-=FAQ=- Why don't I see all my RAM? The 4GB limit.

SkyNet of course does the edits herself, and won't let me touch her Boot.i

BrantG wrote in post #5025687
Well it seems SP1 will fix the memory issue. I know people running it and all their memory is showing up now. Especially those with high end video cards which took up part of their memory before. SO might not be a reason to go 64bit OS.

Don't be fooled, you're being fooled. The OS reports 4GB of RAM installed, not what's available to the OS.

You still can't address more than 4gb of ram with a 32 bit OS. Nothing has changed, it just shows what you think you bought.

i was going to upgrade my laptops ram from 2 x 1GB to 2 x 2GB, was also told today that 4GB wont be recognised, but like others if you put the 4GB will the graphics card take from the 4GB or 3.5gb? leaving just under 3GB vs 1.5GB with 2GB ram or if you put a 2GB stick with the 1GB stick will it be 2.5GB

Programs have to be specifically written to support PAE, and very few are (mostly database servers), and in some cases PAE can cause problems. Photoshop, for instance, will not benefit from PAE. In the latest XP service pack, the PAE switch is still there, but it doesn't actually do anything. Completely nonfunctional.

If you have >3GB of RAM, just get a 64 bit OS and be happy that you can use all your memory finally.

Hey CDS, thanks for the great write-up. You must be a genius for phrasing the ram thing in a way that I can understand it! Anyways, I just have one more question. I am about to buy a Dell laptop and would like to upgrade the ram. Now, is there any reason for me to go to 4gb instead of 3gb? I would only really be gaining .2gb as I understand it, so that doesn't seem like a good investment to me. Thanks!

If the Dell uses the Mobile 9xx integrated video chipset from Intel, you might investigate if it takes a performance hit by not using matched pairs of RAM sticks. On Mac Minis and MacBooks (each with integrated GMA950 and GM964 video chipsets) there's about a 5% performance hit from not using dual-channel that matched RAM sticks provide.

DMax82 wrote in post #5091683
Hey CDS, thanks for the great write-up. You must be a genius for phrasing the ram thing in a way that I can understand it! Anyways, I just have one more question. I am about to buy a Dell laptop and would like to upgrade the ram. Now, is there any reason for me to go to 4gb instead of 3gb? I would only really be gaining .2gb as I understand it, so that doesn't seem like a good investment to me. Thanks!

If you use a 64 bit OS (Vista 64 bit, for instance), you will definitely benefit from the additional RAM. On a 32 bit OS, you won't see much benefit at all.

Thanks hugh and tony. It comes with 2gb and I will use that until I feel the need to upgrade to 3.

CIDER wrote in post #5083957
i was going to upgrade my laptops ram from 2 x 1GB to 2 x 2GB, was also told today that 4GB wont be recognised, but like others if you put the 4GB will the graphics card take from the 4GB or 3.5gb? leaving just under 3GB vs 1.5GB with 2GB ram or if you put a 2GB stick with the 1GB stick will it be 2.5GB

From the 4.

excellent finally someone game me a clear answer.

thanks jason.

i will have to give this a shot tonight...

Are there compatibility issues with choosing a 64bit version of Vista or will all of my software and drivers continue to function. For the minimal cost of going from 3GB to 4GB of RAM and 32bit to 64 Vista, I would love to have the added performance, but not if it comes at the expense of compatibility and headaches.

There can be some driver issues, there can also be some performance issues not huge ones but some. Examples include some single thread processing might be faster with the 32 bit version.

mminnig wrote in post #5782020
Are there compatibility issues with choosing a 64bit version of Vista or will all of my software and drivers continue to function. For the minimal cost of going from 3GB to 4GB of RAM and 32bit to 64 Vista, I would love to have the added performance, but not if it comes at the expense of compatibility and headaches.

check first on your items sites to see if they have drivers, many companies of older hardware, like printers, refuse to make new 64bit drivers, instead they want you to buy new hardware.

Oh man I love having 8GB of RAM. x64 is great.