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☖ Forums → Discussion Forum → kinda dumb computer question...
kinda dumb computer question...
2011-02-08, 12:29 PM #1
total noobquestion but, my computer right now still has windows vista 32bit... i believe. how much ram can i actually use? and does the ram on the video card use up any of that? :v:
Welcome to the douchebag club. We'd give you some cookies, but some douche ate all of them. -Rob
2011-02-08, 12:29 PM #2
****en idiot
2011-02-08, 12:30 PM #3
just kidding man! but i figure why not populate this thread that will be ended by one post containing a correct answer with some jokes!
2011-02-08, 12:30 PM #4
lol, thanks
Welcome to the douchebag club. We'd give you some cookies, but some douche ate all of them. -Rob
2011-02-08, 12:34 PM #5
Quote:
All 32bit operating systems can see a maximum of 4GB. It is a mathematical
limit, not the OS. Vista x86 like XP x86 will show a little over 3GB on
System Properties. This is normal. The "missing" ram is not really
missing. It is used by the system and not presented to the user. There is
a range of addresses at the upper end of 4GB that is reserved. In a system
with less than 4GB these are logical addresses and are handled by the system
that way. However, when the system has 4GB it must block out physical ram
to protect the reserved addresses. In addition, the BIOS will reserve some
additional address space for use by devices detected by the BIOS.


.
2011-02-08, 12:36 PM #6
:P

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+much+ram+does+vista+32+bit+support
2011-02-08, 1:19 PM #7
Vista probably uses PAE so it might support up to 4GB in addition to video memory and such.
2011-02-08, 1:20 PM #8
Originally posted by Tibby:
Vista probably uses PAE so it might support up to 4GB in addition to video memory and such.


No, end-user versions of Windows still have a hard limit of 4 GB, regardless of PAE being enabled or not. Server versions don't though.

Really this MSDN article provides more than you'll ever probably want to know about Windows and memory limits.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
2011-02-08, 1:22 PM #9
Damn, I was thinking that because the XP I have on a dual-boot here detects 4 3.5 gigs of main memory, even though I have a 2gb video card.
2011-02-08, 1:26 PM #10
The MSDN article makes it sound like with appropriate drivers (which I have no idea if normal video card drivers bother with PAE or not), it may be able to address more video memory and such, but I'm not entirely sure.

Honestly, there's very, very little reason to bother with 32-bit versions of Windows anymore unless you're absolutely tied down to running 16-bit software or you've got some ancient hardware that no one ever bothered to write 64-bit drivers for...
2011-02-08, 1:47 PM #11
No idea how the myth got started, but a GPU absolutely does not need to map all of its memory. That'd be crazy. Hard drives use DMA too, but you don't need 1.5 TB of virtual address space to use them.

I'm running 64-bit Windows 7 with a GeForce 8800 GT. It's mapped to 000A0000-000BFFFF, 80000000-8FFFFFFF, 90000000-91FFFFFF and 92000000-92FFFFFF. That's around 304 MB. It's a 512 MB card.
2011-02-08, 1:50 PM #12
What XP and earlier DID do, IIRC, was keep an exact copy of what was in the video card's memory, in regular RAM. They changed that in Vista or 7.
2011-02-08, 2:01 PM #13
That would have been a decision by the hardware designer, not Microsoft.
2011-02-08, 2:12 PM #14
Some of us only have 6 gigs of ram. :argh:
2011-02-08, 3:17 PM #15
I only have 4, I run 64 bit 7.
I haven't seen a reason to upgrade from 4 as of yet, although getting 16 for 160 dollars shipped is mighty tempting.
2011-02-08, 4:11 PM #16
isnt that overkill
2011-02-08, 8:11 PM #17
Yes, but it's awesome overkill.
2011-02-08, 8:44 PM #18
i dont know anything about computers, i just find it an addicting tool

what are the differences between 32 bit and 64 bit etc
2011-02-08, 8:47 PM #19
Originally posted by Darth:
No, end-user versions of Windows still have a hard limit of 4 GB, regardless of PAE being enabled or not. Server versions don't though.

Really this MSDN article provides more than you'll ever probably want to know about Windows and memory limits.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit
2011-02-08, 8:52 PM #20
PC manufacturers (Dell) practically don't even have any available systems with 32 bit anymore.

So it's like not even an issue anymore, or won't be when everybody's XP/Vista machines from way back crap out and they get a new one.
<Rob> This is internet.
<Rob> Nothing costs money if I don't want it to.
2011-02-09, 8:34 AM #21
Sweet looks like I'm in the market for another stick-O-ram
Welcome to the douchebag club. We'd give you some cookies, but some douche ate all of them. -Rob

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