Windows Vista Tips

Windows Vista Tips > Newsgroups > Windows Vista General Discussion > Re: Vista32bit & 4Gb ram

Reply
Thread Tools Display Modes

Re: Vista32bit & 4Gb ram

 
 
RalfG
Guest
Posts: n/a

 
      05-28-2009

"tony" <> wrote in message
news:N5dTl.214806$2...
> Yet again, a major rewrite of Vista and still no support for 4Gb ram as
> was promised in pre-release of Vista blurb years ago.....
> Tony


You're just misunderstanding the situation. A 32 Bit OS can only access a
maximum of 4GB memory. Vista 32bit version can access a maximum of 4Gb of
memory too but that memory does not equate to only user RAM. A portion of
that total memory space is required for all the assorted hardware installed
in the computer, including graphics card memory. The amount required can
vary from system to system. IOW any memory space required by the hardware
(eg. 512MB installed on a video card) takes up a portion of the total
4Gbytes of memory that Vista can access and only the remainder that is left
over can be used for RAM memory. With 4GB of RAM installed and a 128MB video
card you might be able to use 3.2 to 3.5 GB of the RAM but if you put in a
graphics card or SLI combo with 1GB of video memory your usable RAM would be
reduced to something less than 3GB.

 
Reply With Quote
 
 
 
 
Luis Armelin
Guest
Posts: n/a

 
      05-29-2009
Tony,
You are right....
I have a ASUS motherboard with 4GB installed, and my Windows Vista Ultimate
SP1 display that I have 4GB on system propriety. But it isn't true, because
on BIOS, i can see that I have 4GB and the system will use just 3.2GB.


"RalfG" <> escreveu na mensagem
news:4E9E9E97-CB82-4504-9B38-...
>
> "tony" <> wrote in message
> news:N5dTl.214806$2...
>> Yet again, a major rewrite of Vista and still no support for 4Gb ram as
>> was promised in pre-release of Vista blurb years ago.....
>> Tony

>
> You're just misunderstanding the situation. A 32 Bit OS can only access a
> maximum of 4GB memory. Vista 32bit version can access a maximum of 4Gb of
> memory too but that memory does not equate to only user RAM. A portion of
> that total memory space is required for all the assorted hardware
> installed in the computer, including graphics card memory. The amount
> required can vary from system to system. IOW any memory space required by
> the hardware (eg. 512MB installed on a video card) takes up a portion of
> the total 4Gbytes of memory that Vista can access and only the remainder
> that is left over can be used for RAM memory. With 4GB of RAM installed
> and a 128MB video card you might be able to use 3.2 to 3.5 GB of the RAM
> but if you put in a graphics card or SLI combo with 1GB of video memory
> your usable RAM would be reduced to something less than 3GB.


 
Reply With Quote
 
RalfG
Guest
Posts: n/a

 
      05-30-2009
You've got the same misunderstanding - that apparently missing 0.8GB of
memory address space is memory space that reserved by the operating system
for running hardware installed in your computer. The same 0.8GB memory
addresses cannot also be used for RAM at the same time but it does
constitute a portion of the 4GB total memory that Vista 32bit can access
(4GB maximum memory, not 4GB RAM memory +another 0.8GB memory for hardware).

See also: http://members.cox.net/slatteryt/RAM.html



"Luis Armelin" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Tony,
> You are right....
> I have a ASUS motherboard with 4GB installed, and my Windows Vista
> Ultimate SP1 display that I have 4GB on system propriety. But it isn't
> true, because on BIOS, i can see that I have 4GB and the system will use
> just 3.2GB.
>
>
> "RalfG" <> escreveu na mensagem
> news:4E9E9E97-CB82-4504-9B38-...
>>
>> "tony" <> wrote in message
>> news:N5dTl.214806$2...
>>> Yet again, a major rewrite of Vista and still no support for 4Gb ram as
>>> was promised in pre-release of Vista blurb years ago.....
>>> Tony

>>
>> You're just misunderstanding the situation. A 32 Bit OS can only access a
>> maximum of 4GB memory. Vista 32bit version can access a maximum of 4Gb of
>> memory too but that memory does not equate to only user RAM. A portion
>> of that total memory space is required for all the assorted hardware
>> installed in the computer, including graphics card memory. The amount
>> required can vary from system to system. IOW any memory space required by
>> the hardware (eg. 512MB installed on a video card) takes up a portion of
>> the total 4Gbytes of memory that Vista can access and only the remainder
>> that is left over can be used for RAM memory. With 4GB of RAM installed
>> and a 128MB video card you might be able to use 3.2 to 3.5 GB of the RAM
>> but if you put in a graphics card or SLI combo with 1GB of video memory
>> your usable RAM would be reduced to something less than 3GB.

>




 
Reply With Quote
 
 
 
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Re: Vista32bit & 4Gb ram Drew Windows Vista General Discussion 0 05-27-2009 11:35 PM
Re: Vista32bit & 4Gb ram Peter Foldes Windows Vista General Discussion 0 05-27-2009 11:01 PM
Re: Vista32bit & 4Gb ram Leroy Windows Vista General Discussion 0 05-27-2009 04:01 PM
VX2235WM and 8800GT in VISTA32BIT issue Paradigm Windows Vista Hardware 14 01-20-2008 06:58 PM
vista32bit and macosx jshockley Windows Vista General Discussion 33 07-16-2007 11:21 AM



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59