4GB Memory requirements

I am shopping for a notebook and am considering a pre-built system that
ships with 4GB of memory and Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit) SP1.

I have tried to read through the myriad opinions in this forum and I am
still somewhat confused about whether or not I would be wasting my money
with this system. There seem to be some opinions that a 64 bit OS is needed
to use 4GB of memory.

In layman's English please, will Vista Home Premium (32-bit) SP1 allow me to
use all 4 GBs of the memory I would be buying with this pre-built system?

Not quite, a 64 bit os would be better. With a 32bit system on general
the most you can address is 3.2GB.


--
roy69

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"roy69" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Not quite, a 64 bit os would be better. With a 32bit system on general
> the most you can address is 3.2GB.
>
>
> --
> roy69
>

That's what I suspected BUT the sales rep insists that SP1 solved that
problem. I just havent been able to get a definitive answer to the question
without a lot of mumbo-jumbo that's way over my head.

"John Smith" <> wrote in message
news:. ..
> That's what I suspected BUT the sales rep insists that SP1 solved that
> problem. I just havent been able to get a definitive answer to the
> question without a lot of mumbo-jumbo that's way over my head.

SP1 will show all 4 GB of RAM, but it still does not USE all 4 GB of RAM.
It can't, it's a 32 bit limitation.

Either get 3 GB of RAM and save some money, or get 4 GB and 64 bit Vista.

You can force 32 bit Vista to use 4 GB RAM if the processor (CPU) of the
notebook you are going to buy
supports Physical Addressing Extensions (PAE). Ask your dealer or check
it out on the internet.
If PAE is supported, you should open Commnand Prompt (CMD), right click
its icon (run as administrator)
and enter the following command:

BCDEDIT /SET PAE ForceEnable

and press Enter.

This will force your OS use all your RAM.

Read more about it here:

'Enable support for 4GB of RAM (or more) in Vista 32-bit | Vista Home'
(http://www.vista123.net/content/enab...e-vista-32-bit)


--
raymundka

On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:39:41 -0400, John Smith wrote:

> I am shopping for a notebook and am considering a pre-built system that
> ships with 4GB of memory and Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit) SP1.
>
> I have tried to read through the myriad opinions in this forum and I am
> still somewhat confused about whether or not I would be wasting my money
> with this system. There seem to be some opinions that a 64 bit OS is
> needed to use 4GB of memory.

A 32 bit version of vista will use somewhere between about 3 and 3.5gb.
This subject is discussed several times each week. 32 bit Linux
distributions can use up to 64gb.


>
> In layman's English please, will Vista Home Premium (32-bit) SP1 allow
> me to use all 4 GBs of the memory I would be buying with this pre-built
> system?

"raymundka" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> You can force 32 bit Vista to use 4 GB RAM if the processor (CPU) of the
> notebook you are going to buy
> supports Physical Addressing Extensions (PAE).

No, you can't. Vista does NOT support PAE! Vista 32 is limited to about
3.2 GB of RAM.

> Read more about it here:
>
> 'Enable support for 4GB of RAM (or more) in Vista 32-bit | Vista Home'
> (http://www.vista123.net/content/enab...e-vista-32-bit)

This article is wrong in so many ways it is laughable.

Vista does support PAE!

read these articles:

'The system memory that is reported in the System Information dialog
box in Windows Vista is less than you expect if 4 GB of RAM is
installed' (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605)

'Boot Parameters to Configure DEP and PAE'
(http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa468629.aspx)

In order to force Vista support 4GB RAM and over, not only the cited
command line must be run but also DEP (Data Execution Prevention) must
be enabled.

There's also a command line to force Vista enable PAE with DEP
disabled.
You can find a command line for it if you carefully read the pages I've
linked,
although I can see no reason why DEP should be disabled.
I just cannot figure it out what Bob Campbell's statement is based on!


--
raymundka

"raymundka" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Vista does support PAE!
>
> read these articles:
>
> 'The system memory that is reported in the System Information dialog
> box in Windows Vista is less than you expect if 4 GB of RAM is
> installed' (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605)

No, it does not. Did you even read the above article?

QUOTE:

The reduction in available system memory depends on the devices that are
installed in the computer. However, to avoid potential driver compatibility
issues, the 32-bit versions of Windows Vista limit the total available
memory to 3.12 GB. See the "More information" section for information about
potential driver compatibility issues.

WORKAROUND
For Windows Vista to use all 4 GB of memory on a computer that has 4 GB of
memory installed, the computer must meet the following requirements:
.. The chipset must support at least 8 GB of address space. Chipsets that
have this capability include the following:
.. Intel 975X
.. Intel P965
.. Intel 955X on Socket 775
.. Chipsets that support AMD processors that use socket F, socket 940, socket
939, or socket AM2. These chipsets include any AMD socket and CPU
combination in which the memory controller resides in the CPU.

.. The CPU must support the x64 instruction set. The AMD64 CPU and the Intel
EM64T CPU support this instruction set.
.. The BIOS must support the memory remapping feature. The memory remapping
feature allows for the segment of system memory that was previously
overwritten by the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) configuration
space to be remapped above the 4 GB address line. This feature must be
enabled in the BIOS configuration utility on the computer. View your
computer product documentation for instructions that explain how to enable
this feature. Many consumer-oriented computers may not support the memory
remapping feature. No standard terminology is used in documentation or in
BIOS configuration utilities for this feature. Therefore, you may have to
read the descriptions of the various BIOS configuration settings that are
available to determine whether any of the settings enable the memory
remapping feature.
.. An x64 (64-bit) version of Windows Vista must be used.
END QUOTE

Read that last line again!

For the billionth time folks, 32 bit Vista CAN NOT use more than about 3.2
GB of RAM, regardless of how much you install and regardless of what SP1 now
reports. The 36 bit addressing provided by PAE does NOT work in 32 bit
Vista. It has been deliberately disabled because of driver
incompatibilities.

It does however, continue to work on 32 bit Server 2003 and Server 2008.
It also works on XP prior to SP2

Also DEP is processor dependent.

"raymundka" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Vista does support PAE!
>
> read these articles:
>
> 'The system memory that is reported in the System Information dialog
> box in Windows Vista is less than you expect if 4 GB of RAM is
> installed' (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605)
>
> 'Boot Parameters to Configure DEP and PAE'
> (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa468629.aspx)
>
> In order to force Vista support 4GB RAM and over, not only the cited
> command line must be run but also DEP (Data Execution Prevention) must
> be enabled.
>
> There's also a command line to force Vista enable PAE with DEP
> disabled.
> You can find a command line for it if you carefully read the pages I've
> linked,
> although I can see no reason why DEP should be disabled.
> I just cannot figure it out what Bob Campbell's statement is based on!
>
>
> --
> raymundka