Problem with new ram

[dannny]

prblm with ram

i just bought new ram of 2gb 850mhz

originally i had 2gb

now the total should be 4gb but system properties is showing

"3.25 usable"

i am unable to understand???

 

[kaweee]

That simply means you are using a 32bit version of Windows

To make use of all 4GB , you need to upgrade to a 64bit version

 

[dannny]

thanks kaweee

okay but why so in 32bit version of windows?

when i play games then how much is utilized?

 

[kaweee]

I'm not too sure about why but it seems like an OS limitation

Games shouldn't take too much ram so I wouldn't worry about it

 

[jsc]

Memory management is a pretty complicated subject, but basically a 32 bit operating system is built around an address space of 32 lines. 2^32=4GB.

But it is worse than that. Intel CPU's use memory mapped input/output - devices are assigned address space that then cannot be used for memory.

The end result is that you generally have around 3.25 - 3.5 GB RAM available.

64 bit OS can address 2^64 or 4GB*4GB or a bunch of RAM, well 16 exabites (16 x 10^18). Limitation is generally the motherboard.

 

[dannny]

thnx kawee & jsc

jsc what do you mean by motherboard limitation?

do you recommend me to upgrade to 64 bit?

 

[kaweee]

Just stick with 32bit, your programs will run absolutely fine.