Maximum Ram for W2k Pro

[Guest]

I was wondering what is the maximum amount of RAM i can put into my W2Kpro computer. I was told 4GB by one person but then i was told I can use 3GB if i put a switch of "/3gb" in the boot.ini file. I was just wondering which person was right.

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

the /3gb switch isn't supported on win2k pro the same way it is on win2k
advanced server/data center. the /3gb switch on win2k pro allows device
driver programmers to test their solutions w/out having to load win2k
advanced server/datacenter.

outside of that, the last poster is correct that you should check the specs
of your motherboard to determine that max ram supported for hardware. win2k
pro software can handle a max of 4gb.

I was wondering what is the maximum amount of RAM i can put into my W2Kpro

computer. I was told 4GB by one person but then i was told I can use 3GB if
i put a switch of "/3gb" in the boot.ini file. I was just wondering which
person was right.

 

[Rob Stow]

consult your motherboard specs, it'll tell you the maximum amout of memory
it can hol.

There is more to it than that. If you have an
Opty dualie with 16 GB, you are screwed if you
piss around with a low-end OS like W2K Pro.

W2K Pro can use up to 4 GB. It will use the first
4 GB of RAM regardless of whether or not the /3GB
switch is used. You can, for example, have four
processes running that each use 1 GB - excluding,
of course, the RAM needed by the OS.

The /3GB switch influences how much RAM can be
used by each process - it has nothing to do with
how much the OS can use.

 

[dcdon]

You may have been told that 4gig of memory OS is the maximum. Not true, and you may
be interested in the following KB that says normally 4,092 is the maximum size of
the pagefile in W2000...

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=237740

Good luck,
don


I was wondering what is the maximum amount of RAM i can put into my W2Kpro computer.
I was told 4GB by one person but then i was told I can use 3GB if i put a switch of
"/3gb" in the boot.ini file. I was just wondering which person was right.

 

[Colon Terminus]

Windows 2000 Professional is a 32 bit Operating System. Using a flat memory
model its addressable memory would be 2^32 bytes or 4,294,967,296 bytes of
memory ... 4GB. That's a total of address space. Address space is defined as
the sum of physical and virtual memory. This memory is available evenly
divided between applications and the Operating System ... 2GB each. The /3GB
switch will allow up to 3GB of address space for applications specifically
designed to use it.

I was wondering what is the maximum amount of RAM i can put into my W2Kpro

computer. I was told 4GB by one person but then i was told I can use 3GB if
i put a switch of "/3gb" in the boot.ini file. I was just wondering which
person was right.

 

[Rick]

Windows 2000 Professional is a 32 bit Operating System. Using a flat memory
model its addressable memory would be 2^32 bytes or 4,294,967,296 bytes of
memory ... 4GB. That's a total of address space. Address space is defined as
the sum of physical and virtual memory. This memory is available evenly
divided between applications and the Operating System ... 2GB each. The /3GB
switch will allow up to 3GB of address space for applications specifically
designed to use it.

This is an often heard but incorrect claim for Win2K Pro. For
Win2K Pro and Server the /3GB is there for testing purposes
only. It does NOT actually increase usable address space
beyond 2GB. Read:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;291988

"The use of the /3GB switch from the Boot.ini file with Windows 2000
Professional or with Windows 2000 Server can give the appearance
of a 3 GB range of user-mode memory. However, the memory from
0x80000000 through 0xBFFFFFFF is not usable."

In the Win2K product line, the /3GB option is only functional in
Advanced Server and Datacenter.

Rick

 

[Jason Hall [MSFT]]

--------------------

From: "dcdon" <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.win2000.general
References: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Maximum Ram for W2k Pro

You may have been told that 4gig of memory OS is the maximum. Not true, and you may
be interested in the following KB that says normally 4,092 is the maximum size of
the pagefile in W2000...

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=237740

Good luck,
don


I was wondering what is the maximum amount of RAM i can put into my W2Kpro computer.
I was told 4GB by one person but then i was told I can use 3GB if i put a switch of
"/3gb" in the boot.ini file. I was just wondering which person was right.

--------------------

It should be noted that their is a difference between physical RAM and
MEMORY:
RAM limitations in Windows:
2K Pro = 4GB
2K Server = 4GB
2K Advanced Server = 8GB
2K Datacenter = 64GB


--
~~ JASON HALL ~~
~ Performance Support Specialist,
~ Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support
~ This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
~ Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
~ Note: For the benefit of the community-at-large, all responses to this
message are best directed to the newsgroup/thread from which they
originated.

