ASRock X99 WS-E memory compatiblity

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   Hello ASRock,
I have a pre-sales question with respect to the memory compatibility of your X99 WS-E board (http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/X99%20WS-E).
In the specs, the board supports RDIMM ECC memory (with a Xeon CPU). When the board was released, only 16GB RDIMM ECC memory modules were available, but now 32GB RDIMM ECC modules are on the market, e.g. the dual-rank HP 728629-B21 32GB modules (see http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/smartmemory/product-detail.html?oid=6987490#!tab=specs ).
I have also seen that there are already many BIOS updates available that "Improve DRAM module compatibility" (see http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/X99%20WS-E/?cat=Download&os=BIOS).
However, there is no extended info and I wonder: Does this board already support 8x32GB dual-rank RDIMM modules, i.e. 256GB RAM? This would make it a great mainboard for scientific computing!  
Thanks!

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orthoceros Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 17 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 6	Post Options Post Reply Quote orthoceros Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: ASRock X99 WS-E memory compatiblity Posted: 17 Jun 2015 at 2:08am
	Hello ASRock, I have a pre-sales question with respect to the memory compatibility of your X99 WS-E board (http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/X99%20WS-E). In the specs, the board supports RDIMM ECC memory (with a Xeon CPU). When the board was released, only 16GB RDIMM ECC memory modules were available, but now 32GB RDIMM ECC modules are on the market, e.g. the dual-rank HP 728629-B21 32GB modules (see http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/smartmemory/product-detail.html?oid=6987490#!tab=specs ). I have also seen that there are already many BIOS updates available that "Improve DRAM module compatibility" (see http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/X99%20WS-E/?cat=Download&os=BIOS). However, there is no extended info and I wonder: Does this board already support 8x32GB dual-rank RDIMM modules, i.e. 256GB RAM? This would make it a great mainboard for scientific computing! Thanks!

orthoceros Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 17 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 6	Post Options Post Reply Quote orthoceros Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 18 Jun 2015 at 3:33pm
	Is this not the right place to ask ASRock mainboard/RAM compatibility questions? Additional to the above question, I am interested in the compatibility of just four 32GB modules (RDIMM, dual-rank, with Xeon CPU). Already the original specs state that 128GB are supported, so this should work for certain, despite newer DIMM modules; is this correct? (Background idea: This would keep four DIMM slots free for a later upgrade to 256GB, if the current BIOS cannot yet handle 256GB...) Thanks for any info.

Xaltar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 25298	Post Options Post Reply Quote Xaltar Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 18 Jun 2015 at 3:38pm
	You are in the right place, tech support will have to take this one. Tech support sometimes takes a while to respond, often because they are testing in a situation like the one you mentioned. The RAM you listed was not available at the time of the board's release so I would imagine it would require testing and possibly a bios update if it will even work with such high density RDIMMs. Welcome to the forums

orthoceros Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 17 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 6	Post Options Post Reply Quote orthoceros Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 18 Jun 2015 at 3:52pm
	Great, thank you very much! Then I will patiently wait...

Cydona Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 19 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 2	Post Options Post Reply Quote Cydona Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 20 Jun 2015 at 12:04am
	I'll also be very curious to hear any feedback on this matter. I likewise would like to be able to populate with 4x32GB with the intention of adding 4x32GB in the future. Also on this matter, as well as any insight as to compatibility with dual rank modules, can you also please comment on compatibility with quad rank modules such as these Samsung M386A4G40DM0 These seem to be less expensive that the dual rank versions I have come across. Thank you for any insights! http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/file/product/DDR4_Product_guide_Dec13.pdf http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/product/computing-dram/detail?productId=8028&iaId=2427 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147384

orthoceros Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 17 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 6	Post Options Post Reply Quote orthoceros Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 24 Jun 2015 at 8:34pm
	>> compatibility with quad rank modules such as these Samsung M386A4G40DM0 These modules are LRDIMMs (load reduced DIMMs with an extra buffer chip), not RDIMMs. Hence, I fear, they do not work in the X99 workstation boards, unfortunately. However, there are already less expensive and system-independent 32GB RDIMMs on the market. For example the Transcend TS4GHR72V1C (with a good price tag at about 350EUR per module, specification: http://www.transcend-info.com/Products/No-682 ). This is also a 32GB RDIMM module with the same geometry (2Rx4) that is already supported by this board for 16GB RDIMM modules. So, in theory, there should be no hardware reason why it should not work... still, the BIOS must accept it. (Maybe this more "consumer-near" Transcend module is more suitable for tests by tech support?) Support for 256GB would really make Asrock workstation mainboards outstanding... I would buy it immediately. Still hoping for good news!

