How to Find the Maximum RAM Capacity of Your Computer

When you purchase a new desktop or laptop, it works out to be much more affordable to go for a cheaper model first and later upgrade the RAM to its maximum performance. The question is, how much RAM can your computer take? Is it already at its maximum, or is there still room for an upgrade? Follow this easy-to-understand guide to find out how much RAM your computer currently has and the maximum RAM capacity it supports.

Find Out How Much RAM Your Computer Has

After this, use Ctrl + Shift + ESC to open the taskbar and size up your RAM limits. It gives the number of slots you have, the clock speed per slot, the kind of RAM you have (DDR3 or DDR4), and how much is available.

Mac users can select “About This Mac” from the Apple menu to know their chipset information and RAM memory values.

Linux users can make use of the software hardinfo to get detailed information about the system, including memory information.

Find Out the Maximum RAM Your Computer Can Support

Windows

Windows users can determine the maximum RAM capacity in the Command prompt with the command below. It gives the final value in kilobytes which can be converted to gigabytes (divide the value by 1048576 to convert KB to GB).

wmic memphysical get MaxCapacity, MemoryDevices

The above example shows that my maximum RAM capacity is 8 GB. If your motherboard has two memory slots, it means the maximum RAM capacity per slot is 8 / 2 = 4 GB.

macOS

The easiest way to find out a Mac’s RAM details is to check “About This Mac,” which will identify the memory module type and speed, how many RAM slots there are on the Mac, and which slots are in use.

1. Pull down the Apple menu and go to “About this Mac.”

2. Click the “More Info … ” button to summon System Information.

3. Look under the “Memory” tab for information about your Mac RAM, including maximum capacity, used memory slots, and which type of RAM the Mac accepts.

Linux

To find the maximum RAM capacity in Linux, you can make use of the command dmidecode, though it is not installed by default in most distros.

1. Install dmidecode:

#ubuntu/debian
sudo apt install dmidecode
 
#arch
sudo pacman -S dmidecode
 
#Fedora
sudo dnf install dmidecode
 
#openSUSE
sudo zypper in dmidecode

2. Run the command:

sudo dmidecode -t 16

It will give you information about your memory capacity.

In my case, my Linux computer has 4 memory slots and 128GB maximum RAM capacity (32GB per slot).

After finding your computer’s maximum RAM capacity, if your computer supports more memory than it currently has, you can proceed to upgrade your RAM and give your computer a performance boost. Don’t forget to check out the things to take note of when buying a RAM. And if you ever run out of memory on Windows, use these tricks to free up memory on Windows.

Related:

• How to Fix High Memory Usage in Linux
• What Is RAM Timing and Why Does It Matter?
• Use Zswap to Improve Performance on Linux PC with Low Amounts of RAM