3gb out of 4gb in xp 32bit home edition

PraxxtorCruel · 5 Jul 2010 at 22:48

Okay, I recently installed 4gb of ddr2 pc2-6400 ram into my dell dimension 8400. All went smooth, the computer reads 3 out of 4gb. I know 32bit can't handle more then 4gb or even close to 4gb. Am I wrong to think I could be getting a bit more, give or take 500mb? So around 3.5gb?

thepeganator · 5 Jul 2010 at 22:52

You get what you get unfortunately, can't really be upped.

Why not just go 64bit?

Mak3R · 5 Jul 2010 at 22:54

GPU may be hoarding 500mb ish for itself as well depending on what you have

PhoenixUK · 5 Jul 2010 at 23:05

it's 4GB total including all I/O devices, so anything like soundcard, gpu and any other external cards/devices will take some bits out of it, you could probably get around 3.8gb with onboard GPU, with dedicated one you'll be lucky to get more than 3.

sushi · 5 Jul 2010 at 23:51

32bit OS can only address around 3.2GB of memory. If you want to use it all you'll need to use a 64bit OS.

PhoenixUK · 6 Jul 2010 at 01:23

sushi said:
32bit OS can only address around 3.2GB of memory. If you want to use it all you'll need to use a 64bit OS.

4GB, no more no less.

Culinia · 6 Jul 2010 at 03:05

PhoenixUK said:
4GB, no more no less.

Indeed

2^32 = 4,294,967,296B / 1024^2 = 4,096MB

OP
either what PhoenixUK said or
*I'm not sure if this is applicable but when I upgradted 6GB>12GB on Win7x64 it said I had 9.49GB RAM. I reformatted and it then it showed I had 12GB...not sure what that was about
*also could it be a physical limit on the dell motherboard because I know there is a 3GB limit on one of my laptops motherboards although a quick google says that 4GB is supported so not sure

Whether or not you should install 64-bit OS with "just" 4GB ram is debatable e.g. drivers, lesser or equal performance with older 32-bit applications, no legacy 16-bit support, quicker at multi-tasking etc.etc.

FreeStream · 6 Jul 2010 at 15:58

Culinia said:
Indeed

2^32 = 4,294,967,296B / 1024^2 = 4,096MB

OP
either what PhoenixUK said or
*I'm not sure if this is applicable but when I upgradted 6GB>12GB on Win7x64 it said I had 9.49GB RAM. I reformatted and it then it showed I had 12GB...not sure what that was about
*also could it be a physical limit on the dell motherboard because I know there is a 3GB limit on one of my laptops motherboards although a quick google says that 4GB is supported so not sure

Whether or not you should install 64-bit OS with "just" 4GB ram is debatable e.g. drivers, lesser or equal performance with older 32-bit applications, no legacy 16-bit support, quicker at multi-tasking etc.etc.

Thats what dual booting XP 32 is all about, for those little annoying apps that hate 64 bit

Amnesia · 6 Jul 2010 at 16:56

Concorde Rules said:
Thats what dual booting XP 32 is all about, for those little annoying apps that hate 64 bit

yup best of both worlds

gamesaregood · 7 Jul 2010 at 23:55

Concorde Rules said:
Thats what dual booting XP 32 is all about, for those little annoying apps that hate 64 bit

Forget that, Win 7 Pro X64 with XP Mode

Corasik · 14 Jul 2010 at 21:43

PhoenixUK said:
4GB, no more no less.

Yes, but Windows 32bit can only allocated 2GB for kernel mode, and 2GB virtual address space for user-mode. In simple terms any 1 application on 32bit windows cant access more than 2GB memory, so having more than 2GB of ram quickly hits diminishing returns once you have enough for 1 big app, plus a bit left over for general operating system + a bit of multi tasking.

As soon as you switch to a 64bit windows, 32bit compliled apps can actually get a 4GB virtual address space and make use of it, and 64bit apps on 64bit windows can use as much ram as you have. (Limit depends on which version of windows, currently peaking at 128GB with Windows 7 Ultimate Edition).

Corasik · 14 Jul 2010 at 21:47

gamesaregood said:
Forget that, Win 7 Pro X64 with XP Mode

Didnt really find enough "Usefull" aps that dont work on 64bit windows anyway. Even with Windows XP 64bit, and Win7 is even more compatible. Sure there are some old 16bit apps, but who needs those these days

Plently of virtualisation software around, so you can run XP, DOS, or even Linux/Solaris etc which are just as good as XP Mode (If you have a licence for the older OS's lying around).

Fire Wizard · 14 Jul 2010 at 22:32

Corasik said:
Yes, but Windows 32bit can only allocated 2GB for kernel mode, and 2GB virtual address space for user-mode. In simple terms any 1 application on 32bit windows cant access more than 2GB memory, so having more than 2GB of ram quickly hits diminishing returns once you have enough for 1 big app, plus a bit left over for general operating system + a bit of multi tasking.

The user-mode virtual address space can be increased from 2GB to 3GB by using the /3GB parameter, or the increaseuserva option to increase it anywhere from 2GB up to 3GB. All though, for a process to take advantage of this, the process itself needs to be large address space aware, otherwise yes, it will only be limited to a 2GB of virtual address space.

Just something to take into account regarding the options highlighted above though, by doing so, you will be reducing the virtual address space available for system use, which could potentially cause issues.

As soon as you switch to a 64bit windows, 32bit compliled apps can actually get a 4GB virtual address space and make use of it, and 64bit apps on 64bit windows can use as much ram as you have. (Limit depends on which version of windows, currently peaking at 128GB with Windows 7 Ultimate Edition).

32-bit processes only have access to 4GB of virtual address space if they're large address space aware, otherwise they're still limited to 2GB of virtual address space. 64-bit processes are also limited to 2GB of virtual address space unless they're also large address space aware. Though, the large address space aware option should be the default in x64 world.