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The spec sheet for the celeron J3355 says 8GB max, but the system accepts and reports 10GB?

phreich
Beginner
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Hi,

I recently acquired a NAS with an embedded J3355 Apollo Lake Celeron processor, and the spec sheets for the processor state that it can use a maximum of 8GB of memory, but I I have seen reports elsewhere where people have successfully had their system accept a total of 10GB of DDR3L RAM.

This particular system board has 2GB embedded on the motherboard, and a single SODIMM slot for additional memory.  I added an 8GB DDR3L SODIMM (non-ecc and non-registered) to the system and it accepted it and the OS (Linux 64 bit) reports the 10GB of RAM.

I'm not complaining, but I don't understand why this is working if the specifications say a maximum limit of 8GB.  I'm also not sure why a 64 bit processor like this would have a reported 8GB limit to begin with.

I'm guessing that it might have something to do with the fact that the embedded GPU in the processor shares the DDR3L RAM, and maybe it can only address up to 8GB?  If that's the case, then the remaining 2GB above that limit would only be available for regular (non-GPU) CPU use -- which is acceptable.

If any Intel processor engineering folks can speak to this, it would be helpful in understanding what is happening here.

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Alberto_Sykes
Employee
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phreich, Thank you for posting in the Intel® Communities Support.


In order for us to be able to provide the most accurate response to your inquiries, we will do further research on this matter, as soon as I get any updates, I will post all the details on this thread.


Regards,

Albert R.


Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel


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Alberto_Sykes
Employee
2,049 Views

phreich, I just received an update on this matter.


First of all, we just wanted to thank you for sharing your feedback, for Intel® it is very important all the comments and suggestions provided by the peers in the intel Communities Support or in any other form of support like chat or phone.


Regarding your question, just let you know, we have seen in the past and there are reports about systems working out of the specification with a great performance, however, we should consider that for the Intel® Celeron® Processor J3355 its maximum memory capacity supported is 8GB, as you mentioned before, and having the Intel® Procesor working out of specification could affect his performance or lifetime in a short or long period of time, so we advise to keep using the unit within the specifications showing in the Intel® site:

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/95597/intel-celeron-processor-j3355-2m-cache-up-to-2-5-ghz.html


Any questions, please let me know.


Regards,

Albert R.


Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel


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phreich
Beginner
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@Alberto_Sykes,

Thank you for checking on this for me.

However, your answer doesn't make much sense to me.

You answer seems to be a "generic" one without any explanation.  I can understand that overclocking a processor to make it run faster, with or without higher operating voltages could cause damage to a processor, but how would extra memory cause damage?

The CPU isn't being stressed due to overclocking, and if there is a limitation in the built-in Southbridge memory controller due to it's not being able to address above a certain amount, that would indicate it simply couldn't recognize the extra memory and therefore shouldn't be able to report it being there, or address it, or worse, the BIOS would report an error.

Looking at the spec sheets, the DDR3L memory buss is 64 bits wide, which is more than enough to address memory > 8GB.  The spec sheet shows that 4GB and 8GB DDR3L SODIMMs are supported, but interestingly doesn't show that 2GB DDR3L SODIMMS are supported, which also doesn't make much sense to me.

The one thing I do know, and that the spec sheets also mention, is that if the amount of memory is "unbalanced" between the two memory channels, the memory above the amount that is in the other channel will be accessed at half speed.  This is normal behavior for most computers. 

The volume 2 of the spec sheets says:

"The SoC implements 39 address bits providing 512 GB of addressable memory space for use by the CPU and devices."

This clearly shows that the built-in southbridge in the processor provides for a massive amount (512GB) of memory.  So I am really confused how having 10GB of memory (2GB onboard in one memory channel, and 8 in the SODIMM memory channel) will harm the processor.

Please provide a detailed and meaningful explanation of what the damage could be and what specifically would cause the damage to the processor by having more than 8GB of memory attached to the processor.

I look forward to your thorough explanation.

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Alberto_Sykes
Employee
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Hello phreich, You are very welcome, thank you very much for your response.


Sure, we will continue with our research on this matter to try to provide as many aspects as we can in reference to the information you are looking for, as soon as I get more details I will post all the updates on this thread.


Regards,

Albert R.


Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel


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Alberto_Sykes
Employee
2,008 Views

Hello phreich, I just received another update on this matter.

 

For this scenario, we understand that our answer sounds generic but we are limited to understand why your system is working with 10GBS instead of 8GBS. Intel® is just advising about the maximum memory supported by this Intel® Processor, based on our specification at Ark.intel.com, and because the CPU is embedded and the limitations or customizations are placed by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) our recommendation is to contact the OEM directly and confirm if there is a feature in the BIOS that is modifying, changing the system frequency or if that is the way that it was designed for.


What we can assure is that if the Intel® Procesor is performing well, and the OEM confirms that it is working under the design specifications, then there is no reason to worry about it.


Regards,

Albert R.


Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel


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