Socket 775

[grmreaper]

I'm new here, so any help will be greatly appreciated.

I got a situation at work which has spawned a debate. We have a Dell Precision T3400 running a socket 775 processor and 4 GB of RAM running 32bit XP. They want to max out the boards RAM of 8 GB, but I said as long as they're running a 32bit processor, it won't recognize more than 4 (unless they upgrade OS's). If the CPU is a 64bit processor and running a 32bit OS, will it recognize more than 4GB?

 

[o1die]

That is correct. Any windows 32 bit version will only recognize about 3 gb of ram. The 64 bit vista version is your best value. Look for someone trying to get rid of one on your local craigslist. I've seen unused copies as low as $65.

 

[grmreaper]

thanks for quick response! Sad thing is, the ones arguing with me are the IT dept.

 

[jaguarskx]

Win XP 32-bit can recognize over 4GB of RAM with the help of a program (I forgot what it is called) that is generally installed onto servers since desktops don't really need excessive amounts of RAM.

I would simply ask the IT what program they are using to circumvent the 3.25GB - 3.5GB limit of good 'ol Windows XP.

If they are not using any special program (or patch), then let them learn from their own mistakes. Sometimes that's the best way to learn...

 

[moody89]

I'm new here, so any help will be greatly appreciated.

I got a situation at work which has spawned a debate. We have a Dell Precision T3400 running a socket 775 processor and 4 GB of RAM running 32bit XP. They want to max out the boards RAM of 8 GB, but I said as long as they're running a 32bit processor, it won't recognize more than 4 (unless they upgrade OS's). If the CPU is a 64bit processor and running a 32bit OS, will it recognize more than 4GB?

No, if you have a 64-bit capable CPU but you run a 32-bit OS then it still won't recognise 4GB of RAM. You need a 64-bit capable CPU to be able to use a 64-bit OS and you need both to be 64-bit to recognise more than 3.25 - 3.5GB of RAM. As jaguarskx said let them learn from their own mistakes. Unfortunately, in some work environments the so called 'computer experts' are really just keyboard experts! They know how to use MS Office etc. but don't really know an awful lot about computers at all...

 

[grmreaper]

they are of the 'its not as fast as I think it should be, so we're going to max out the RAM' mindset...for what we're using it for, 4 GB is plenty...

 

[moody89]

they are of the 'its not as fast as I think it should be, so we're going to max out the RAM' mindset...for what we're using it for, 4 GB is plenty...

It's amazing isn't it...adding RAM isn't going to make the system any faster if you're struggling to fill up 4GB, not to mention the fact that 32-bit Windows won't even recognise it. If it's speed & responsiveness they are looking for then why not upgrade the CPU or the HDD? RAM isn't exactly cheap nowadays either. Never mind it's their problem I guess!

 

[Collie147]

This was explained to me one day very logically, basically (taken from wiki) a computer said to be "32-bit" usually allows 32-bit memory addresses; a byte-addressable 32-bit computer can address 2 to the power of 32 = 4,294,967,296 bytes of memory, or 4 gigabytes (1 gigabyte = 1,073,741,824 bytes) while a "64-bit" computer can address 2 to the power of 64 = 16 exobytes of addresses.