 

[Jason Hall [MSFT]]

--------------------

From: "Rick" <[email protected]>
References: <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: Maximum Ram for W2k Pro
Date: Fri, 28 May 2004 00:56:43 -0700



This is an often heard but incorrect claim for Win2K Pro. For
Win2K Pro and Server the /3GB is there for testing purposes
only. It does NOT actually increase usable address space
beyond 2GB. Read:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;291988

"The use of the /3GB switch from the Boot.ini file with Windows 2000
Professional or with Windows 2000 Server can give the appearance
of a 3 GB range of user-mode memory. However, the memory from
0x80000000 through 0xBFFFFFFF is not usable."

In the Win2K product line, the /3GB option is only functional in
Advanced Server and Datacenter.

Rick

--------------------

AAAAAANNNNNNDDD..........

It is a common misconception that 4GB means 2GB for the "operating system"
and 2GB for "applications"
The truth:
2GB is reserved for Kernel Mode (where core OS code and Microsoft, as well
as 3rd-party drivers reside)
2GB is for User Mode (where User Mode applications and services run, many
of which are part of the "operating system"

When an application runs, it can "see" 4GB of memory, 2GB of which is User
Mode, which it can use.
EACH application can potentially allocate 2GB of memory. If this was not
true, then why would anyone buy more than 4GB of RAM ?

All this magic is performed by the Memory Manager, which makes applications
THINK there is 4GB of memory, when really there is a whole lot more (like
the page file, which apps don't even know about)

--
~~ JASON HALL ~~
~ Performance Support Specialist,
~ Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support
~ This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
~ Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
~ Note: For the benefit of the community-at-large, all responses to this
message are best directed to the newsgroup/thread from which they
originated.

 

[Gerard Sanchez]

consult your motherboard specs, it'll tell you the maximum amout of memory
it can hol.

I was wondering what is the maximum amount of RAM i can put into my W2Kpro

computer. I was told 4GB by one person but then i was told I can use 3GB if
i put a switch of "/3gb" in the boot.ini file. I was just wondering which
person was right.

 

[Colon Terminus]

--------------------

--------------------

AAAAAANNNNNNDDD..........

It is a common misconception that 4GB means 2GB for the "operating system"
and 2GB for "applications"
The truth:
2GB is reserved for Kernel Mode (where core OS code and Microsoft, as well
as 3rd-party drivers reside)
2GB is for User Mode (where User Mode applications and services run, many
of which are part of the "operating system"

When an application runs, it can "see" 4GB of memory, 2GB of which is User
Mode, which it can use.
EACH application can potentially allocate 2GB of memory. If this was not
true, then why would anyone buy more than 4GB of RAM ?

All this magic is performed by the Memory Manager, which makes applications
THINK there is 4GB of memory, when really there is a whole lot more (like
the page file, which apps don't even know about)

--
~~ JASON HALL ~~
~ Performance Support Specialist,
~ Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support
~ This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
~ Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
~ Note: For the benefit of the community-at-large, all responses to this
message are best directed to the newsgroup/thread from which they
originated.

Thanks, Jason, for the information.

Here's your opportunity to clear up the dark mysteries of "Address Space".
It's a common understanding that Physical + Virtual memory make up Windows
2000 address space of 4GB. In other words, you can have 1GB of physical
memory and 3GB of virtual memory which would fill Windows' memory limit of
4GB. Or you could have 2GB of physical memory and 2B of virtual memory or
3GB of physical memory and 1 gb of virtual memory ... etc. In no case could
you effectively use more than 4GB of physical + virtual combined.

Is the above an accurate understanding of Windows' Address space?

 

[William P.N. Smith]

Here's your opportunity to clear up the dark mysteries of "Address Space".
It's a common understanding that Physical + Virtual memory make up Windows
2000 address space of 4GB. In other words, you can have 1GB of physical
memory and 3GB of virtual memory which would fill Windows' memory limit of
4GB. Or you could have 2GB of physical memory and 2B of virtual memory or
3GB of physical memory and 1 gb of virtual memory ... etc. In no case could
you effectively use more than 4GB of physical + virtual combined.

I beleive you need to have a swap file as big as your address space,
so you can swap everything out. I know Win2K allows you to have a 4G
swap file, as I've set several of my machines up with a fixed 4G swap
file on a separate partition for performance reasons.

 

[Rob Stow]

I beleive you need to have a swap file as big as your address space,
so you can swap everything out. I know Win2K allows you to have a 4G
swap file, as I've set several of my machines up with a fixed 4G swap
file on a separate partition for performance reasons.

The max size for any pagefile.sys is 4 GB.
However, there is nothing stopping you from having page files
on every freaking partition. I have, for example, seen
a W2K Pro system with 4 GB of RAM and page files of 2 GB and
4 GB on C: and D: respectively.