Hi Martin,

The 2900 supports 64GB of memory. The 2950 supports more.

The 8GB memory support for the 2950 was in version 2.3.1

http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER69419M/1/PE2950-020700BIOS.txt

System:         Dell(TM) PowerEdge(TM) 2950

Version:       2.3.1

Release Date:   05/23/2008

______________________________________________________________________

* Added support for Quad-Rank 8GB DIMMs

* Updated Intel(R) Memory Reference Code to revision 1.3.2

* Fixed possible system hang with Demand-Based Power Management enabled

* Fixed slow memory test for some configurations

* Fixed CPU error in Microsoft Windows Server 2008 operating system error log

* Prevent downgrading to BIOS version that does not support the installed CPU

or DIMM.

Here is the release notes for the 2900 version 2.3.1

http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER71602M/1/PE2900-020700BIOS.txt

System:         Dell(TM) PowerEdge(TM) 2900

Version:       2.3.1

Release Date:   05/23/2008

______________________________________________________________________

* Updated Intel(R) Memory Reference Code to revision 1.3.2

* Fixed possible system hang with Demand-Based Power Management enabled

* Fixed slow memory test for some configurations

* Fixed CPU error in Microsoft Windows Server 2008 operating system error log

* Prevent downgrading to BIOS version that does not support the installed CPU

or DIMM.

The 2950 II and III support 64GB with the appropriate BIOS version (8x8GB = 64GB).

The 2950 I supports only 4GB DIMMs (8x4GB = 32GB).

The 2900 likely did not get the upgrade the 2950 did (12 slots may not have been feasible) and supports a max of 48GB (12x4GB = 48GB), not 64GB.

Hi Josh,

Thanks for the info but do you know if there is an official specs sheet that documents this?

The only spec sheet I can find says it should support 96GB when 8GB dimms become available.

Thanks

Hi,

Thanks for your reply but I can confirm that 8 x 8GB DIMMs is possible in my 2900iii.

I'm sure you are right, but in order to document what really does and doesn't work, can you provide a screenshot of OMSA or something showing your server and the 8x8GB configuration working? And can you provide a link to the documentation you found that states 96GB is the max?

All I've seen indicates 48GB, and if 8x8GB works, that means that Josh's comment about 64GB being the max is correct, meaning he has access to some non-public documentation as well.

Even Crucial.com lists 48GB as the max:
http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Dell/poweredge-2900-iii

If 8x8GB works but 12x8GB doesn't, that may be a limitation of the chipset. You might try reading Intel's documentation to find out any limitations on channels, ranks, size, etc.

I am not finding anything, just what you found. What is the model of the memory that you have?

Josh, the spec sheet says " 48GB (double that when 8GB dimm become available)"

"http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/pe_2900_III_spec_sheet.pdf"

Based on this, I figure 96GB is the max. I already had 32GB (8x4GB), so I bought 4 x 8GB DIMM to make sure the M788D module was compatible. All was fine with 64GB so I bought 8 more M788D to replace my 4GB DIMMs to crank it up to 96GB. When I installed the 12 x 8GB DIMMs I had a message at system boot saying max supported is 64GB. But the spec sheet seem to imply otherwise, hence my search and this post.

Tx for any input

Martin

Hi theflash, ok I will post the snapshot tonight. tx.

Can you share the "internal stuff" here? Would be nice to have some documentation on where the limits are. I suspect it is the third slot per channel that is the issue, and the chipset doesn't support the third slot when the first two are occupied. But is that a size issue or a rank issue?

Actually, nevermind ... here it is. The Intel 5000X chipset supports a max of 64GB:

http://ark.intel.com/products/27749/Intel-5000X-Memory-Controller

I found internal stuff that says 64GB max, which seems to match what you are experiencing.

Hummm, that would have been good info to have in the original spec sheet !!! ;-(

So I guess there's no way I can upgrade this 5000X ?

Thanks a lot for the info.

mp 

Thanks for posting that. With a lack of documentation, that is bound to help someone else.

And the bios screen

Here's the boot screen and bios screen