diff --git a/csrc/emulator.cc b/csrc/emulator.cc
index 3d211163..dd01bfc8 100644
--- a/csrc/emulator.cc
+++ b/csrc/emulator.cc
@@ -27,12 +27,15 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
   FILE *vcdfile = NULL;
   bool dramsim2 = false;
   bool log = false;
+  uint64_t memsz_mb = MEM_SIZE / (1024*1024);
 
   for (int i = 1; i < argc; i++)
   {
     std::string arg = argv[i];
     if (arg.substr(0, 2) == "-v")
       vcd = argv[i]+2;
+    else if (arg.substr(0, 9) == "+memsize=")
+      memsz_mb = atoll(argv[i]+9);
     else if (arg.substr(0, 2) == "-s")
       random_seed = atoi(argv[i]+2);
     else if (arg == "+dramsim")
@@ -65,7 +68,16 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
 
   // Instantiate and initialize main memory
   mm_t* mm = dramsim2 ? (mm_t*)(new mm_dramsim2_t) : (mm_t*)(new mm_magic_t);
-  mm->init(MEM_SIZE, tile.Top__io_mem_resp_bits_data.width()/8, LINE_SIZE);
+  try {
+  	 mm->init(memsz_mb*1024*1024, tile.Top__io_mem_resp_bits_data.width()/8, LINE_SIZE);
+  }
+  catch (const std::bad_alloc& e) {
+    fprintf(stderr,
+  	   "Failed to allocate %ld bytes (%ld MiB) of memory\n"
+  		"Set smaller amount of memory using +memsize=<N> (in MiB)\n" , memsz_mb*1024*1024, memsz_mb
+  	 );
+    exit(-1);
+  }
   if (loadmem)
     load_mem(mm->get_data(), loadmem);