32 bit OS 4gigs of ram

[inspector71]

So is it really a waste to use more than 4 gigs of ram in 32 bit operating systems?????

 

[badge]

So is it really a waste to use more than 4 gigs of ram in 32 bit operating systems?????

Four GBs is the maximum address space available. To put more RAM than the OS can address is self explanitory.

 

[mikrev007]

It depends on which 32bit OS it is

 

[badge]

It depends on which 32bit OS it is

A 32 bit OS is a 32 bit OS. Total address space is limited to 4 GB. OP needs a 64 bit OS to address more than 4 GB of RAM. This subject has been discussed over and over on the Forum. Please stop it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH









































HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

 

[neon neophyte]

i was confused for a second too. by win7 32bit. in win7 32bit all your ram shows up under system. but not all of it is used (apparently.) it causes some confusion.

 

[badge]

Not to be confused, a 32 bit OS has 4 GB of address space and no mo. Other hardware needing some of that 4GB limitation on a 32 bit OS will take up some the available total space, such as video card memory. So that is why a 32 bit OS will not have 4 GB address space available when 4 GBs of RAM is installed, the system has allocated part of the 4 GB available to other resouces. Catch this! A 64 bit OS IS NEEDED TO ADDRESS 4 GB OF RAM OR MORE. Vista 64 HP will address up to 8 GB. Vista 64 Ultimate will address up to 128 GB. Vista/MS recently made changes to allow 32 bit versions to show when 4 GB of RAM is installed. Because this question is asked 4,000,000 times per second each day and has beem explained over and over and over and over...

 

[badge]

Four GB or more system RAM can be installed on a 32 bit OS, but the system has a total aggregate 4 GB address space available. So, the extra RAM will sit idle, unaddressed.

 

[mikrev007]

No, badge, the x86 architecture is more complicated than that. Just because the OS is 32bit doesn't mean you are limited to 32bit physical address bus.

The 4GB limitation in XP/Vista/Win7 is artificial.

 

[badge]

No mikrev007, it is no more complicated than I explained it to be. Your 32 OS has a 4 GB memory address space. Nothing artificial is of the Forum member's concern.

 

[mikrev007]

Try and google "PAE". PAE has been mentioned a billion times in these forums

 

[badge]

No, badge, the x86 architecture is more complicated than that. Just because the OS is 32bit doesn't mean you are limited to 32bit physical address bus.

The 4GB limitation in XP/Vista/Win7 is artificial.

Readthis and maybe have someone read it to you and teach it to you. It will come in handy when you open your mouth in the future.

Various devices in a typical computer require memory-mapped access. This is known as memory-mapped I/O (MMIO). For the MMIO space to be available to 32-bit operating systems, the MMIO space must reside within the first 4 GB of address space.

For example, if you have a video card that has 256 MB of onboard memory, that memory must be mapped within the first 4 GB of address space. If 4 GB of system memory is already installed, part of that address space must be reserved by the graphics memory mapping. Graphics memory mapping overwrites a part of the system memory. These conditions reduce the total amount of system memory that is available to the operating system.

The reduction in available system memory depends on the devices that are installed in the computer. However, to avoid potential driver compatibility issues, the 32-bit versions of Windows Vista limit the total available memory to 3.12 GB. See the "More information" section for information about potential driver compatibility issues.

If a computer has many installed devices, the available memory may be reduced to 3 GB or less. However, the maximum memory available in 32-bit versions of Windows Vista is typically 3.12 GB.

 

[4745454b]

I have 3.25GBs. I hear there are some versions of Linux that don't have this problem. Haven't done any digging on it, anyone have any links?

 

[badge]

I googled,

The 4GB limitation in XP/Vista/Win7 is artificial.

Here is what I got.

 

[badge]

I have 3.25GBs. I hear there are some versions of Linux that don't have this problem. Haven't done any digging on it, anyone have any links?

The other .75 GBs and anything beyond are artificial in a 32 OS.

 

[mikrev007]

Readthis and maybe have someone read it to you and teach it to you. It will come in handy when you open your mouth in the future.

Are you mental? Did I not exclude xp/vista/win7?

The question was about 32bit OSes in general. And they have no problem addressing memory above 4G. Did you google "PAE"?

 

[badge]

Are you mental? Did I not exclude xp/vista/win7?

The question was about 32bit OSes in general. And they have no problem addressing memory above 4G.

I'll post it again for you to read. You obviously have a mental disorder that prevents you from from reading with comprehension. Have you considered drugs for those symptoms of yours? Try googling attention deficit disorder.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/en-us

Various devices in a typical computer require memory-mapped access. This is known as memory-mapped I/O (MMIO). For the MMIO space to be available to 32-bit operating systems, the MMIO space must reside within the first 4 GB of address space.

For example, if you have a video card that has 256 MB of onboard memory, that memory must be mapped within the first 4 GB of address space. If 4 GB of system memory is already installed, part of that address space must be reserved by the graphics memory mapping. Graphics memory mapping overwrites a part of the system memory. These conditions reduce the total amount of system memory that is available to the operating system.

The reduction in available system memory depends on the devices that are installed in the computer. However, to avoid potential driver compatibility issues, the 32-bit versions of Windows Vista limit the total available memory to 3.12 GB. See the "More information" section for information about potential driver compatibility issues.