Cydona Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 19 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 2	Post Options Post Reply Quote Cydona Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 24 Jun 2015 at 9:10pm
	Missed that LRDIMMs bit on the Samsung ones. Thanks for the insight orthoceros.

vacaloca Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 05 May 2016 Status: Offline Points: 36	Post Options Post Reply Quote vacaloca Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 05 May 2016 at 8:23am
	I also would like to know if it's possible to use 8x32GB -- it seems that 4x32GB is already supported given the QVL posted: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/X99%20WS-E/?cat=Memory Crucial's CT32G4RFD4213 is DDR4 PC4-17000 CL15 Dual Ranked x4 based Registered ECC 1.2V, 4096Meg x 72 They only certified using 4pcs, so perhaps 128 GB is the maximum regardless for this board?

Xaltar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 25298	Post Options Post Reply Quote Xaltar Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 05 May 2016 at 12:38pm
	You will have to contact tech support on that, the official memory max capacity is 128mb but at the time of the board's release there were as yet no 32gb modules on the market so it may be possible now depending on the CPU installed (Xeon for high capacity).


vacaloca Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 05 May 2016 Status: Offline Points: 36	Post Options Post Reply Quote vacaloca Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 14 May 2016 at 4:18am
	Tech support claimed that 128 GB was the max. That being said, I got a 4x CT32G4RFD4213's from one vendor and another from a different vendor (all returnable, just in case), and with BIOS v1.8 I was able to boot with 160 GB into both Ubuntu 16.04 and Windows 7, and did some short Memtest 86+ 5.01 runs and it appears to register the entire amount. With BIOS 1.7 that the board came with, it is only possible to boot with 3x of the 32GB DIMMs, BIOS 1.8 fixes that (can boot with 5 sticks), and BIOS 3.2 breaks it again. Under 3.2, I can boot with 4x32GB sticks, but it only recognizes 3x of them... probably a regression on ASrock's part... that and since it was probably untested w/ new BIOS revision, and a niche market they don't imagine anyone will do it.... ;) Edit: I have confirmed that whatever issue that was causing the DPC latency before I re-seated the RDIMMs was also probably the reason why BIOS 1.7 and 3.2 could not recognize more than 3x32 GB RDIMMs. Retested both BIOS' on May 30, 2016 and I was able to boot with 128 GB with no issues. That being said, with this much memory installed, I'm seeing a strange issue with NVIDIA-based cards on bootup. Sometimes after a restart, it stops for maybe a minute at code 99 at the UEFI splash-screen and then recovers and continues the boot into GRUB and into Linux/Windows normally. This is the case for at least a CSM-based install of Ubuntu and Windows, although I believe booting Ubuntu from UEFI media tends to cause the same issue. It usually is fairly repeatable after restart, and is not influenced by putting the PC to sleep before the restart. It seems to go away after a hard shutdown and subsequent power up, where the delay resurfaces on next restart. This is similar to an issue I had with a X99 WS-E board from ASUS that was unstable when put to sleep, woken up, and restarted. The ASUS board, however did hang up with a QCODE and didn't recover. I'll do a bit more testing over the coming days most likely, but just thought I'd post a few findings so far on this. Edit: using a Xeon E5-1650 V3 for this, and also have 8x16GB UDIMMs on hand ... going to test which setup (UDIMM/RDIMM) is more stable when it comes to sleep/restart, as I can't afford to have the PC hang on boot when either of those happen. Edit 2: see next post, as code 99 slow boot is resolved w/ some UEFI settings changes. Edited by vacaloca - 31 May 2016 at 12:04pm