How many Chrome tabs can you open with 2TB RAM?

Summary

This video takes a deep dive into building a high-capacity server system with 2 terabytes of RAM using specialized memory sticks from SK Hynix. It explains how load-reduced DIMMs and advanced memory architecture allow for such massive capacity, though it comes with performance trade-offs. The host tests the system's capabilities by opening thousands of Chrome tabs, eventually hitting practical software limits. Despite using only a fraction of the RAM, the test demonstrates the extreme performance potential of the system. SK Hynix's SSD is also featured as the boot drive. It's an engaging technical exploration of cutting-edge server hardware.

Takeaways

• 🖥️ The video explores the process of configuring a system with 2 terabytes of RAM, which typically requires exotic multi-CPU designs and specialized memory modules.
• 💾 Each RAM stick used in the system has a capacity of 128GB, allowing for a high total memory count.
• ⚙️ The system utilizes SK Hynix's load-reduced DIMMs (LRDIMMs) to overcome rank limitations, enabling more memory without performance degradation.
• 🚀 The memory in use operates at 2933 MHz, the rated speed of the AMD EPYC 64-core processor used in the build.
• 🧠 LRDIMMs reduce memory controller load by converting quad-rank memory to dual-rank, allowing more memory with a small latency penalty.
• 🖥️ The maximum limit for memory in Windows 10 Pro is exactly 2 terabytes, which matches the configuration in this test.
• 🌐 Chrome uses a large amount of RAM for tabs, with 5,000 tabs using about 132GB, but CPU usage becomes the limiting factor rather than memory.
• 🔄 The system starts to slow down significantly with over 6,000 Chrome tabs, reaching the practical limit of software responsiveness.
• 💻 Despite having resources available, the system becomes unusable beyond a certain point due to architectural limitations in Chrome and Windows.
• 💿 SK Hynix's Gold S31 SSD was used as the boot drive, which is part of their high-performance SATA3 SSD product line.

Q & A

What is the primary challenge in fitting two terabytes of RAM onto a single system?

The challenge is finding a way to use exotic designs like quad or eight CPU sockets, as even server-grade motherboards typically top out around 16 memory slots. Specialized memory modules like those used in the video are required to reach such capacities.

What special type of memory is used in this system to achieve two terabytes of RAM?

The system uses 128GB sticks of Load Reduced DIMMs (LR-DIMMs), which allow for higher capacity per module while maintaining stability and performance by reducing the load on the memory controller.

How does Load Reduced DIMM (LR-DIMM) technology work to handle large amounts of memory?

LR-DIMM technology uses a buffer chip to allow the CPU's memory controller to operate in serial mode. This reduces the load on the controller, enabling it to handle higher-capacity memory configurations without significant performance degradation.

What are the two methods mentioned for increasing memory capacity per module?

You can increase memory capacity by either adding more chips (placing them on both sides of the module or double-stacking them) or engineering the chips with more data areas or ranks (e.g., dual rank or quad rank modules).

What is the trade-off of using high-capacity memory like quad or eight rank modules?

Using higher capacity modules can lead to performance penalties, as the memory controller has limits on the number of ranks it can handle directly. As more ranks are added, memory speed may be reduced, and fewer slots can be populated without performance degradation.

Why does the system use SK Hynix's Gold S31 SSD, and what are its features?

The SK Hynix Gold S31 SSD is used as the boot drive for testing. It is a SATA3 SSD designed by SK Hynix for high performance and quality, with features like a 5-year warranty and availability in 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB capacities.

What is the significance of memory training when booting up a system with large amounts of RAM?

Memory training is a process that occurs when booting a system with new hardware configurations, where the system tests and optimizes memory timing. The more RAM installed, the longer this process can take, which is why it can take several minutes for the system to start with large memory configurations.

What is the maximum memory supported by Windows 10 Pro, and how does the system perform with that amount?

