Emachines 8210 desktop

i have an Emachines 8210 desktop

This is my motherboard Intel D915GAG

i want to upgrade the memory it has 512mb currently, i did a crucial scan it says it will take 4gb but i have read all over the place that xp will not recognise anything over 3 or 3.5 is this true.

I want to max out the memory as i use alot of memory sapping apps

can someone please advise me in the simplest terms as i'm not very technological

Thanks in advance.

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Yes its true windows xp 32 bit can only use at most 4 gigs. But it will make a huge performance difference from 512mb. Go for it.

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Reply to festerovic

festerovic wrote :

Yes its true windows xp 32 bit can only use at most 4 gigs. But it will make a huge performance difference from 512mb. Go for it.

hi i dont think you quite understood my question i have read all over the place that xp will only recognise 3 or 3.5 gig but yet when i contacted intel they say 4 can someone please explain what is the truth, i dont want to WASTE my money on 4 only to find that the pc doesn't recognise 4 is there and only recognise 3 gig is there???

Reply to anonyy

It's because a 32 bit operating system can only see a maximum of 4 gigs - its not entirely about RAM. It has to do with address space, which is where the RAM gets recognized along with the RAM of video cards, and along with all the mobo components. They all need a slice of the address space pie. Since you are starting at a max of 4 gigs, a 512mb video card drops you to 3.5 gigs, then your mobo, with ethernet and audio controllers, and SATA and raid controllers, they eat up more address space. Typically people report 3 to 3.5 gigs available, but it really matters on your build.

Does that make sense?

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Reply to festerovic

festerovic wrote :

It's because a 32 bit operating system can only see a maximum of 4 gigs - its not entirely about RAM. It has to do with address space, which is where the RAM gets recognized along with the RAM of video cards, and along with all the mobo components. They all need a slice of the address space pie. Since you are starting at a max of 4 gigs, a 512mb video card drops you to 3.5 gigs, then your mobo, with ethernet and audio controllers, and SATA and raid controllers, they eat up more address space. Typically people report 3 to 3.5 gigs available, but it really matters on your build.

Does that make sense?

but does that mean that if i put in 2 gigs that the other parts of the computer will also eat into that as well, leaving me with less than 2 gig????

Reply to anonyy

No because it 2 gigs + .5 to 1 gig of motherboard related stuff = up to 3 gig.

If you had dual graphics cards with 512mb each (which need 1 gig of space pie) and 2 gigs of ram, and considering the mobo stuff added up to .5 gigs, you would use a total of 3.5 gigs of the pie. Now, if you had this same setup, but with 3 gigs of ram instead of 2, the total would be 4.5 gigs needed, which would reduce the amount of ram you could use (by .5 gigs).

So basically, everything added together needs to be under 4 gigs, and if it isn't the memory you have will be reduced until it fits in to 4 gigs. It doesn't and can't reduce the space for the mobo or the graphics cards and other stuff, that's why it always reduces the RAM when it goes over 4 gigs.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to festerovic

festerovic wrote :

No because it 2 gigs + .5 to 1 gig of motherboard related stuff = up to 3 gig.

If you had dual graphics cards with 512mb each (which need 1 gig of space pie) and 2 gigs of ram, and considering the mobo stuff added up to .5 gigs, you would use a total of 3.5 gigs of the pie. Now, if you had this same setup, but with 3 gigs of ram instead of 2, the total would be 4.5 gigs needed, which would reduce the amount of ram you could use (by .5 gigs).

So basically, everything added together needs to be under 4 gigs, and if it isn't the memory you have will be reduced until it fits in to 4 gigs. It doesn't and can't reduce the space for the mobo or the graphics cards and other stuff, that's why it always reduces the RAM when it goes over 4 gigs.

lol could i have that in plain english i am not that techie lol

Reply to anonyy

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