How does Vista 32 handle a system with 4 gig ram?

After 2 months of running Vista 64, I am finally at the end of my rope
with the IRQL BSOD's that happen at least once a day. The stop error I
have yet to figure out what is causing it. Took my XFI out of my system,
and still get it at random. I've tried different forceware drivers,
nforce drivers from nvidia, default ones on the os, nothing has fixed
the issue.

My system specs are:
MB ASUS P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe NF4SLI
VGA EVGA 7950GT
Intel E6600 2.4G
Creative X-FI Xtreme Music.


I am now going to go back to a more stable 32 bit os. My question is,
I have 4 1gig ram sticks. Will I only be able to use 3 sticks in 32
bit? If so, I may have to sell the other stick of ram if it won't work
or be recognized in vista 32.

Please advice. Thanks.


--
gizbug

You can use four sticks with 32bit Vista, but all 4gb will not show as
usable.. you will get anywhere between 2.8 and 3.5gb.. that is normal for a
32bit system.. the difference in what shows is down to individual
motherboard design..


"gizbug" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> After 2 months of running Vista 64, I am finally at the end of my rope
> with the IRQL BSOD's that happen at least once a day. The stop error I
> have yet to figure out what is causing it. Took my XFI out of my system,
> and still get it at random. I've tried different forceware drivers,
> nforce drivers from nvidia, default ones on the os, nothing has fixed
> the issue.
>
> My system specs are:
> MB ASUS P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe NF4SLI
> VGA EVGA 7950GT
> Intel E6600 2.4G
> Creative X-FI Xtreme Music.
>
>
> I am now going to go back to a more stable 32 bit os. My question is,
> I have 4 1gig ram sticks. Will I only be able to use 3 sticks in 32
> bit? If so, I may have to sell the other stick of ram if it won't work
> or be recognized in vista 32.
>
> Please advice. Thanks.
>
>
> --
> gizbug

--


Mike Hall
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/

You will 'see' about 3.5GB when using a 32 bit operating system. Portions of
the address space need to be reserved for hardware towards the high end of
the '4GB' address space provide by 32 bits of address space. You do not need
to remove the 4th stick, but you will not 'see' all of it.

Michael

"gizbug" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> After 2 months of running Vista 64, I am finally at the end of my rope
> with the IRQL BSOD's that happen at least once a day. The stop error I
> have yet to figure out what is causing it. Took my XFI out of my system,
> and still get it at random. I've tried different forceware drivers,
> nforce drivers from nvidia, default ones on the os, nothing has fixed
> the issue.
>
> My system specs are:
> MB ASUS P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe NF4SLI
> VGA EVGA 7950GT
> Intel E6600 2.4G
> Creative X-FI Xtreme Music.
>
>
> I am now going to go back to a more stable 32 bit os. My question is,
> I have 4 1gig ram sticks. Will I only be able to use 3 sticks in 32
> bit? If so, I may have to sell the other stick of ram if it won't work
> or be recognized in vista 32.
>
> Please advice. Thanks.
>
>
> --
> gizbug

On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 09:26:39 -0400, Michael wrote:

> You will 'see' about 3.5GB when using a 32 bit operating system. Portions of
> the address space need to be reserved for hardware towards the high end of
> the '4GB' address space provide by 32 bits of address space. You do not need
> to remove the 4th stick, but you will not 'see' all of it.

Correction - you will 'see' about 3.5GB when using a 32 bit MS operating
system. A 32 bit Linux operating system can access up to 64GB.


>
> Michael
>
> "gizbug" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>>
>> After 2 months of running Vista 64, I am finally at the end of my rope
>> with the IRQL BSOD's that happen at least once a day. The stop error I
>> have yet to figure out what is causing it. Took my XFI out of my system,
>> and still get it at random. I've tried different forceware drivers,
>> nforce drivers from nvidia, default ones on the os, nothing has fixed
>> the issue.
>>
>> My system specs are:
>> MB ASUS P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe NF4SLI
>> VGA EVGA 7950GT
>> Intel E6600 2.4G
>> Creative X-FI Xtreme Music.
>>
>>
>> I am now going to go back to a more stable 32 bit os. My question is,
>> I have 4 1gig ram sticks. Will I only be able to use 3 sticks in 32
>> bit? If so, I may have to sell the other stick of ram if it won't work
>> or be recognized in vista 32.
>>
>> Please advice. Thanks.
>>
>>
>> --
>> gizbug

ray wrote:
> On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 09:26:39 -0400, Michael wrote:
>
>> You will 'see' about 3.5GB when using a 32 bit operating system. Portions of
>> the address space need to be reserved for hardware towards the high end of
>> the '4GB' address space provide by 32 bits of address space. You do not need
>> to remove the 4th stick, but you will not 'see' all of it.
>
> Correction - you will 'see' about 3.5GB when using a 32 bit MS operating
> system. A 32 bit Linux operating system can access up to 64GB.

Total nonsense.
A 32-bit Linux system has exactly the same issue. This has absolutely
nothing to do with the operating system.
What may be confusing you is that some 32-bit Intel processors support
PAE, and you can use that (in Windows or Linux) to support more than 4GB
of memory on a 32-bit system.

Unfortunately, with the exception of Xeon-based systems, few
motherboards support it.

Alun Harford

It does'nt

--

http://www.goldwatches.com/watches.asp?Brand=39
"Alun Harford" <> wrote in message
news:%...
> ray wrote:
>> On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 09:26:39 -0400, Michael wrote:
>>
>>> You will 'see' about 3.5GB when using a 32 bit operating system.
>>> Portions of the address space need to be reserved for hardware towards
>>> the high end of the '4GB' address space provide by 32 bits of address
>>> space. You do not need to remove the 4th stick, but you will not 'see'
>>> all of it.
>>
>> Correction - you will 'see' about 3.5GB when using a 32 bit MS operating
>> system. A 32 bit Linux operating system can access up to 64GB.
>
> Total nonsense.
> A 32-bit Linux system has exactly the same issue. This has absolutely
> nothing to do with the operating system.
> What may be confusing you is that some 32-bit Intel processors support
> PAE, and you can use that (in Windows or Linux) to support more than 4GB
> of memory on a 32-bit system.
>
> Unfortunately, with the exception of Xeon-based systems, few motherboards
> support it.
>
> Alun Harford