8 gig of ram upgrade?

[TRUEBRIT]

I've just bought a new pc with 8 gig of ram and 32bit vista(i swear i ordered
64 bit but hey),can i upgrade to 64 bit or do i need a whole new operating
system.Also my pc says that i only have 1700mb of ram is this right?

 

[James McTavish]

I've just bought a new pc with 8 gig of ram and 32bit vista(i swear i
ordered 64 bit but hey),can i upgrade to 64 bit or do i need a whole
new operating system.Also my pc says that i only have 1700mb of ram is
this right?

If you bought retail version of Vista you can order a 64bit version for
just the cost of shipping, if you bought OEM version then you have to buy
64bit version seperately. With 8GB of ram you definately want the 64bit
version. 32bit OS can only address 4GB total and all your hardware needs
memory address space too so what it uses get's subtracted from the 4GB and
you end up with what you see as usable by the OS. No point in having 8GB
installed on Vista32 so take out 4GB until you get Vista64. If your copy is
OEM version and you are sure you orderd 64bit version then make them send
you what you ordered. If it is Retail version then that is ok because you
just go here to order 64bit version.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/1033/ordermedia/default.mspx

 

[TRUEBRIT]

Thanks James and Brian.

If you bought retail version of Vista you can order a 64bit version for
just the cost of shipping, if you bought OEM version then you have to buy
64bit version seperately. With 8GB of ram you definately want the 64bit
version. 32bit OS can only address 4GB total and all your hardware needs
memory address space too so what it uses get's subtracted from the 4GB and
you end up with what you see as usable by the OS. No point in having 8GB
installed on Vista32 so take out 4GB until you get Vista64. If your copy is
OEM version and you are sure you orderd 64bit version then make them send
you what you ordered. If it is Retail version then that is ok because you
just go here to order 64bit version.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/1033/ordermedia/default.mspx