Highly anticipated: Are you in the unlikely position of finding that 64GB of RAM in your PC just isn't enough? If so, here's some good news: Intel has revealed that users of its upcoming 9th-generation processors will soon be able to pack 128GB of DDR4 into their systems.
Intel unveiled the flagship Core i9-9900K, i7-9700K, and i5-9600K, along with its new Z390 chipset, last week. Now, the company has confirmed to Anandtech that one of the benefits of these CPUs is their ability to support 128GB of RAM. An update will arrive "in a few months' time" that will enable the increase in system memory capacity.
Adding 128GB of RAM to a consumer system with four memory slots is made possible through support for double height double capacity 32GB DDR4 modules, as well as the new 16Gb DDR4 chips from Samsung.
"The new 9th Gen Intel Core processors memory controller is capable of supporting DDR4 16Gb die density DIMMs which will allow the processors to support a total system memory capacity of up to 128GB when populating both motherboard memory channels with 2 DIMMs per Channel (2DPC) using these DIMMs. As DDR4 16Gb die density DIMMs have only recently become available, we are now validating them, targeting an update in a few months' time," said Intel, in a statement.
Considering that you can spend over $550 on 64GB of DDR4-2666 RAM right now, expect 4x32GB kit prices to be pretty eye-watering---probably over the $1200 mark. For most people, 128GB is massive overkill, but it will likely be welcomed by professionals who don't want to go down the full workstation route, and those looking for bragging rights.
Ultimately, users of small form-factor PCs may benefit most from the double height memory modules, as they will allow 64GB (2x32GB) to be packed into small volume systems. We saw the first signs of this back in May, when Samsung announced it had started mass production of the world's first 32GB DDR4 SoDIMMs designed for gaming laptops.