If a computer has many installed devices, the available memory may be reduced to 3 GB or less. However, the maximum memory available in 32-bit versions of Windows Vista is typically 3.12 GB.

 

[mikrev007]

I repeat: Did I not exclude xp/vista/win7?

What do you not understand? If someone wants to use Linux or a server based version of Windows... that kb really doesn't apply.

Did you google "PAE"?

 

[badge]

Mikerev007, I'm busy loading up a new Vista 64 machine a relative purchased exclusively to address four gigs of non artificial RAM. So, don't wake yourself. This thread does not comcern you. Go back to sleep. By artificial methods if need be.

 

[badge]

Nighty night mikeyboy. Sweet dreams you little rascal.

 

[mikrev007]

You are a laughing joke, my friend.

But let me help you google. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778%28VS.85%29.aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_server_2003

Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition 128 GB

So go purcase that or any Linux variant. Dumbass.

 

[jitpublisher]

Go get'em badge.
I am just reading and laughing along, you certainly have a lot more patience with some of these people than I do.
And yes, this topic has been asked about, discussed, argued, discussed some more, and beaten completely into the ground more times than an average person can count on these forums.
Now, I cannot wait for the inevitable "well, I got an update for Vista 32 and now it is using all 4 gig of my memory..........."
Linux, who the hell uses Linux, and what for? That I am still trying to figure out.

 

[mikrev007]

jitpublisher, the thread did not originate in Vista. Stop talking about Vista, when that is not what I am debating.

(the end)

 

[inspector71]

Well i guess i should take 4 gigs out of the 8 gigs of memory i have running my xp and vista 32 bit OS and use the other 4 gigs on my new 32 OS build since thats the max memory i will get out of it. Right!!!!.... Unless anyone is gonna say anything different, but i think i heard enough 4 gigs max's out 32 bit os .

 

[Duesouth]

32 bit os only will see 3.25 gb of the 4 gb of ram that you install, I tested this
or
32 bit os only will see 3.25 gb of the 6 gb of ram that you install, I tested this
or
32 bit os only will see 3.25 gb of the 8 gb of ram that you install, I tested this

pretty much of a waste to go beyond 4 gb of ram for an 32 bit os system.
or
if you want to benefit from more then 4gb of ram go with an 64 bit os which physically see the 4 gb or 6 gb or 8 gb of ram and utilize it as it is meant
oh ya did I mention you must have a cpu that is an x86 architect. lol
daaaa

 

[gamerk316]

Stop it, stop it, stop it.

1: A 32-bit OS can only address up to 32-bits of space (4GB). Think of it this way: a bit can be either 0 or 1, and a 32-bit address is a combination of 32 stright 0's or 1's. That leaves 4,294,967,295 unique combinations (which happens to be exactly 4GB) that can be referenced by a single 32-bit string of 0's and 1's.

2: PAE implements the 36-bit mode on most newer Intel X86/X87 processors, which expands the supported memory space to 64GB. The downside is that the OS itself continues to use its own 32-bit address space and 32-bit instructions.

Think of it this way: In a 32-bit OS with PAE disabled, there is one address space that can hold 32-bits of data for the entire system and all connected devices. With PAE enabled, each process would get its own unique page table, in order to extend the address space to the supported 64GB. So even though up to 64GB is supported, each individual process can only access 4GB at one time, making PAE ineffective for singular processes that require large amounts of RAM. Hence, why X64-Windows makes much more sense, as it does not share this unique limitation of Window's implementation of PAE.

Worse, PAE at the OS level is unstable, at best. This is because all device drivers need to be written in such a way that the expanded address space and multiple page tables will not cause any instability. This, of course, is often not the case, and even one bad device driver can bring down the entire OS (hence why M$ focuses so much time ensuring device drivers are stable).

From Wikipedia:

In computing, Physical Address Extension (PAE) is a feature of some x86 and x86-64 processors that enable the use of more than 4 gigabytes[1] of physical memory to be used in 32-bit systems, given appropriate operating system support. PAE is provided by Intel Pentium Pro and above CPUs (including all later Pentium-series processors except the 400 MHz bus versions of the Pentium M), as well as by some compatible processors such as the Athlon and later models from AMD.

The x86 processor hardware is augmented with additional address lines used to select the additional memory, so physical address size is increased from 32 bits to 36 bits. This increases maximum physical memory size from 4 GB to 64 GB. The 32-bit size of the virtual address is not changed, so regular application software continues to use instructions with 32-bit addresses and (in a flat memory model) is limited to 4 gigabytes of virtual address space. The operating system uses page tables to map this 4 GB address space into the 64 GB of RAM, and the map is usually different for each process. In this way, the extra memory is useful even though no single regular application can access it all simultaneously.

For application software which needs access to more than 4 GB of RAM, some special mechanism may be provided by the operating system in addition to the regular PAE support. On Microsoft Windows this mechanism is called Address Windowing Extensions, while on Unix-like systems a variety of techniques are used, such as using mmap() to map regions of a file into and out of the address space as needed.

In short: While Windows could theoretically implement PAE to expand the address space to 36-bits, it is simply a far better option to switch to the more stable solution of switching to a 64-bit flavor.