Windows 10 Pro supports up to 2 terabytes of RAM. In the test, the system had 2 terabytes of memory installed but only showed 0% memory usage when basic applications like Chrome were opened, as they did not demand much memory.

How did the system perform when loading thousands of browser tabs in Chrome?

The system was able to open 6000 Chrome tabs using only around 10% of its available RAM. However, performance started to degrade due to architectural and software limits, not memory constraints, as the system became sluggish despite having more resources available.

What were some of the performance bottlenecks observed during the test with 6000 Chrome tabs?

The main bottleneck was not memory or CPU capacity but the architectural limits of the software, particularly Chrome and Windows. Despite having plenty of RAM and CPU power left, the system became nearly unusable due to the strain on the browser and operating system.

Outlines

00:00

💻 Massive 2TB RAM System Overview

In this segment, the speaker introduces the concept of fitting two terabytes of RAM into a single system. They emphasize the unusual nature of this configuration, which typically requires high-end server-grade motherboards with many memory slots. The speaker highlights the use of SK Hynix's 128GB RAM sticks to achieve this capacity, and briefly mentions the use of an SK Hynix Gold S31 SSD as the boot drive for testing. The explanation focuses on the technical aspects of memory architecture, including server DIMMs and strategies to increase memory capacity through dual and quad-rank modules.

05:02

⏳ Memory Training and Initial Boot Delays

The second part discusses the booting process of a server motherboard with a significant amount of RAM, mentioning that the first boot can take a long time due to memory training. The speaker humorously references how it could take up to ten minutes for the system to turn on, followed by a wardrobe change joke. They reveal that the system eventually detects 2TB of memory and 64 cores running at 2933 MT/s. The speaker touches on Windows 10's memory handling limits, noting that the system runs at zero percent memory usage, even when opening Chrome with multiple tabs.

10:05

🌐 Testing Chrome's Limits with Massive RAM

This section shifts to testing Chrome's performance under heavy load, focusing on how many tabs the browser can handle with such an extensive RAM setup. The speaker experiments with opening hundreds of tabs and tracks how RAM usage steadily increases, but notes that Chrome's memory footprint remains minimal in the beginning. Despite having plenty of resources, the system's performance gradually deteriorates as more tabs are opened. Eventually, the test reaches a point where Chrome consumes significant CPU cycles and RAM, leading to slowdowns and unresponsiveness even though they haven’t fully maxed out the system’s memory capacity.

Keywords

💡RAM

RAM (Random Access Memory) is a type of volatile memory used by computers to store data temporarily for quick access. In the video, the main challenge is packing 2 terabytes of RAM onto a system, which involves using special high-capacity memory sticks. The video demonstrates how this large amount of RAM allows for extreme multitasking, such as opening thousands of Chrome tabs.

💡LRDIMM (Load-Reduced DIMM)

LRDIMM is a type of memory module that reduces the load on the memory controller by using a memory buffer. In the video, LRDIMMs are used to fit more memory into a system without overwhelming the CPU's memory controller, which allows the system to manage higher amounts of memory without major performance degradation.

💡Memory ranks

Memory ranks refer to the data areas within a memory module. Each module can have multiple ranks, with dual-rank and quad-rank configurations being common. The video explains that increasing memory ranks allows for more memory to be packed into each module, but at the cost of complexity for the memory controller. LRDIMMs are used to mitigate this issue by making quad-rank DIMMs behave like dual-rank ones.

💡ECC (Error-Correcting Code)

ECC is a technology that detects and corrects errors in memory data, ensuring stability and reliability. The video mentions that the server-grade memory used in the setup includes ECC functionality, which is important for preventing data corruption, especially in high-performance systems handling vast amounts of RAM.

💡AMD EPYC

AMD EPYC is a line of high-performance server processors, known for their large core counts and ability to handle heavy workloads. In the video, an AMD EPYC processor with 64 cores is used to manage the system's RAM and ensure high performance. However, the processor runs without simultaneous multithreading (SMT), limiting it to 64 threads, which is a notable aspect in the testing process.

