Memory shown in Windows

[overclocker]

Hi guys, I got a set of DDR3 ram (2G x3) and I am using Windows Vista 32-bit. I know that the 32 bit version only shows 3GB of Ram in windows, but does it mean Windows only USE up the 3GB of ram and the rest is wasted? Or all the ram are used but it just doesnt show up?
Thx

 

[o1die]

It's wasted, but keep it anyway. It can't hurt when gaming, and you're unlikely to get all your money back by selling part of it. You may decide to switch to 64 bitt windows later, so I would leave it alone.

 

[ptolomy_was_right]

Hi guys, I got a set of DDR3 ram (2G x3) and I am using Windows Vista 32-bit. I know that the 32 bit version only shows 3GB of Ram in windows, but does it mean Windows only USE up the 3GB of ram and the rest is wasted? Or all the ram are used but it just doesnt show up?
Thx

Yep it's wasted. Useless. I had the same problem, so I just did the upgrade to win 7 x64 to get all my RAM usable. It well worth it, and the way things are moving, everything will be x64 soon. In x64 yr apps can use much more RAM (especially the x64 ones), and also security is much better because it's all fairly new so older security problems don't apply to x64 OSs. If yr a gamer (partic. using the massively system-resource-hungry Vista), x64 will serve you well.

 

[overclocker]

Something off topic, what is the major difference with x32 and x64 other from the ram thing?

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Doing your own research by doing a Google search for something like "32-bit vs 64-bit" would be recommended.

Here's what Microsoft has to say on the subject.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946765

Here's a Wikipedia article (both of these links were found by doing the above recommended Google search).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit

 

[ptolomy_was_right]

Something off topic, what is the major difference with x32 and x64 other from the ram thing?

A Microsoft Answers expert stressed the security thing as "the most compelling reason" to upgrade, though I beg to differ... I really wanted al my RAM usable