diff --git a/hw/arm/raspi.c b/hw/arm/raspi.c
index 66899c28dc..fe2bb511b9 100644
--- a/hw/arm/raspi.c
+++ b/hw/arm/raspi.c
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
  */
 
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
+#include "qemu/units.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
 #include "qemu-common.h"
 #include "cpu.h"
@@ -175,6 +176,12 @@ static void raspi_init(MachineState *machine, int version)
     BusState *bus;
     DeviceState *carddev;
 
+    if (machine->ram_size > 1 * GiB) {
+        error_report("Requested ram size is too large for this machine: "
+                     "maximum is 1GB");
+        exit(1);
+    }
+
     object_initialize(&s->soc, sizeof(s->soc),
                       version == 3 ? TYPE_BCM2837 : TYPE_BCM2836);
     object_property_add_child(OBJECT(machine), "soc", OBJECT(&s->soc),