Vista 32bit and 4GB RAM?
Jun 21, 2008 at 4:45 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 6

Rob N

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Is it worth putting 4GB in Vista 32bit?

I know that Vista now recognises 4GB but can it actually use it
 
Jun 21, 2008 at 4:53 PM Post #2 of 6
Theoretically you should be able to, but you have to remember that with the amount of memory that the OS reserves for things such as video RAM, etc..etc, you won't be able to take advantage of all 4gb of memory.

I am running a 64bit Vista OS, and it IS capable of doing so, obviously.

Another way to do it would be to install a motherboard capable of more than 4GB.

Then you'll want an OS thats capable of handling things in Physical Address Extension mode. With Vista, you can BCDEdit to enable PAE.

BCDEdit /set

Bottom line, vista can support it if your hardware is up to snuff.
 
Jun 21, 2008 at 5:14 PM Post #3 of 6
hmm, from what i gather (and i may be wrong), a 32bit OS, and that is any OS can only use 3 and a bit (i dont know how much of a bit it is, but it might be .5) gig of RAM. AS such, 4 gig is acceptable, but you willbe wasting about 500mb, which is not much. it is often more advisable to go 2, or even 3 gig with a faster memory, if you motherboard can support it. something lik 1066, or even 1333 should be good. but, i always believe, that the faster is better than more at this sort of level.
 
Jun 21, 2008 at 5:48 PM Post #4 of 6
Quote:

Originally Posted by gautam /img/forum/go_quote.gif
hmm, from what i gather (and i may be wrong), a 32bit OS, and that is any OS can only use 3 and a bit (i dont know how much of a bit it is, but it might be .5) gig of RAM. AS such, 4 gig is acceptable, but you willbe wasting about 500mb, which is not much. it is often more advisable to go 2, or even 3 gig with a faster memory, if you motherboard can support it. something lik 1066, or even 1333 should be good. but, i always believe, that the faster is better than more at this sort of level.


guatam, you are correct. As delivered, any Vista 32bit OS will only allow you approx 3.25gb of mem.

The easy way to be able to use 4gb is to buy a PC with 64bit installed.....however quite a few of the OEM's are unwilling to sell one as an option, probably because of driver & various compatibility issues that could arise at the user end.
 
Jun 21, 2008 at 6:34 PM Post #5 of 6
Realistically 3.2 is about the most that will be available for use. There is a WinXP extended version that would allow 12GB before going to the 64 bit versions.
 
Aug 1, 2008 at 5:35 AM Post #6 of 6
Stick with the 2GB you have as you wont see much in performance with vista 32bit. You can always wait for the new windows 7 if you don't want to switch to 64 bit as of yet. (Not too many drivers for me)
 

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