does vista 32bit use 4gb ?

[kmufc77]

hi im using vista 32bit with ddr2 667mhz 3gb

i used to run in dual mode with just 2gb ram is that faster in dual mode than having 3gb with 3 sticks of 1gb?

if i get a 4 stick to make 4gb would 32 bit vista use it or would i have to use 64 bit vista, would having a 4gb then go back to running in dual mode
hope this makes sense guys

many thanks in advance

 

[helmutcheese]

No, no 32bit OS can, you get about 3-3.5GB depending on your GPU RAM (so they claim).

 

[Berserker]

Yup, that's basically correct (the maximum is typically 4GB less the size of your GPU's RAM and some additional overheads). It's a design limitation of the 32-bit architecture (a 32-bit CPU is limited to a 4GB address space).

Some 32-bit OS'es (typically the more expensive Windows Server versions and some varieties of Linux) implement workarounds, but I won't go into details as it's of no help to the OP. These issues should go away with 64-bit OS'es.

As for the other question, you can run in Dual Channel mode with 2x 1GB and 2x 512MB for a total of 3GB, but not with 3x 1GB. It's very likely you would notice losing half your memory bandwidth.