Windows Vista forum: does vista's sp1 fix the 3 gig limit for the 32-bit versions

No...

by John.Wilkinson - 5/15/08 8:17 PM

In Reply to: does vista's sp1 fix the 3 gig limit for the 32-bit versions by ginkosu

Grif's quote summarizes it nicely, but to clarify, SP1 doesn't fix anything at all. SP1 enables Vista's 32-bit editions to report the full 4GB, but the 4GB will not be accessible 99.99% of the time. The amount of RAM reported without SP1 is all that is addressable/usable, and SP1's installation won't change that.

John

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SP1 is to fix the amount of memory to show more

by Basket628 - 5/16/08 1:44 AM

In Reply to: No... by John.Wilkinson

SP1 is to fix the amount of memory to show more

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My thought.

by R. Proffitt - 5/16/08 6:57 AM

In Reply to: No... by John.Wilkinson

MS was being pinged to do something even if cosmetic since the PC makers were getting deluged with support calls about where the ram you paid for was.

And John is right it didn't and I'll add can't cause the memory to be used in any usable way. To explain why requires a small class on architecture, history lessons and a little more about memory maps.

But it should reduce support calls on this.

-> Did the OP look at the 3GB switch for Vista?
Hint at http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=9583842&linkID=9242018

Bob

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Makes sense

by Willy - 5/16/08 2:00 PM

In Reply to: My thought. by R. Proffitt

It doesn't seem like a fix at all. Notification but possibility no full use of the ram installed. It a jerry-rig fix(report?) at that, IMHO. Oh well... -----Willy

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Information

by Dango517 - 5/16/08 8:23 PM

In Reply to: does vista's sp1 fix the 3 gig limit for the 32-bit versions by ginkosu

Basic:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/moredone/addmemory.mspx

Intermediate:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx

Advanced:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555223

About this last one; if you really want to know how much RAM your system is using see the items list at the bottom of this link and learn to use them. Do I know how to use them? No, but that's a way it can be done.

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Let's Hear It For PC Makers

by wexmary - 5/17/08 4:21 AM

In Reply to: Information by Dango517

For pushing 4 GB RAM on PCs running Vista without specifying that you MUST run 64-bit Vista to use the RAM.

Makes you wonder if next OS for Microsoft will truly be 64-bit.

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Windows 7 will be both 32-bit and 64-bit...

by John.Wilkinson - 5/17/08 9:05 AM

In Reply to: Let's Hear It For PC Makers by wexmary

The next version of Windows will be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions, though there is no word on Windows 8. Unfortunately it's not a Windows problem that causes the 3GB-4GB limitation...it's a 32-bit limitation, and thus affects other operating systems as well. It's a shame manufacturers don't make the limitation clear before purchase, though.

John

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RAM slots are standardized

by Dango517 - 5/17/08 4:23 PM

In Reply to: Let's Hear It For PC Makers by wexmary

this is so there isn't a different one on each motherboard you buy. In the world of computing the big players are business and government. PC users get the hand-me-downs. Those slots were made to provide for the needs of business. This will not be fixed, this is just the way it is. Two areas drive the development and improvement of computing...business and gaming. This being the case, then there needs should come first because in the end we will all gain.

If you would like to get exactly what you pay for, you could buy a motherboard with four slots instead of two then you could configure it to 3.5 GB of RAM but this would cost you more then you would save.

Sometimes things are not as they appear. The wider and deeper ones pool of understanding and knowledge the more one can see.

I think I just had a Zen moment. Ommmm.

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next MS OS

by bruceslog - 5/18/08 1:32 PM

In Reply to: Let's Hear It For PC Makers by wexmary

Bill Gates stated last week that the next Microsoft OS
( Windows 7 ) will be less memory and CPU intensive;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7 Read down to Bill Gates 2nd Quote, which is the third quote on the page.
Also here;
http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2008/05/12/gates-windows-7-will-take-less-memory-be-more-efficient

Hope the links work.

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32-bit OS addressing is limited to 4G...

by jgsilva - 5/17/08 11:38 AM

In Reply to: does vista's sp1 fix the 3 gig limit for the 32-bit versions by ginkosu

But that is after the hardware addressing.

I have a 4G machine running XP MCE. XP only uses 3G because the first gig addressed is used up by 2 512k video boards.

A dual boot machine with Vista 64-bit on the other side which addresses 5G.

Someone else made note the PC vendors sell 4G machines with a 32-bit OS. My vendor was Gateway.

Both duo and quad core processors can run a 64-bit OS.

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Can to fill us in on what PAE is then?

by R. Proffitt - 5/17/08 12:00 PM

In Reply to: 32-bit OS addressing is limited to 4G... by jgsilva

Of course it's like good old EMS from Intel 8088 days. I wonder who will remember that?

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http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291988/en-us

PEA, Physical Address Extension

by Dango517 - 5/17/08 4:28 PM

In Reply to: Can to fill us in on what PAE is then? by R. Proffitt

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"it may not work on all chip sets."

by R. Proffitt - 5/17/08 4:34 PM

In Reply to: PEA, Physical Address Extension by Dango517

Sadly I've read (and heard) people claim this as a fix. OUCH!

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This is the old way the new way is.......

by Dango517 - 5/17/08 5:21 PM

In Reply to: "it may not work on all chip sets." by R. Proffitt

DEP, Data Execution Prevention:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899298/en-us

This is what you will find in Vista. Disabling it is supposed to boost performance, a tweak.

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Mixed results on that one.

by R. Proffitt - 5/17/08 5:40 PM

In Reply to: This is the old way the new way is....... by Dango517

Since DEP is a hardware feature (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NX_bit ) when you find a claim it improves speed you have to wonder.

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hardware-based DEP

by Dango517 - 5/18/08 3:31 PM

In Reply to: This is the old way the new way is....... by Dango517

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=150

applies to the CPU not RAM.

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4 gigs, no more

by pjmarkert - 5/17/08 9:13 PM

In Reply to: does vista's sp1 fix the 3 gig limit for the 32-bit versions by ginkosu

32 bit os only can address a total of 4 gigs. if you have a 512 meg video card then 512m of address space is used by the video card, other devices use some of the space also. whatever is left of the 4 gig is mapped as ram.

Here is an analogy:
11 houses on a street.
All house addresses must be 1 decimal digit (0 to 9)
Video house always has priority to get an address
Only 9 addresses left for Ram houses
10th Ram house has no address, no way to get mail.

thhere are only 4gig possible addresses and video takes 1/2 gig, therefore only 3.5 gig addresses left for ram.

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make sense

by ginkosu - 5/18/08 9:45 AM

In Reply to: 4 gigs, no more by pjmarkert

thanks for explaining it like that, i understand how it works now.

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