Use 3GB or 4GB RAM in 32 bit OS?

[L Alpert]

Because it depends on your hardware configuration. My video card is
512mb so it needs 512mb of address space, a 256mb card would need
256mb of address space. I only have 3.0GB out of 4GB available to
programs. When I did have a 256mb vid card it showed 3.25GB of ram
available.

I have a 512mb video card and XP shows 3.5 GB of memory.....must be
differences in hardware configurations....

 

[Lee Waun]

XP sees 3.12GB out of my 4GB on my system.

Yousuf Khan

Xp sees 3.25GB out of 4GB on my system.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Xp sees 3.25GB out of 4GB on my system.

Interesting that you should mention this, I just took a look again and
now my system is showing 3.25GB too. I assume this has something to do
with the fact that I just installed a GeForce 8600GT into my system,
whereas previously I was using integrated graphics.

Also goes to show that discrete graphics frees up more memory for you
than integrated graphics.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Lee Waun]

Interesting that you should mention this, I just took a look again and now
my system is showing 3.25GB too. I assume this has something to do with
the fact that I just installed a GeForce 8600GT into my system, whereas
previously I was using integrated graphics.

Also goes to show that discrete graphics frees up more memory for you than
integrated graphics.

Yousuf Khan

Y present card has 512mb but the card before that had 256mb and my system
also showed 3.25gb. I bought the 4 gigs so I could upgrade to vista 64 but
it was so bad an OS I went back to XP. I clearly don't see my trying Vista
again now that my system is XP service pack 3.

 

[YKhan]

Y present card has 512mb but the card before that had 256mb and my system
also showed 3.25gb. I bought the 4 gigs so I could upgrade to vista 64 but
it was so bad an OS I went back to XP. I clearly don't see my trying Vista
again now that my system is XP service pack 3.

Yeah, I don't think the video ram actually takes up much system ram
footprint. The video ram is slid through the system ram footprint, in
small chunks, through a fixed-size graphics aperture.

As for why I got 4GB, I simply got it because it was on sale.

I put in Ubuntu as my 64-bit OS, and I'm occasionally dual-booting
into it.

Yousuf Khan