Ram limitations over 1GB

[Mike]

I know that the 32-bit version of Win XP has a usueable
RAM limitation of 4GB (16GB for the 64-bit). Is it true
that if you install more then 1GB it needs to be ECC or
Win XP freaks out? My system is an AMD XP 2000+, Asus
A7V266-E/AA with 1GB of PC2100 DDR (non-ECC) because this
is what the motherboard calls for. I can get a good deal
on some more PC2100 DDR 512MB or 1GB stick but I don't
want to upgrade it if Win XP going to freak out because
it's non-ECC. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

 

[Miss Perspicacia Tick]

I know that the 32-bit version of Win XP has a usueable
RAM limitation of 4GB (16GB for the 64-bit). Is it true
that if you install more then 1GB it needs to be ECC or
Win XP freaks out? My system is an AMD XP 2000+, Asus
A7V266-E/AA with 1GB of PC2100 DDR (non-ECC) because this
is what the motherboard calls for. I can get a good deal
on some more PC2100 DDR 512MB or 1GB stick but I don't
want to upgrade it if Win XP going to freak out because
it's non-ECC. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

Where on earth did you get the crazy notion it would from?! Of course it can
be non-EEC! If your board doesn't support EEC, then it's not going to work
now is it?

 

[Guest]

I know that the 32-bit version of Win XP has a usueable
RAM limitation of 4GB (16GB for the 64-bit). Is it true
that if you install more then 1GB it needs to be ECC or
Win XP freaks out? My system is an AMD XP 2000+, Asus
A7V266-E/AA with 1GB of PC2100 DDR (non-ECC) because this
is what the motherboard calls for. I can get a good deal
on some more PC2100 DDR 512MB or 1GB stick but I don't
want to upgrade it if Win XP going to freak out because
it's non-ECC. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

I have 1536mb of ram with no problems

 

[Guest]

I know that the 32-bit version of Win XP has a usueable
RAM limitation of 4GB (16GB for the 64-bit). Is it true
that if you install more then 1GB it needs to be ECC or
Win XP freaks out? My system is an AMD XP 2000+, Asus
A7V266-E/AA with 1GB of PC2100 DDR (non-ECC) because this
is what the motherboard calls for. I can get a good deal
on some more PC2100 DDR 512MB or 1GB stick but I don't
want to upgrade it if Win XP going to freak out because
it's non-ECC. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

Sorry that is 1536 of DDR SDRAM

 

[JAX]

Hi Mike,

Aside from the 4 Gig limit in XP your MB is the limiting factor. My MB will
take 4 Gig's of DDR but it will not take any ECC.

FWIW, JAX

 

[Mike]

-----Original Message-----

deal on some more PC2100 DDR 512MB or 1GB stick but I
don'to want to upgrade it if Win XP going to freak out
because it's non-ECC. Any advice would be greatly
appreciated.

Sorry that is 1536 of DDR SDRAM
.

Thanks I was hoping that wasn't true, but it was my MCSE
instructor who mentioned it to me.

 

[Testy]

Proof yet again that a MCSE is not worth the paper it is printed on!

Testy

 

[Tom]

I know that the 32-bit version of Win XP has a usueable
RAM limitation of 4GB (16GB for the 64-bit).

That's 16TB for 64-bit.

Is it true
that if you install more then 1GB it needs to be ECC or
Win XP freaks out? My system is an AMD XP 2000+, Asus
A7V266-E/AA with 1GB of PC2100 DDR (non-ECC) because this
is what the motherboard calls for. I can get a good deal
on some more PC2100 DDR 512MB or 1GB stick but I don't
want to upgrade it if Win XP going to freak out because
it's non-ECC. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

Not true one iota, it is up to the MOBO, and most will handle both kinds.

 

[Steve N.]

I know that the 32-bit version of Win XP has a usueable
RAM limitation of 4GB (16GB for the 64-bit). Is it true
that if you install more then 1GB it needs to be ECC or
Win XP freaks out? My system is an AMD XP 2000+, Asus
A7V266-E/AA with 1GB of PC2100 DDR (non-ECC) because this
is what the motherboard calls for. I can get a good deal
on some more PC2100 DDR 512MB or 1GB stick but I don't
want to upgrade it if Win XP going to freak out because
it's non-ECC. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

As long as the RAM is matched the system board will handle it. Windows
won't give a rip what *kind* of RAM it is as long as the system board
supports it and it's all good RAM, however XP is very picky about
hardware in general, so it is generally advised to closely match
additional RAM with that installed, even down to the manufacturer if
possible, although I've used differing manf's RAM successfully but they
are spec'd exactly the same.

Bottom line - plug `em in, see if it works.

FWIW, unless you'e doing some really RAM intensive stuff I don't see how
upgrading to 2GB is going to have much noticable effect when 512MB works
great for the average XP system and you're already at 1GB, but hey, go
for it. Let us know how it goes and if perforamnce changes.

Steve

 

[Mike]

KB283247: Windows XP Professional for 64-bit platforms
supports 16 GB of memory.

Comparison of 64-Bit and 32-Bit Architectures

Address space 64-bit Windows 32-bit Windows
Virtual memory 16 TB 4 GB
Paging file 512 TB 16 TB
Paged pool 128 GB 470 MB
Non-paged pool 128 GB 256 MB
System cache 1 TB 1 GB


Thanks for all the replies, I discussed this again with my
instructor and it appears I miss-understood what he was
telling me. Our original topic involved reducing the
virtual memory file down to almost nothing on systems with
1GB or more for performance gains of the machine (because
the HD is the slowest part of a computer), because Win XP
will look at the small size of the swap file and ignore it
and load directly into RAM therefore dramatically
increasing performance, but in systems with >1GB in doing
this, the system should have ECC RAM for parity and error
checking because this process was previously being handled
by the swap file(which doesn't exist anymore). Now that
he explained it in this way it makes much more sense.
Thanks again

 

[Alex Nichol]

I know that the 32-bit version of Win XP has a usueable
RAM limitation of 4GB (16GB for the 64-bit). Is it true
that if you install more then 1GB it needs to be ECC or
Win XP freaks out?

No it isn't, unless that is a requirement of a specific motherboard