💡SK Hynix

SK Hynix is a major global manufacturer of memory chips and SSDs. In the video, both the RAM and SSD used in the system are provided by SK Hynix, showcasing their high-performance products. The video highlights their new Gold S31 SSD, which is used as the boot drive during the testing of the system.

💡Memory training

Memory training is the process a motherboard goes through when it first boots with new RAM configurations. The system tests and optimizes the memory settings to ensure stability. In the video, the system undergoes this process, which can take up to 10 minutes due to the massive amount of RAM being tested.

💡Chrome tabs

Opening Chrome tabs is used in the video as a stress test for the system's RAM. With the goal of seeing how many tabs the system can handle, the video reaches over 6,000 tabs before the system becomes unresponsive. This serves as a real-world example of how extreme amounts of RAM can be useful in handling large workloads, but also reveals the software limitations of browsers like Chrome.

💡Memory density

Memory density refers to the amount of memory that can be packed into a single module. The video explains how techniques like double-stacking memory chips and using higher-rank modules can increase memory density. However, higher density can also introduce challenges, such as increased load on the memory controller, which is why load-reduced DIMMs are used in this build.

💡Windows 10 memory limit

The maximum memory limit for a Windows 10 Pro installation is 2 terabytes. In the video, the system maxes out this limit, which is a rare achievement for most personal or enterprise systems. This limit is relevant as it sets a boundary for how much of the system's RAM can be fully utilized by the operating system.

Highlights

Introduction of a system with two terabytes of RAM and the complexity behind its setup.

Special memory modules used: 128GB sticks from SK Hynix to achieve two terabytes of RAM.

Explanation of traditional registered server DIMMs and how they operate in parallel with the CPU's memory controller.

Introduction to quad-rank and dual-rank memory modules and the challenges they pose for memory controllers.

The use of Load Reduced DIMMs (LR DIMMs) to reduce the load on memory controllers, enabling the use of higher capacity modules.

LR DIMMs running at 2933 MHz with ECC (Error Correction Code) and memory buffer chips to support serial operation.

Limitations in motherboard memory slots: even with 16 slots, only certain configurations of dual or quad-rank DIMMs can be used without reducing speed.

Demonstration of booting the system with 2 terabytes of memory and setting up Windows 10 Pro, which has a maximum memory limit of exactly two terabytes.

Experiment on how many Chrome tabs can be opened, starting with 20 tabs and progressing to over 6000 tabs.

At 1000 tabs, Chrome used 132GB of RAM, with noticeable slowdowns but no impact on the available memory.

At 5000 Chrome tabs, CPU usage hit 69%, but only 10% of RAM was used, highlighting system inefficiencies.

At 6000 tabs, the system became nearly unresponsive, indicating limitations of the software rather than the hardware.

Memory usage hit close to 200GB when rearranging the tabs, but performance continued to degrade.

The practical limit of Chrome and Windows architecture was reached, not the physical memory of the system.

Conclusion: Even with 2TB of RAM, real-world usage is limited by software like Chrome and Windows, not hardware constraints.

Transcripts

two

terabytes of ram

how on earth do you pack two terabytes

of ram onto a single system i mean it

sounds crazy to say it out loud

and it is a little crazy i mean unless

you're looking at exotic quad or eight

cpu socket designs even a server grade

motherboard like this one from gigabyte

typically tops out in the neighborhood

of 16 memory slots so step one then

is we are going to need some very

special memory a single stick of this

ram

has more capacity than your entire

system one of these

is 128gb

of memory and naturally to hit two

terabytes as advertised in the video

title we are going to need

a lot of them

sk hynix is also promoting their new

gold s31 ssd every component of the gold

s31 sata3 ssd was produced built and

designed by sk hynix to meet their

quality and performance standards we're

going to be using this as our boot drive

during our testing and i'm going to have

a link to where you guys can learn more

in the video description

[Music]

