i.MX 8M, DRAM selection, bring up procedure

[jetigm]

Hello to all,
need help to clarify some questions regarding DRAM selection to the i.MX 8M.
I am trying to design a custom board very similar to the original MCIMX8M-EVK board and at the moment I am having the most difficulties with a DRAM selection and future bring up procedure understanding in case of using a DRAM different from the original one.
Did a research about how much memory various boards contain and this is 1-4GB LPDDR4.
1. What minimum amount of memory can be placed to the board in case if not to start heavy load apps, just to Linux boot and some basic hardware functionality testing?
2. What are the relationships between DRAM and software?
3. Will I have to change the software components if the part-number of the DRAM IC will be changed compared to the IC that is on the original MCIMX8M-EVK board? I will pan to use this one MT53B256M32D1NP-062 AIT:C TR (8Gb=1GB (256M x 32)) as a replacement.
4. Will the original Linux (L4.9.88_2.0.0_images_MX8MQ) for the MCIMX8M-EVK board work with different DRAM IC?
5. If software has to be changed then what exactly software components has to be changed?
6. Will I have to use the i.MX8 MSCALE SERIES DDR Tool if:
   a: the memory size will be the same as on the original MCIMX8M-EVK board but the part number will be different?
   b: the memory size will be different from the original MCIMX8M-EVK board?
7. What is the bring up procedure could be look like if the DRAM IC will be changed?
Is there any resources to study regarding a DRAM selection and related bring up procedure?

[igorpadykov]

Hi Anton

one can look on What is the minimum amount of RAM required to run Linux kernel on an Embedded device? - Stack Overfl... 

for NXP software seems 256MB memory still can be used for linux.

For other questions one can look at documentation included in ddr test package, in particular 

Chapter 4 How to bring up a new MX8MSCALE board MSCALE_DDR_Tool_User_Guide.pdf
i.MX8 MSCALE SERIES DDR Tool Release (V2.10) 

Best regards
igor
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