XP reads only reads 3 gigs? right ?

[drakaun]

Ok , in roughly 6 weeks I will have enough to build another PC for gaming. I am still goin to stay on XP till i think Vista is ready. So im going to buy 2x 2 gig sticks of ddr2 800 dual channel , 4 gigs total. What I need to know is will XP actually USE 3 gigs with it set up? I would say yes, just want to make sure..i want 4 gigs in now for when i switch to vista , ill be ok. I do realize i might not even use more than 2 gigs in gaming currently...but nothing like a sense of I HAVE ENOUGH From waht ive read XP reads only 3 gigs...some say 3 and half?

 

[jRides]

I think the GPU would eat up a chunk of the 32bit maximal 3.4-3.5Gb so with a 768Gb card I've seen reports that the systems are reporting 2.7-2.8Gb. Barely worth it until you upgrade to vista 64. Unless your buying a quad set (like this corsair set).

The more cost effective way would be to get a couple gigs of good RAM now, and when your ready for vista, pick up the same again for a lot less than your getting them for now. I plan to order the RAM alongside vista, you'll get no real noticeable benefit from it just now.

Of course this is only what I have read, not firsthand knowledge. Also, I have no idea just how much an improvement 4Gb of matched RAM will offer over 2x2Gb's of matched RAM, but I would doubt its worth the extra £60-£70 you would pay right now.

 

[drakaun]

Yeah, Ill get 2 gigs for now. Save me some more cash and get PC sooner Thanks for the help..peace

 

[Falken699]

Good plan, go with 2x2. Xp only uses 2 to 3 gigs well, and I heard that it takes your videocard ram as part of the sum. The sweet spot is 2 Gigs, but ram is pretty cheap now, and your upgrade path is sound... Be sure to go Vista 64 though to use all your ram. Also, Vista won't be "ready" to most people on this site until you can play Crysis DX10 without probs, so I'd use that as an indication, but you'd be waiting quite some time...

 

[nukemaster]

You will in most cases see 3.0 to 3.25 gigs.

Its a limit of the 32 bit addressing system. Also note that no single app can use more then 2 gigs(not sure if it's a part of the 32-bit thing as well....but...yeah). so the extra should be only added for lots of multi tasking.

Hope this helps some

 

[mrmez]

I recently went from 2Gb - 3Gb
Until it uses over 66% now its probably a waste. So far no game has used over ~50% (1.5Gb)
Have yet to do video editing.

32Bit os like xp and vista 32 can only address 4Gb of TOTAL system memory. Ie gfx card, ram nic, s card etc.

XP64 and vista64 will be able to address more ram than your borad can handle.

2Gb should be fine for now imo.