i've got to ground myself here i'm

pretty sure sk hynix isn't sending me

more of these if i zap them so get ready

for a technical deep dive guys

traditional registered server dimms

operate in parallel such that

effectively each of the individual

memory chips on the module is wired

directly to the memory controller that's

built into the cpu so that's where all

the traces that you see running between

your memory slots and your cpu socket

come into play

now there are two ways that you can

increase the capacity of a memory module

you can add more chips by putting them

on both sides or by double stacking them

like we see here

or you can actually engineer the chips

themselves with more data areas or

ranks

a dual rank memory module might have

exactly the same number of visible chips

soldered onto it but it's effectively

like smushing two single ranked modules

into a single slot and a quadrant module

is like stuffing four modules into a

single slot

which is pretty cool if you need more

capacity but

it causes a small problem

the memory controller on a given cpu has

a limited number of ranks that it can be

wired into directly before performance

starts to drop off or it reaches a hard

limit so you might run into cases in the

server world where even though a

motherboard has you know let's say

16 slots you could populate all of them

with dual rank modules or only half of

them with quad rank modules and then

running at a reduced speed there's not

much point in doubling your memory

density if you cut away half of your

expansion slots and some speed right

like that's classic one step forward two

steps back

so we're getting around that problem

today using what's called load reduced

or lr dimms and there is a lot of

engineering packed into these they run

at a blistering 29 33 megahertz so that

is the rated speed of our amd epic 64

core processor and they have both

a ninth chip in each one of these rows

for ecc or error correction

and an extra memory buffer chip that

allows the processor's memory controller

to operate in serial mode this serial

operation causes a quad rank dim to load

the memory controller like a dual rank

dim or an 8 rank dim to operate like a

quad

now it comes with a performance penalty

but if you find any matching places

i'm not talking to you siri

what what even is this what are you

talking about

now it comes with a performance penalty

but if your workload requires a ton of

memory taking a small latency hit is a

lot better than not having enough ram at

all

set a good example

i love these sockets where you just

screw the cooler right into the

socket just need a boot ssd so all the

memory volatile or otherwise in our

system is actually made by sk hynix in

korea they're one of only a handful of

actual memory manufacturers

in the world and they've been making

ssds for years but it's only recently

that they branched out of just system

builders and enterprise users into

retail

so let's get windows 10 loaded up on

this puppy

moment of truth time server boards lack

a lot of the creature comforts of

consumer boards so we're just going to

short a couple pins turn it on

like i'm standing here eagerly waiting

but i'm not actually expecting it to do

anything anytime soon

every time you boot up a motherboard

with a new hardware configuration it

needs to go through a process called

memory training and the more ram you

have the longer it takes so this could

take like

10 minutes to turn on the first time

it may have taken long enough for a

wardrobe change lttstore.com

but we're up

2 million 97

152 megabytes of memory running at 29 33

million transfers per second

64 cores of processor goodness and i

actually got a cool tip from gigabyte

that apparently if you pop in here and

ignore all of this warning

stuff right here you can actually

overclock your memory on this platform

so it turns out the maximum limit for

installed memory for windows 10 pro

happens to be

boom you guessed it exactly

two terabytes so this is a bog standard

windows 10 install with

zero percent

memory usage

i could probably even open up

chrome and it would still be zero

percent before we proceed with our

entire test though i do plan to find out

just how many tabs we can handle i want

to have a look at what performance looks

like with our configuration it's worth

noting that our 64 core processor

actually doesn't have smt enabled so

it's only running 64 threads it's a bit

of an idiosyncrasy of this board right

now and i haven't spent any time

figuring out boom

52.44 seconds so we're not looking at

some kind of you know crippling

performance difference or anything like

that so we got to figure out a good way

to do this so brandon hit me with some

websites youtube

all right b h photo video i just got

