CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201)HardwareMedium
A technician is building a custom desktop PC. The motherboard specifies support for a maximum of 64GB of DDR4 RAM across four DIMM slots. If the technician wants to install the maximum supported RAM, which of the following configurations would be appropriate?
- ATwo 16GB DDR4 DIMMs
- BTwo 32GB DDR4 DIMMs
- CFour 8GB DDR4 DIMMs
- DFour 16GB DDR4 DIMMs
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Four 16GB DDR4 DIMMs
To achieve the maximum supported RAM of 64GB across four DIMM slots, each slot must be populated with a 16GB module (64GB / 4 slots = 16GB per slot).
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Two 16GB DIMMs would result in 32GB (2 * 16GB), not 64GB.
- B. Two 32GB DIMMs would result in 64GB, but would only use two of the four available slots, not the specified configuration for maximizing RAM if all slots are intended to be used, and might not be optimal for quad-channel if the board supports it.
- C. Four 8GB DIMMs would result in 32GB (4 * 8GB), not 64GB.
RAM Capacity Calculation
Determining the total amount of available RAM by multiplying the number of installed memory modules by the capacity of each module.
- Motherboard specifications dictate maximum total RAM and number of slots.
- Memory modules must be compatible with the motherboard's RAM type (e.g., DDR4).
- Populating all available slots is often done to maximize capacity or utilize multi-channel memory architectures.
Memory trick: To calculate RAM, 'Slots' times 'Size' equals 'Total'.