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 maartenaElmoPremium
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA
kudos:1
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·DIRECTV
1 edit | reply to judenihal
Re: [XP Pro] ASUS P5B-E Detects 2GB instead of 4GB of Memory The problem is that a 32-bit OS can only use 4 Gb of total addressable space. Don't confuse addressable space with memory however, memory is part of the addressable space it can use, but within that 4 Gb of addressable space, it also needs to fit things like video card memory, cpu registers, cpu cache, your BIOS and systemboard registers, cache or memory on RAID cards, cache or memory on drives, etc.... many things you don't "see" in Windows.
Now, if you have a 512 Mb Video Card, you will get only about 3.2 Gb at most. If you have a 256 Mb video card, you may be able to get 3.4. If you have a 512 card, and some other hardware that needs to be addressed on things like RAID cards or TV cards, it is VERY realistic that you only end up with 2.93 Gb.
PAE doesn't work if you have any consumer type drivers installed (like usb printers, scanners, tv cards, and known consumer/home main boards), as those drivers cannot be loaded in the memory addresses above 4 Gb. You will actually need some decent server hardware to do that, for instance the HP, Dell, IBM server drivers all CAN be loaded above 4 Gb, and your chances of getting PAE to work on Server 2003 are much greater.
/3G switch will work, but it only allows programs to use a maximum of 3 Gb per program instead of 2. The 3GB switch should be used carefully. It is a great switch if you use, for instance ONE program all the time and you want it to use 3 Gb. It is not so great if you use 2 or 3 programs all the time. You do not want to, for instance, run Photoshop and start editing photos and then run Nero to burn a DVD (lots of memory caching) at the same time with the /3GB switch on. You will want to limit photoshop to 2 GB at that time so that Nero can actually use the remainder GB to cache etc.
Using the 3GB switch should be carefully understood.
Long story short: I would not bother putting more then 3 Gb of memory in your 32bit OS, and use the remaining Gb in another machine.
Best alternative to use that kind of memory is to use a 64bit OS. You can choose for XP64, but driver support is somewhat limited. Vista64 is very well supported these days however. There are also 64bit versions of virtually every Linux distribution.
Also: The person that says that "this is fixed" in Vista SP1 is incorrect. The 4 Gb addressable space is a problem in ANY 32bit OS, including 32bit versions of MacOS and Linux.
See here for more: »news.softpedia.com/news/32-bit-W···39.shtml
It will simply report that 4 Gb is there instead of just reporting that 3 Gb is there. It will not actually use all of the 4 Gb, and it will certainly not breach the 32bit limitations.
We are simply at a time that we are bouncing on the 32bit ceiling a few more times. If you have a 2 Gb machine - like me - don't worry about a thing.... you can run with 3 Gb for a long long time! But in the next few years, we will see a slow shift to 64bit.
Server 2008 will be the last 32bit OS that Microsoft will build. Everything after that, such as the next version of consumer Windows, will be 64bit only.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -
Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father. | |
| If I pull the 4th stick of RAM, wont it actually slow my PC, as I will lose dual channel mode? As it is I already lost a small amount of memory performance when I added to the two sticks.
Also, I bought this PC for gaming. I thought I read 64bit lacks drivers, is not good for gaming, etc... | |
 denb45Premium
join:2001-02-04
Albuquerque, NM
 ·Comcast
1 edit | reply to maartena
said by maartena:Also: The person that says that "this is fixed" in Vista SP1 is incorrect. The 4 Gb addressable space is a problem in ANY 32bit OS, including 32bit versions of MacOS and Linux. I never said that the 32bit 4GB Addressing was Fixed in Vista's SP1, what I did say is that, SP1 is nowhere near completed yet ,and we can all hope for that to to fixed in SP1, but that doesn't looks like its gonna happen in SP1 or any 32bit OS, by-the-way Great info, about the 4GB Addressing problem, very well said, and easy to understand
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Gateway MX6453 * AMD X 2 Duo Core 64 Mobile 1.8GHz * 2GB * 533MHz* DDR2 Memory * Vista Ultimate OEM/DSP
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