some neopets in there you know linkedin

what are you talking about brandon what

are you doing on linkedin

oh she's sure yeah hey there he is

nope this is a terrible linkedin profile

all right it seems like he's

seems like he's sticking around

new grounds oh i love it and we'll head

over to the mkbhd store this is my

favorite uh 10 million subscriber

commemorative merch right here chrome is

actually using two and a half gigs of

ram right now doing

functionally nothing

so

it's a hog still it just doesn't make a

dent

it doesn't even register it's flatlined

so let's do it let's open all 20 tabs in

a new window yes i'm sure all right we

jumped from 5 to 5.8

now i wanna find out if cycling through

them actually increases it so we're

gonna control tab over through all these

tabs and see if it jumps

it's gonna slow us down quite a bit in

terms of how many tabs we can open per

minute here if we have to do that

and it looks like we don't

hey that's great news

so now this just becomes an exercise in

how fast can i click this is super dumb

i want a piece of paper

you know i'm going to start tallying how

many tabs i'm opening i need paper

update for you guys

at 200 chrome tabs we are now at 10 gigs

of ram and 1 usage 600 tabs 700 tabs 900

tabs 1 000 tabs

5

this is interesting neopets seems to be

our heaviest website first you take my

youth then you take my cpu cycles we are

up to 69 cpu usage well i think we're

gonna run at a cpu before we run out of

memory here guys we are over one stick

of memory use now

132 gigs chrome at least admits that

it's using over 100 gigs of ram now

power usage very high 5 000 tabs here we

go boys rent hey we're at 10 ram usage

now

so that's sick

but what's interesting is that in spite

of us having resources available to us

the system is getting slower and slower

and slower to the point where even when

this ad managed to load in i couldn't

help but notice it was running at a

super crazy low resolution look at this

here here's a perfect example it just

froze while it was playing back that's

what it looks like opening a hundred now

when we already have 5000 open in the

background was like opening up the first

500 when we did it now this is

interesting i was going to rearrange the

tabs to shoot the thumbnail and we got a

spike in cpu usage and i'm not sure if

memory actually changed but

check this out a bunch of these tabs

that were already open before are

reloading now so it seems like

interacting with the window

actually gets it to refresh but that

doesn't change our ram usage and since

that's what we're after i guess that's

still okay uh-oh

oh no

we might have hit our limit

brandon

brandon i'm rolling

we might have hit our limit brendan

but i want to get the thumbnail

if i have to open them all again to get

the damn thumbnail it's gonna suck

six

thousand

we're at the point now we're doing

almost anything in chrome on the system

i'm trying to combine a tab i

accidentally dragged out of a browser

window back into it and it just

it's not responsive enough to do it but

what oh hey

it did it

okay

so we got that

i mean gimp's managing to open up so

that's cool

we are just shy of 200 gigs of memory

usage now

and that's just from rearranging all the

tabs we were at closer to like 185

weren't we this is so weird check this

out this up here says amazon

but mkbhd is also selected and this is

an apple website

so strictly speaking we may not be at

the limit

but from a practical standpoint

i think we've reached the limit

oh no i think i just did the wavy thing

where everything minimizes

the system is completely unusable at

this point

look at them all go a right click

three four five six seven 25 20 there it

is

just shy of 30 seconds just to right

click

so

we only managed to use about a tenth of

our ram

half of our cpu

but we seem to have reached

architectural limits of the software

itself whether it's chrome or windows

and 6000 tabs is well beyond what is

actually usable in google chrome i hope

you guys enjoyed coming along with us on

the ride massive shout out to sk hynix

for sponsoring this video sending over

two terabytes of memory even though we

didn't manage to use it all

this time and of course providing their

gold s31 ssd for us to boot off of it's

available in 250 gig 500 gig and one

terabyte capacities it comes with a five

year warranty and if you're looking for

a high performance say ssd you guys can

check it out it is at the link in the

video description so thanks for watching

guys hope you had as much fun as we did

with this insanity

and we will see you in the next video if

you enjoy more server type content like

this we actually built a crazy nas a

little while ago you can check out that

video down below