Can I tell whether a computer has 1x16 GB memory chip or 2x8 GB chips without opening it up?

I have an extra 8 GB of memory on one chip left over from a team update. I know it'd fit inside a co-worker's laptop, but she currently has 16 GB and her computer only has two slots.

She's extremely busy, and our team lead, and I don't want to take apart her computer just to find I can't do anything. I'd like to have her look up what she already has before I raise her hopes. She's on Window's 10.

5 Answers

Two better answers:

1) Go to the dos command line ("cmd") and enter: "wmic memorychip list full"

2) Task Manager, Performance, "Slots used" (bottom right).

In addition to answer provided by Dark Matter I found this command line tool.

Command: wmic MEMORYCHIP get BankLabel, DeviceLocator, Capacity, Speed, PartNumber

C:>wmic MEMORYCHIP get BankLabel, DeviceLocator, Capacity, Speed, PartNumber

BankLabel Capacity DeviceLocator PartNumber Speed

ChannelA 8589934592 Bottom-Slot 1(left) M471A1K43BB1-CRC 2133

C:>

I can tell that I have 8 GB in 1 slot... 8589934592 bytes = (8589934592 / 1,073,741,824) = 8 GB

BankLabel column will tell you which slots the RAM chips are installed in. Capacity columns will tell you that how large each module is expressed in bytes. DeviceLocator is another entity to tell which slots the RAM chips are installed in. The PartNumber is the exact part you have installed; You can look up this part number online at your favorite parts store (Amazon.com, Newegg.com, etc), and find more specs there.

Command: wmic memorychip list full -- For full list of memorychip data fields

Lots more commands found here: TechNet Blogs: Useful WMIC Queries

Furthermore, use the following command to display the Number of slots you have on your motherboard and the Capacity for each slot.

Command: wmic MEMPHYSICAL get MemoryDevices, MaxCapacity

C:>wmic memphysical get MemoryDevices, MaxCapacity

MaxCapacity MemoryDevices

33554432 2

C:>

MaxCapacity is in kilobytes, so on my computer it is 32 GB max capacity per slot... 33554432 / 1,048,576= 32. That is 64 GB total max capacity.

Reference: Microsoft Docs: win32-physicalmemoryarray

Credit: How can I detect the amount of memory slots I have?

Credit: Command "wmic memphysical get maxcapacity" gives wrong number

I guess there is other ways but, there is a program called aida64(formerly everest or something). You can use it. Here is your link

You can use a very simple software called CPUID -

Some websites have plugins that allow you to discern this. One such is Crucial.

Run the advice tool on her machine.