Does Win 7 fix the 4GB RAM problem in Vista?

System Specs:

Intel Core2Duo E8500
4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 HyperX RAM
Nvidia Geforce 8800 Alpha Dog edition 512MB 650 MHz
P5N7A-VM Mobo (nVidia 9300 iGPU)
Windows Vista Home Premium 32

I've got the annoying problem of Vista only recognising something like 3.2-3.5GB or RAM instead of the full 4GB. If I switch to 64-bit Win 7, will this problem dissappear, or will it still allocate video memory out of my RAM?

I'm still very confused about how the iGPU works in HybridSLI, like where its memory and processing power comes from. If I change the iGPU frame buffer size in the BIOS, does Vista allocate, say 512MB, out of my RAM to the iGPU, or how does it work?

thanks for the help guys

Yeah, the 4GB "problem" isn't a "Vista" issue, it's a 32-bit issue. A 64-bit OS (XP, Vista or Windows 7) will be able to access more than 4GB of memory.

you can have up to 16 GB of memory in Windows Vista/7 x64
i believe its even higher (128?) in Windows Ultimate

so i was close

I'm referring to what MS officially supports... not unsupported hacks. Besides, why waste your time with 32-bit workarounds when 64-bit is quickly becoming the standard? Secondly, no home user is going to be able to make use of more than 16GB of RAM anyway. Thirdly, finding drivers that are "large address aware" is extremely difficult.

hacking a 32-bit system to run w/ more RAM is kinda inefficient doe to inherited limitations of the technology

By the time the next MS OS rolls out, I'm predicting that 64-bit will be the standard with a few 32-bit holdouts. If MS decides that it's next OS will be 64-bit only, then that pretty much signals the end of the 32-bit OS. After all, 64-bit Windows is still fully capable of running 32-bit programs... so continuing to offer both won't make a lot of sense... especially when more 64-bit apps start hitting the market.