Accessing more than 4gb from a 32-bit OS.

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I've also "known" (as far as I can tell) that a 32-bit OS has a limit to the amount of memory it can address, which people consider to be between 3 and 4.2gb. However, a colleague at work is currently insisting that his 32-bit OS at home can access all 16gb of his memory. He couldn't clearly explain how, but insisted that there was a workaround. I was hoping one of you OcUKers could help me. :)
 
Tell him "Screenshot or it didn't happen"

Can he use all his 16gb of ram or just detect that they are installed on his pc?

Afaik there is no way to make use of more than 4gb in a 32bit OS.
 
Theres not, its fundemental as the way a 32 bit OS can address memory. It's just not possible. Even if you had a screen shot Id say it was doctored, the only way I'd believe it is if I saw it myself.
 
when you switch on the comp, the pc runs through a test of memory. it can detect its all there but it does not use all of it.

the thing that i want to know is, is that memory capped at 3.2-4gb for both Ram memory and graphic card memory.

e.g. if its capped at 4gb. and you have 4gb of ram inside plus your graphic card @ 1gb. how does that work out?! any1 share some light?
 
VRAM and RAM come under the amount of memory the OS can address.

So 1024MB card with 4GB sticks, I think it will just use the GFX card memory and then 2.5MB of the system RAM. I'm unsure though.

Edit - I think using a x64 OS is a lot safer sturmtruppe? :p
 
LeJosh said:
VRAM and RAM come under the amount of memory the OS can address.

So 1024MB card with 4GB sticks, I think it will just use the GFX card memory and then 2.5MB of the system RAM. I'm unsure though.
Click to expand...

i got that atm on 32bit system. not that i'm struggling with anything but i think i'm going to buy another hard disk for 64bit. sounds a bit disappointing to have all that gear and use half of it lol.
 
One more thing,

How does he even have 16gb of ram?

Max you can get is 12gb. That's 6x 2gb.

Unless he managed to somehow get 4x 4gb which cost tons.
 
if i have 2 sata hard disks. 1 with 32bit and 1 with 64bit. does it give me the option before windows loads to which 1 i want to start?

edit....

sorry to go off topic to OP
 
asoxedri said:
if i have 2 sata hard disks. 1 with 32bit and 1 with 64bit. does it give me the option before windows loads to which 1 i want to start?

edit....

sorry to go off topic to OP
Click to expand...

In the bios I'm pretty sure you choose what one it would load first and it'd go into that. I don't think it's the same as having two OS's on the same drive.
 
asoxedri said:
i got that atm on 32bit system. not that i'm struggling with anything but i think i'm going to buy another hard disk for 64bit. sounds a bit disappointing to have all that gear and use half of it lol.
Click to expand...

Same here,i added 2x 1gb sticks last night for a total of 4gb,Windows see,s 3.25 gb.(i knew it would not see/use all though).
Reason i upped it was i "may" upgrade to Windows 7,before spalshing out on a new rig in the new year,finances allowing.
Have noticed the speed increase though,especially loading times,in particular DAO.
 
roddypoddy said:
Same here,i added 2x 1gb sticks last night for a total of 4gb,Windows see,s 3.25 gb.(i knew it would not see/use all though).
Reason i upped it was i "may" upgrade to Windows 7,before spalshing out on a new rig in the new year,finances allowing.
Have noticed the speed increase though,especially loading times,in particular DAO.
Click to expand...

no i knew the whole deal with 64bit and 32bit but i thought it was only related to RAM not the graphic card too. bummer i tell ya
 
raralis said:
One more thing,

How does he even have 16gb of ram?

Max you can get is 12gb. That's 6x 2gb.

Unless he managed to somehow get 4x 4gb which cost tons.
Click to expand...

He has 4 x 4gb sticks, and yes, he spent over £2000 on them (it was a fair few years ago now) - I would LOVE it if I could somehow prove to him that he's completely wasted his money, but he's very stubborn and ignorant, and wouldn't let me within 200ft of his computer if he knew my intention was to prove to him that he's made a massive mistake :p Unrelatedly he also insists that your 'real' downstream bandwidth is ALWAYS one eighth of the advertised bandwidth... when I explained he was just converting from bits to bytes he shook his head and said that he was already talking bytes. It's a shame to know that people are living under falsehoods, but some people are impossible to correct/enlighten.
 
You can use PAE

32bit Servers use it for accessing more than 4gb of ram

But in a 32bit OS, I think each app is limited to 2gb.


PAE works, but it's a bit of a hack to get it there, it causes instability with many drivers because they do not expect to encounter it

Using PAE on a home system is sheer lunacy. Should be running XP/Vista/7 x64


Sounds like your workmate is an 'IT Expert', I've met more of them than I care to recall
 
bledd. said:
You can use PAE

32bit Servers use it for accessing more than 4gb of ram

But in a 32bit OS, I think each app is limited to 2gb.


PAE works, but it's a bit of a hack to get it there, it causes instability with many drivers because they do not expect to encounter it

Using PAE on a home system is sheer lunacy. Should be running XP/Vista/7 x64


Sounds like your workmate is an 'IT Expert', I've met more of them than I care to recall
Click to expand...

Correct, PAE can do it, but only on server 2003 server 2008 or server 2008 r2, not on XP vista or windows 7.
 
What OS is he running?

Ask him for a screenshot of the System Properties page, and the Performance tab in Task Manger (screenshot of both at the same time)
 
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