Computer Memory

Whilst having enough RAM is vital for the smooth operation of your laptop, a question that is often asked is whether putting in too much will do any harm. The truth is, that whilst it might not do any damage, it won’t offer any real benefits.

In reality, the motherboard would likely recognise a lower amount of memory than you are aiming for, as it may misread the unexpected memory module as either not being there or as having a smaller capacity than it really does. This can even result in a system failure that will leave your laptop unable to even boot up until you remove the upgrade. 

For example, if you had two SoDimm slots for RAM with two 4Gb sticks in them (making a total of 8Gb) and your motherboard supports up to 8Gb, then exceeding it will achieve...well, not much. If you were to replace the two 4Gb sticks of memory with 2 x 8Gb sticks, then your laptop will likely either not turn on at all or it will only recognise one of the sticks, meaning you still have 8Gb total!

Ask an IT professional about exceeding recommended RAM memory specs and they will tell you that it shouldn’t be done, as all, it does it cause problems. You’re essentially plugging in something the computer cannot correctly recognise (as it’s not programmed to do so), so you can’t expect the hardware to be compatible, even if it seems like it ‘should’ work.

There is another fundamental reason that you won’t achieve higher capacity by exceeding the recommended limit and that is that the BIOS and the operating system are designed to see the lower amount, so will only recognise that amount, regardless of how much is placed in the slot.

Necessity

If you are in the position that you are struggling for parts for your laptop and you need to use modules that are too large for your motherboard, then this is the only occasion that trying it might be a good idea. There is a chance it could work for you and there is likely to be no damage caused by trying.

If you want our advice, then we would recommend not installing more than your laptop is recommended to support, as it’s just not worth the effort. If you have no other choice then it might be worth trying, as it may recognise at least some of the installed memory upgrade.

Founded in the same year as men first landed on the moon (1969), Mostek was a manufacturer of Integrated Circuit (IC) hardware that was created by a group of former ‘Texas Instruments’ staff that included Louay Sharif, L.J.Sevin, and Richard Petritz. To begin with, their manufacturing was carried out at their base in Massachusetts, but by 1976, the bulk of their operation had moved down to Carrollton, also in Texas.

Although many computer users today may never have heard of Mostek, they were THE name in the DRAM scene at the end of the 70s, holding an impressive 85% of the global market. This was until Japan entered the market in the early 80s, flooding the market with equally good RAM hardware for a lower price than Mostek could compete with.

Major Purchase
Not long after its absolute zenith around 1979, Mostek was bought out by US tech giant, United Technologies Corporation (UTC), for the princely sum of $350M. However, this proved to be folly, as just 6 years later, following a sharp decline in the company’s share of the market, Mostek was offloaded to Thomson SA from France for a much reduced $71m.

In contrast to UTC’s ill-fated purchase of Mostek, Thomson SA’s turned out to be inspired, as the intellectual rights to the x86 processor family and other major DRAM patents provided them with a windfall of royalty payments over the course of the 90s.

Trailblazers
During their heyday, Mostek were responsible for the creation of much of the fundamental technology that DRAM still relies on today. Concepts like address multiplexing came from the collective minds of this company and it changed the face of the technology forever, providing a platform for the high speed, high capacity memory hardware of the present day. It all started with Mostek.

Criticism
The approach now seen as revolutionary with hindsight was met with derision from Mostek’s competitors at the time, as they saw it as needlessly complicated. However, the team at Mostek understood the future potential of DRAM module designs that could multiply their capacity by a factor of four for every new pin included. Address multiplexing was the way forward and Mostek knew it, allowing them to effectively corner the market in the 1970s.

 

The sad fact is that Mostek could not compete with the aggressive entry of Japanese companies into the world market for semiconductors and the unmatchable pricing that they were able to offer. Factor in a subsequent price war between the Japanese and emerging Korean companies that ensued and there was simply no longer any room for this once globally influential enterprise.