Re: Going from 2GB to 4GB ram...

On Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:51:36 -0400, "M.J.S." <no@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

<snapper@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:duajh39t3o09grl0gagks8emnoid9aipat@xxxxxxxxxx
On Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:09:40 -0400, "M.J.S." <no@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi,

Using an Asus A8N SLI Deluxe MB.
I currently have two sticks of Corsair CMX1024-3200C2 on board (1024k
each,
200mhz, ddr). How do I go to 4GB from here?

Be aware that you need to run a 64 bit version of Windows in order to
actually see 4 gig.
If you run the normal 32 bit version you will only see a bit over 3 gig of
it.

Actually, I *am* using XP x64, but since my main audio program doesn't
support that OS and I have to run it at 32-bits anyways, I was thinking of
going back to normal XP.

So I'd be wasting my time buying 2 more GB of ram (4 total)?

Can anyone else confirm this? (Also, is there any benefit - besides 1GB more
of ram - to running 32-bit appz on XP x64 instead of XP x86?
This is a 'big' question.
Start with 'address space'. Running in simple 32bit mode, the
processor can directly address 4GB of memory. This 'space', needs to
include _everything_. A 'window' into part of the BIOS ROM. The BIOS
of the video card. The RAM window to talk to the video card(s).
Similar windows for network adapters, and various ones for the
motherboard peripherals. The amount of RAM 'space' that is left, will
vary from machine to machine, with 'server' machines, with small video
cads, managing over 3.5GB, while some modern 'desktop' machines, with
pired video cards, only managing just over 3GB.
There is an option available called 'PAE' (physical address
extensions), which is 'analogous' to the old 'paging' systems used in
the past, but rather more sophisticatd. With this enabled on both the
motherboard, and in the OS, the memory management controller adds
extra bits to select particular pages as required, allowing the
useable address range to be extended. XP _server_, and all the old W2K
OS's, allow this to be used to handle various amounts of extra memory
space (the feature is turned 'down' in normal XP - the first release
of WXP SP1, fully enabled this ability, it was then turned 'down' on
the next hotfix -, and almost disabled in Vista32!....). With PAE
enabled, the OS itself has to store larger tables for addressing data,
and this can actually slow systems down, where only a small amount of
extra memory is available.
Then the 'space' that results is split. In normal operation, 2GB of
the space is reserved for the OS operations, and a single application,
can only receive a maximum of 2GB of working address space. There is
an option (the /3GB swtch), which allows this to be changed, so that
up to 3GB, can be allocated to a single application. This requires the
application to be compiled to support this (an option in the MS
compilers), and to work 'well' - with performance gains, requires
significant RAM. Again (like PAE), enabling this, increases the size
of some tables in the OS, and so, using the PAE ability, and /3G, with
amounts of RAM close to 4GB, may lose more than they gain... :-(
XP64, is superior to Vista 64, in allowing 32bit drivers to be loaded
for devices where a 64bit driver is not available. When running a
32bit application, they both still retain control of things like the
video card, using the full 64bit addressing, so the memory space for
these, is not 'lost' to the application. In XP64, a 32bit application,
can have a full 4GB address range available to _it_ (provided it is
again written with large memory support enabled).
The other thing is that if you then get a 64bit application, this can
have a massively larger address space.
Personally, I'd suggest considering VMWare, on the 64bit OS, and going
to something like *GB of RAM. This sort of combination can 'fly',
giving the 'best of both worlds'.

Best Wishes
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Memory Install Question
    ... says to remove the PCI-Express video card ... interference with memory retention mechanism". ... interferes with the memory install. ... and the snaps on each RAM slot. ...
    (alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt)
  • Re: Memory Install Question
    ... says to remove the PCI-Express video card ... interference with memory retention mechanism". ... and the snaps on each RAM slot. ...     Records the new inventory in DMI and ESCD areas inside the BIOS chip. ...
    (alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt)
  • Re: Cannot activate sbcl
    ... Somehow I've managed to use 16GB and I'm using the 32bit version of Windows XP, and I was able to use all that memory (e.g. ... supports PAE. ... at any one time, but can access RAM above 4GB through AWE, a paging ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)
  • Re: Win XP Setup with 4 GB of RAM
    ... XP uses memory mapped IO. ... XP will not use RAM which overlapps the IO space. ... Isn't the PAE instruction used to enable 35 bit addressing? ... designs that have brand new architectures that ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment)
  • Re: Video Card..
    ... I'm an amateur photographer but I use CS3 which is a memory/processor ... the Available RAM. ... 4GB of memory so the more RAM on my video card the less memory address ...
    (comp.graphics.apps.photoshop)