Vista 32 bit, video card RAM

[the epic ninja]

Heya, i've heard that 32 bit versions of vista have a max of around 4 gigs....but it only shows 3.13-3.5 gigs due to the memory used by the OS, or because of the maximum memory supported.

I've also heard that further ram is subtracted, depending on the memory of your video card.

I want to get a Sager NP8662 due to some awesome recommendations, and i'm wondering how much ram i should get with 32 bit (or if i should just get 64 bit, but i'd need to know all the issues with it) I was considering 4 gigs of ddr3 ram, but i'm guessing the video card (which is 1gig standard) will take away a gig, giving me 3 gigs. the OS would probably take some more ram, giving me about 2.5.

Another worry is this note on the laptop configuration page:

"** 32 bit OS editions have a memory limitation of 2.8 GB. Other hardware or application limitations may further prevent use of all installed memory. Windows Vista 64bit is required for memory configurations of 4GB and above."

does this mean that i will only have 1.8 gigs of ram if my video card takes 1 gig? this really scares me.

I also am thinking about getting the intel turbo memory module, but i've read a bunch of pages saying that it is relatively useless in games, and that it's cheaper just to get a flash drive or something.

What are your thoughts and recommendations?

 

[lostandwandering]

No. What is happening is that Windows 32-bit is allocated a small portion of that 4th GB of RAM and using it for PCI lanes and the Graphics. So generally your system will report 3.**GB of RAM. It usually won't matter what amount of VRAM you have.

I read some of this and it helped shed some light: http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17165

Also, you could just avoid all of this and get a 64-bit version of Vista. There are almost no compatibility issues anymore and they tend to actually cost the same.

 

[the epic ninja]

Ahhh, i see.
So, if i get 32 bit vista, it wouldn't be a bad option to get 4 gigs of ram.

But, for 64 bit vista, isn't there a problem concerning drivers that are unsigned? For example, i have the first generation G5 mouse (the orange one), and i have to install some random drivers on line to get SetPoint (the software to map out my buttons) to get to work. Also, I don't know if programs i use will be able to install with this "signature" problem.

 

[lostandwandering]

I believe that the majority of those issues were with XP 64-bit. I haven't heard of many problems with Vista. It seem developers are doing a better job of supporting their products. I may be wrong though, maybe Maziar or Frozenlead will chime in here and help.

 

[the epic ninja]

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=101472

"I'd say my biggest problem with Vista x64 is the lack of support for 3D CAD programs. I'm in mechanical engineering and I can't use solidworks or inventor in 64bit vista. They won't even let me install them, just tells me it's not supported

Initially there were a bunch of driver issues, but all of those have been resolved."

that's a gigantic con because i'm considering doing engineering in college...

 

[lostandwandering]

Well then..... lol.

If you are concerned with compatibility, then just stick with the 32-bit and either 3 or 4 GB of RAM. Your performance should be pretty good either way.