Windows 11 Max RAM?

[chasemorgan2010]

will the max ram change in windows 11? home sku 1tb? pro sku 4tb? pro workstations sku 8tb? im not meaning storage, i mean ram.

[Meow]

It would be around 9EB (exabytes) since the 64 bit integer limit is around 9 quintillion.

Of course, Microsoft may decide otherwise. This is the maximum it could ever be.

[chasemorgan2010]

It would be around 9EB (exabytes) since the 64 bit integer limit is around 9 quintillion.

Of course, Microsoft may decide otherwise. This is the maximum it could ever be.

so you can install windows 11 home on 9 exabytes of ram?

[Random_User]

That's the signed max (in decimal units). The maximum 64-bit unsigned value is over 18EB (16EiB).

Also, bear in mind that that's only the upper-bound on virtual address space. The physical address space can be larger.

[chasemorgan2010]

That's the signed max (in decimal units). The maximum 64-bit unsigned value is over 18EB (16EiB).

Also, bear in mind that that's only the upper-bound on virtual address space. The physical address space can be larger.

wow, that's a lot of ram.

[JimOlive]

That's the signed max (in decimal units). The maximum 64-bit unsigned value is over 18EB (16EiB).

Also, bear in mind that that's only the upper-bound on virtual address space. The physical address space can be larger.

wow, that's a lot of ram.

No kidding, considering Petabyte drives barley exist (if at all), let alone Exabyte RAM.

[StormTetris]

No kidding, considering Petabyte drives barley exist (if at all), let alone Exabyte RAM.

Maybe in the far future, we might have a exabyte ram stick in our hands, but we will see.

[xelloss]

will the max ram change in windows 11? home sku 1tb? pro sku 4tb? pro workstations sku 8tb? im not meaning storage, i mean ram.

Is there even any readily available hardware capable of handling more than 8TB (surely if you have that much memory, you're going to run pro WS)? My recently bought sWRX8 motherboard maxes out at 1TB (assuming you can find 128GB DIMMs...). I guess some multi-CPU solutions can go higher than that, but how much higher?

64 bit operating systems tend to implement a smaller address space than the full 64 bit to keep the memory management data structures smaller and faster to search. Last time I checked, AMD64 architecturally allowed only a 48 bit virtual address space and a 52 bit physical address space (an actual CPU implementation can be more limited than that, to save CPU pins and perhaps even some flip-flops in cache tags...). I believe the reason for this limitation lies in the format of page tables. Perhaps this limitation could eventually be lifted, when we get close to reaching 256 TB/4 PB memory...

[Darkstar]

Current CPUs have a limited address space of 48 bits, so 256TB is the maximum any OS on current x86-64 CPUs can use.

I have not seen a system with more than 4TB of RAM myself though, I guess the practical limit is much less than 256TB

[chasemorgan2010]

will the max ram change in windows 11? home sku 1tb? pro sku 4tb? pro workstations sku 8tb? im not meaning storage, i mean ram.

Is there even any readily available hardware capable of handling more than 8TB (surely if you have that much memory, you're going to run pro WS)? My recently bought sWRX8 motherboard maxes out at 1TB (assuming you can find 128GB DIMMs...). I guess some multi-CPU solutions can go higher than that, but how much higher?

64 bit operating systems tend to implement a smaller address space than the full 64 bit to keep the memory management data structures smaller and faster to search. Last time I checked, AMD64 architecturally allowed only a 48 bit virtual address space and a 52 bit physical address space (an actual CPU implementation can be more limited than that, to save CPU pins and perhaps even some flip-flops in cache tags...). I believe the reason for this limitation lies in the format of page tables. Perhaps this limitation could eventually be lifted, when we get close to reaching 256 TB/4 PB memory...

samsung makes 256 gb ram sticks. if there is a 32 ram slot motherboard, 8tb ram will be possible. 256x32=8192.

[mrpijey]

Cleaned up the topic from irrelevancies, stay on topic please.

[saitimeless]

Maybe the maximum will be the same as for Windows 10? Because for me it seems that Windows 11 will be more like a service pack for Windows 10.

Windows 10 Home 32-Bit - 4GB
Windows 10 Home 64-Bit - 128GB
Windows 10 Pro 32-Bit - 4GB
Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit - 2TB
Windows 10 Pro for Workstation 32-Bit - 4GB
Windows 10 Pro for Workstation 64-Bit - 6TB
Windows 10 Enterprise 32-Bit - 4GB
Windows 10 Enterprise 64-Bit - 6TB
Windows 10 Education 32-Bit - 4GB
Windows 10 Education 64-Bit - 128GB

[Daghdha]

will the max ram change in windows 11? home sku 1tb? pro sku 4tb? pro workstations sku 8tb? im not meaning storage, i mean ram.

It's highly unlikely that MS will increase the max RAM in Windows 11 based on what was done for Windows 10.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/window ... windows-10
All of the 32bit edition have a limit of 4GB. Windows 10 Enterprise and Pro for Workstations being able to address 6TB at the most.
Windows Server 2019 has a maximum RAM of 24TB with 2022 slated to address 48TB.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/window ... parison-19

At most, there could be a doubling of the maximum RAM limit, but I doubt it. 6TB for Windows 10 Pro for Workstations or Enterprise is massive.

[AlphaBeta]

Current CPUs have a limited address space of 48 bits, so 256TB is the maximum any OS on current x86-64 CPUs can use.

It's 57 bits now. In fact, Windows 11 adds support for it -- that's what ntkrla57.exe is for.