32GB Kit on
Buy: BLS2CP8G3D1609DS1S00CEU 16GB Kit on

View: BLS2CP8G3D1609DS1S00CEU on Crucial.com