Get the RAM type detail description from WMI

Question

I use the following command: wmic path Win32_PhysicalMemory get TypeDetail to get the type detail value. It returns: 16512. From the docs: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/cimwin32prov/win32-physicalmemory

Only the following values are available:

Reserved (1) Other (2) Unknown (4) Fast-paged (8) Static column (16)
Pseudo-static (32) RAMBUS (64) Synchronous (128) CMOS (256) EDO (512)
Window DRAM (1024) Cache DRAM (2048) Non-volatile (4096) Nonvolatile

But there is no description for value: 16512. So, my question is: how to get the description for this value? Thanks.

Answer 1

The documentation appears to be incomplete. The WMI Win32_PhysicalMemory TypeDetail property maps to the "SMBIOS|Type17|TypeDetail".

If you look in the SMBIOS specification you can see the values of the bitfield that can be stored in this property. Take a look at System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) Reference Specification.

The value 16512 corresponds to binary 0100000010000000. Table 77 in the specification indicates that these bits correspond to Synchronous and Unbuffered.

Answer 2

I have found out the following: when break down the value 16512 to bits, we'll see that bits 7 and 14 are set. From SMBIOS (DSP0134_2.7.1.pdf) spec, section 7.18.3 Memory Device — Type Detail, we can see that bit 7 indicates Synchronous and bit 14 indicates Unbuffered (unregistered). So, in my case it will be: Synchronous and Unbuffered (unregistered). The issue is resolved. Thanks.