Available RAM

[colin.t]

I am running Viata Home Premium 32 BIT service pack 2. I have 4GB RAM
installed but I am told Vista can only manage 3GB RAM. Have I wasted money on
the extra 1GB RAM. Can anyone advise me please?

 

[Alias]

I am running Viata Home Premium 32 BIT service pack 2. I have 4GB RAM
installed but I am told Vista can only manage 3GB RAM. Have I wasted money on
the extra 1GB RAM. Can anyone advise me please?

Don't worry about it. There are plenty of important things to worry
about and RAM in this case just isn't one of them. With the BIG PIG
Vista, the more RAM, the better. Buy another 4GB.

Alias

 

[GTS]

32 bit Vista will use about 3.2 GB (varies a bit) RAM. It's often most
economical and sometimes necessary to use modules that come to 4GB to max
out (depending on number of RAM slots etc.). I wouldn't consider it all
that wasteful.

 

[Saucy]

No, you didn't. The system will use most of the RAM. AFAICT, if you have two
cores and the RAM is set up right, then Windows will use 2GB per core etc.
etc.

In other words, don't sweat it.

Saucy

 

[Paul Smith]

I am running Viata Home Premium 32 BIT service pack 2. I have 4GB RAM
installed but I am told Vista can only manage 3GB RAM. Have I wasted money
on
the extra 1GB RAM. Can anyone advise me please?

Basically yes, there isn't enough address space on a 32-bit system to
address all your hardware and RAM.

Long answer:
http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/2008/06/05/why-isn-t-my-computer-seeing-more-than-4

 

[Paul Smith]

No, you didn't. The system will use most of the RAM. AFAICT, if you have
two cores and the RAM is set up right, then Windows will use 2GB per core
etc. etc.

In other words, don't sweat it.

RAM outside the address space cannot be addressed/used on 32-bit Windows.

 

[Mike Brannigan]

Don't worry about it. There are plenty of important things to worry about
and RAM in this case just isn't one of them. With the BIG PIG Vista, the
more RAM, the better. Buy another 4GB.

Alias

Which will of course be of no use to him as he clearly stated that he was
using the "32 BIT" version of Windows.
Your poor advice and/or ignorance clearly knows no bounds.

 

[Mike Brannigan]

No, you didn't. The system will use most of the RAM. AFAICT, if you have
two cores and the RAM is set up right, then Windows will use 2GB per core
etc. etc.

In other words, don't sweat it.

Saucy

RAM is not divided on a per core basis, set up of RAM (I assume you main
dual or single channel mode etc) is not related to the number of processor
cores a system has.

 

[Tim Slattery]

I am running Viata Home Premium 32 BIT service pack 2. I have 4GB RAM
installed but I am told Vista can only manage 3GB RAM. Have I wasted money on
the extra 1GB RAM. Can anyone advise me please?

Yes, basically. 32-bit Vista (and all other MS 32-bit client systems)
can use about 3.2 - 3.5GB, depending on several things. See
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt/RAM.html for a discussion of the
issue.

 

[Tim Slattery]

No, you didn't. The system will use most of the RAM. AFAICT, if you have two
cores and the RAM is set up right, then Windows will use 2GB per core etc.

No, there's no division "per core". A 32-bit has a 32-bit address
space, that translates to 4GB. Some of that has to be used for other
things than system RAM. Number of cores or processors has nothing to
do with it.

 

[James Matthews]

No, the full amount of RAM that can be found on your computer is 3.56GB. You
didn't waste all of your money cause you can use this RAM in another
computer.

Joolie

 

[Peter Foldes]

Mike

He knows very well. It just gives him pleasure to not answer correctly to any OP
that needs help or advice when it comes to Vista. Wonder if anybody did the same to
him when he was learning or had an issue with a computer and did not know the
answer.

 

[Alias]

Which will of course be of no use to him as he clearly stated that he
was using the "32 BIT" version of Windows.
Your poor advice and/or ignorance clearly knows no bounds.

You never know, the OP may upgrade to 64.

Your insults are noted.

Alias

 

[Alias]

Mike

He knows very well. It just gives him pleasure to not answer correctly
to any OP that needs help or advice when it comes to Vista. Wonder if
anybody did the same to him when he was learning or had an issue with a
computer and did not know the answer.

I know where to get answers and it ain't here.

Alias

 

[ray]

I am running Viata Home Premium 32 BIT service pack 2. I have 4GB RAM
installed but I am told Vista can only manage 3GB RAM. Have I wasted
money on the extra 1GB RAM. Can anyone advise me please?

Yes. If you want to access the extra ram with a 32 bit OS, you'll need
one of the server versions of MS that supports it or virtually any Linux.

 

[Paul Smith]

What is the point?
You didin't say anythign different from previous poster, but repeated same
banality in own words, just clutters the Newsgroup;
See a PAGE-long answer I provided to the customer, and let him digest it
and move on.

Hello Stan.

I think you obviously misread who I was replying to, who said:

Windows will not use 2GB per core, the number of cores is irrelevant.

No, you didn't. The system will use most of the RAM. AFAICT, if you have
two cores and the RAM is set up right, then Windows will use 2GB per core
etc. etc.

Thanks.

 

[Paul Smith]

Wrong answer.

Sorry Stan, how is what I said the wrong answer?

You're not even thoughtful enough to quote in what you're reply to.

Before you slap tha t"MVP" title to your name, get educated at a REAL
college, not by reading Wikipedia.

He didin't waste money on 4GB, if he wasted it was 25 cents probably,
maybe in UK memory costs, but here in USA memory is dirt cheap.

He asked if he wasted money going for 4GB. The answer is "basically yes"
nobody tried to qualify how much money. Without more information, like if
it was extra money over 2GB for example, or 3GB its hard to say how much
money.

Because we're not a Socialist country.

Neither am I, try reading my signature.

 

[Bill Yanaire, ESQ]

I know where to get answers and it ain't here.

Alias

I doubt it. You have showed that you have major reading comprehension
problems. Must be because you are so busy smoking BOWLs all day long. You
know, you have to spend some of that imaginary $14k a week you claim to get!
HA HA HA HA HA

 

[Bill Yanaire, ESQ]

Sorry Stan, how is what I said the wrong answer?

Ignore Stan. He is an IDIOT.

You're not even thoughtful enough to quote in what you're reply to.

He doesn't even have the brains to correct his computer clock. How can he
deal with reality?

He isn't smart enough for college. His goal in life is working the fast
food restaurants.

 

[Bill Yanaire, ESQ]

No you didn't waste money:

As you know from Electrical Engineering basics, theoretical memory space
is defined by the address bus width. In a binary system it's simply 2^N
where N is the address width.

Where did you copy and paste the above information from? You certainly
couldn't have come up with that yourself.

In plain English:
If your Windows is 32-bit it can theoretically manage 2^32 = 4GB
If your hardware (e.g. Intel945 chipset?) is 32 bit but Windows is 64 bit,
or hardware is 64bit but Windows is 32 bit it's still 4GB as obviously the
lower address width limits the system, and disregards 64 bit elsewhere.

Again, where did you copy the above information from?