diff --git a/hw/riscv/spike.c b/hw/riscv/spike.c
index 79ae355ae2..288d69cd9f 100644
--- a/hw/riscv/spike.c
+++ b/hw/riscv/spike.c
@@ -180,7 +180,6 @@ static void spike_board_init(MachineState *machine)
     const MemMapEntry *memmap = spike_memmap;
     SpikeState *s = SPIKE_MACHINE(machine);
     MemoryRegion *system_memory = get_system_memory();
-    MemoryRegion *main_mem = g_new(MemoryRegion, 1);
     MemoryRegion *mask_rom = g_new(MemoryRegion, 1);
     target_ulong firmware_end_addr, kernel_start_addr;
     uint32_t fdt_load_addr;
@@ -239,10 +238,8 @@ static void spike_board_init(MachineState *machine)
     }
 
     /* register system main memory (actual RAM) */
-    memory_region_init_ram(main_mem, NULL, "riscv.spike.ram",
-                           machine->ram_size, &error_fatal);
     memory_region_add_subregion(system_memory, memmap[SPIKE_DRAM].base,
-        main_mem);
+        machine->ram);
 
     /* create device tree */
     create_fdt(s, memmap, machine->ram_size, machine->kernel_cmdline,
@@ -326,6 +323,7 @@ static void spike_machine_class_init(ObjectClass *oc, void *data)
     mc->cpu_index_to_instance_props = riscv_numa_cpu_index_to_props;
     mc->get_default_cpu_node_id = riscv_numa_get_default_cpu_node_id;
     mc->numa_mem_supported = true;
+    mc->default_ram_id = "riscv.spike.ram";
 }
 
 static const TypeInfo spike_machine_typeinfo = {