Is It A Good Idea To Put Corsair Dominator - 4 GB On My Maximus Formula Motherboard, I Am Going To Run Windows XP 32-Bit. (Dual Channel) Or Should I Go With 2 GB?

32bit OS won't recognize the full 4gb, so it's a waste of ram. Other than that, no there's no disadvantage. 3.5gb is still better than 2. You might consider upgrading to 64bit OS though.

According to Microsoft you will still see an improvement going from 2 to 4 gigs on 32bit. Even though it does not show up, the operating system is still utilizing the additional ram (according to MS). I am running 4 gigs on 2 machines 64 and 32 bit versions of Vista. I am thinking about going to 8 gigs on the 64 bit machine since it is so cheap right now. I still use a 2gig swap file with 4gigs and would like to completely eliminate it.

Microsoft has limited the total address space in 32bit XP and Vista to 4GB, so you cannot take advantage of the last part, not even if your hardware supports it

Microsoft did not artificially impose this limit. It is due to the 32bit OS. The same applies to other 32bit OSs.

Both XP and Vista has a pae kernel, but it has been crippled. Otherwise it wouldn't have been a problem

Oop, here it is again. Put your fire proof hat on.

The best option to maximize the memory is to do 2x1GB and then a 2x512GB to stay in dual channel and not waste the extra 750MB with 4GB in 32-bit OS.

2x2 is cheaper than 2x1 + 2x512
and on most boards will give better support for OC, if that sounds interesting

Exactly, if you're going to jump through hoops like that, might as well just upgrade to 64bit OS.

I dont think I will be over-clocking or moving up to a 64-bit OS thx though. About the fire hat guy, what if my board only had 2 RAM slots lol , I have the Asus Maximus Formula I have 4 don't worry! I think I'm going 2 gb...

Uh...stupid me. I wasn't even thinking about price. Yeah if you find 2x2 for the same or cheaper, then screw it, waste the 750MB. 2GB works just fine with XP though. I can't believe how close to free that stuff is. The XMS2 2GB kit with the good heatsinks can be had for $33 after rebate. Geeeeez. Dominators for 39? Come on.