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Vista 32bit/ max memory

Forum Windows Vista : Vista General Discussion - Vista 32bit/ max memory

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keith97   01-24-2007 at 05:23:02 PM

What is the max memory supported by vista32? Will it have the same 3gb limit XP has?

It looks like most people are going with vista 32 which will mean vista 64 won't get much attention with drivers/development. So I will probably go with 32 unless the cap is 2gb of memory.

They should have made Vista a 64bit only release.

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Zyxthior   01-24-2007 at 06:58:03 PM
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First, maximum supported RAM for Windows XP is 4GB's, not 3GB.

Second, making Vista a 64-bit ONLY would be DUMB. Think about it. In order to upgrade to Vista you have to ENSURE you're using a 64-bit CPU (not too bad....) AND you have to replace ALL you applications and drivers with 64-bit versions. While you may say "So what"...think of the Corporations that have THOUSANDS of machines that would suddenly need a new MS Office license..... Adoption of Vista would be slowed WAY down....

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Anonymous   01-24-2007 at 07:16:39 PM
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Try putting 4 gig in a 32bit windows and you will be greated with somewhere around 3 gig.

The limit of 32 bit adressing is 4 gig, but other ressources require adressing so the maximum memory you can use is around 3gig. I would assume that Vista is the same.

It does run really smooth with 2 gig, altough when multitasking(IExplore, torrents,msn,etc) it takes up to 1.25 which is a lot. When running some encoding or even some games I think I can max out the 2 gig fairly easily...

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keith97   01-24-2007 at 07:56:29 PM
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I was afraid of that, I hate to build a new computer with no room to grow ram wise since ram requirements are always increasing. I might take the leap with the 64bit version.

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Zyxthior   01-24-2007 at 07:57:38 PM
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I'll stand corrected then as I've never 'actually' put 4GB's in an XP system (I myself run with 2GB's fine). I was quoting off the 'stated' max.

I wondering if addressing in the paging file (virtual memory) counts towards the 4GB max?

I never really had problems with 1GB....but moved to 2GB's a year and a half ago when Battlefield 2 first came out.

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cisco   01-25-2007 at 08:41:34 AM
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This is one thing I am trying to consider with the purchase. I was running the 64bit Vista RC1 and it is very ram hungry. I have 2 gigs now and it ran very well but I could tell it used a lot of resources. When I switched back to XP it felt like going from XP to Win98. I can definitely see in about 1 year to 18 months looking at 4gigs the way we look at 2gigs today. And that is my problem with buying the 32bit version today, it's like a bandaid. I hate buying OSs anyway and don't want to have to pay for another one in a year. I really hope driver support and apps will be more available for the 64bit version this time around versus XP 64bit.

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