Decisions: could use some help: ram 32 bit vs 64 bit

[bobthemailman]

Hi guys,

New system,
Core 2 duo 2.66 ghz
and 8800 640mb gts

Now here is my question, Im building a new system, and I want 4gb of ram, however 32 bit vista doesn't support that because the memory mapping so here is my questions.

Is there any serous down side to 64 bit, like can I run all my programs with it ect..?


And, If I get 32 bit with 4gb of ram do I loose dual channel? Theoretically I would have 4 sticks allowing me to run dual channel, but the system only detects 3.12 so will i still get the full dual channel?

 

[djbrad007]

Hi,

I have a E6600 with 8800GTS 640mb and P5W DH Deluxe.

All my softwares run ok on Vista x64, and I got 4gb ram.

However, I have a dual boot of xp x86 and vista x64, because gaming is better (performance) on xp.

With memory remapping, I got 3gb ram on XP and 4gb ram on Vista.

3gb is enough for XP.

 

[LoneEagle]

3.12 is only because the rest can not be accessed. This is not related to dual channel or not, but OS limitation.

However, that an interesting question. How the third and fourth stick will be divided for the 1.2 remaining? 600MB * 2 or 1GB + 200MB or divided equally between all four? Hummm... This is I believe a BIOS management. Anybody have an answer?

 

[LoneEagle]

Oh! I forgot to tell you that I have Vista 64 with 4GB of RAM. I play BF2142 and that game is working fine. I read elsewhere that other games are also working well.

I would recommand you to move to Vista 64. With 4GB, Vista 64 is great. I even reduced the paging file to 512MB, so no more swapping. I am just waiting SP1 where there will be more improvement and bug fix.

 

[mitch074]

to answer the addressing question: the 'remnant' is stuffed at the end of addressed memory. On dual channel, it means an equal split between the 'end' of the last pair of sticks.

 

[LoneEagle]

So, it is around 600MB for the last two sticks. Cool! Thanks for the answer.

 

[kcrush]

Vista x64 works just fine with games just so long as you have the latest drivers.

You will lose some performance in Xp vs. Vista, but there isn't any real difference between the 32 bit and 64 bit performance wise.

And as for the not addressing all 4 GB of ram, Vista can. But MS for some reason has buried that info on its site. You need a hot fix, which for some reason they refuse to put in a normal patch, that can be downloaded and allow your vista system to access all 4GB.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929777

It doesn't matter of you get the error or not this will allow Vista to see all of the RAM, notice there is a 32-bit version and a 64-bit version.

I've used the 64-bit version. I only recommend it if you have 4GB of RAM and can't see it all in Vista.

 

[notherdude]

And as for the not addressing all 4 GB of ram, Vista can. But MS for some reason has buried that info on its site. You need a hot fix, which for some reason they refuse to put in a normal patch, that can be downloaded and allow your vista system to access all 4GB.

Not sure what you mean by saying this patch allows Vista to address all 4 gig. I thought that patch was just to allow you to get around a problem trying to install Vista if you had more than 3 gig.

In any event if you have 32 bit Vista there is no way you are going to use all 4 gig, you will end up with 3 gig +/-, that's why people are switching to 64 bit. We have done this issue to death here.

To use all 4 gig of your RAM you need;
1. 64 bit processor (current AMD and Intel core 2 chips will do it)
2. A motherboard and chipset which supports memory remapping
3. A 64 bit os

There were and perhaps still are some workarounds for other OS such as Windows server and at one time there was a workaround for XP, but MS no longer includes this on 32 bit consumer OS probably because of driver and other related issues the workaround caused. It involved using PAE.

To answer the OP; yes, get 64 bit, no one seems to be having any real serious issues with Vista 64 at this point and it has beccome a very popular option for enthusiasts and hardcore gamers. There may be some minor issues here or there but I doubt youd run into much on a brand new system. That's the only way you will see all 4 gig. I use Vista 64 and 4 gig and it works great.

I'd get 2, 2 gig sticks instead of 4, 1 gig.

 

[LoneEagle]

When I installed Vista 64, I had to remove 2GB else I would get the BSOD. Once installed, you must install that patch, reboot, then shutdown and install remaining RAM.

 

[bobthemailman]

Ok, thank you, I think I will be fine with Vista 64bit, but just out of curiosity, what happens to duel channel with a 4gb system that can only map 3+-?

according to M$ vista will not allow more than 3.12 or something around there, and possibly less, because it can only map a total of 4gb of memory, that includes all memory on the system, such as graphics card and everything.

But I would assume that the duel channel is done by the chipset, but I would also assume that the chipset maps the memory so im not sure.

 

[notherdude]

according to M$ vista will not allow more than 3.12 or something around there, and possibly less, because it can only map a total of 4gb of memory, that includes all memory on the system, such as graphics card and everything.

That's Vista 32. Vista 64 can handle 4 gig and more. That's the main attraction of 64 bit OS at this point.

You will never loose dual channel so long as you follow the dual channel rules about populating the slots.

On 32 bit OS when you end up with 3.2 gig or whatever useable RAM you still have dual channel functionality, so long as the slots are properly populated.