32bit OS ram limit

[titaniumx3]

Just to clarify, is it true that the RAM on a graphics card does not affect the memory limit on 32bit operating systems?

I currently have a 512mb graphics card, runnning XP 32bit with 4gb system ram and I only get 3.25gb showing up in windows.

If I get a 1gb graphics card, will I still have 3.25gb, or will it go down to 2.75gb?

 

[GhostMjr]

its only windows that limits your ram not your graffy card.

The 32 bit system stops this from happening.

Any 64 bit operating system will see all 4gb of ram.

 

[Kennysevenfold]

you should still see 3.25

 

[titaniumx3]

you should still see 3.25

Are you sure????

lol, sorry, but there seems to be an immense amount of confusion here. I've heard the following "theories" so far:

1) Graphics card VRAM directly affects the amount of usable system ram (i.e. you subtract VRAM from system ram).

2) Graphics card VRAM directly affects the amount of usable system ram but what windows reports as usable ram will be incorrect (e.g. if you see 3.25gb of system ram with a 1gb graphics card, you can't actually use all of that 3.25gb).

3) Graphics card VRAM does not directly affect the amount of usable system ram, but instead allocates a fixed amount of memory to grapics card, that is not affected by the amount of VRAM on the card.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Mine showed 3.5gb in XP 32bit with a 1gb card and 4gb System Ram

 

[titaniumx3]

Mine showed 3.5gb in XP 32bit with a 1gb card and 4gb System Ram before i switched to Win 7 64bit

Thanks!

Just hope that what XP reports is actually correct. I've heard that even though XP reports 3.5gb of ram, all of it not usable.

Anyway, I'm planning to move on to Windows 7, but XP feels too comfy, like an old armchair you don't want to let go of.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Thanks!

Just hope that what XP reports is actually correct. I've heard that even though XP reports 3.5gb of ram, all of it not usable.

Anyway, I'm planning to move on to Windows 7, but XP feels too comfy, like an old armchair you don't want to let go of.

You'll be amazed at the difference Win 7 makes, i could never go back to XP now, and i used it for years.

 

[Rroff]

The graphics card reserves some MMIO space from the 32bit address system - but not 1:1 with the amount of VRAM - typically 200-300Mb.

You could change GPU and see: less RAM, same RAM or more RAM even with a card with more VRAM than your current one.

 

[titaniumx3]

Aww crap, really got the itch for Windows 7 now. Will probably get an extra hard drive, install it on that and dual boot (though I have no idea how to do this).

Just don't want to mess with my XP setup as I need it for work and don't have the time to format/reinstall if something goes **** up.

 

[bosTRom]

I got windows 7 RC 64bit on my second HD.

Runs great but one big problem for me - Punkbuster dont work with it. So no COD 4 online for me.No fix either as PB don't support beta .

But other than that runs really good so far.

 

[thegoonden]

The graphics card reserves some MMIO space from the 32bit address system - but not 1:1 with the amount of VRAM - typically 200-300Mb.

You could change GPU and see: less RAM, same RAM or more RAM even with a card with more VRAM than your current one.

THIS^^^^

Remeber AGP cards?
Remember the BIOS setting for "AGP aperture"?
It's the same thing. You lose the amount of RAM which the card needs to reserve from the OS as an addressable area through which the card may be written to.


As an aside, I was thinking yesterday while battling a psychotic hard disc, that they did OK with 32bit on drives.....a 32bit os can access the equivalent of 64bits worth of drive space, it can have 4billion(ish) disc blocks, each of which, could, in theory be 4GB in size (my 1TB drive in me windows box has a block size of nearly 300MB.

Oh, and with 64bit the OS (well, windows...serious OS's are not so crippled), IS the limit, I believe that Vista64 is hard limited to 128GB of RAM, whereas 64bit can actually address 16EB (Exabytes), which seems a lot now, but will be minimum spec for windows 2025 no doubt.