Vista 32 - 2GB DDR2 to 3GB or 4GB DDR2 RAM?

[Riffrafter]

Hi all,

I've seen numerous posts related to RAM usage in Vista-32 some of it
contradictory or confusing. I have 2 questions I'm hoping someone can help
me with.

1 - My Dell came pre-loaded with Vista-32 Home Premium and 2 GB DDR2 RAM (2
sticks of 1GB) in slots 1 & 2. Everything works great - no problems at all.
I've just purchased 2 more sticks of 1GB and want to know if I must install
both 1GB sticks as a matched pair in slots 3 & 4, or can I install just 1 GB
in either slot 3 or slot 4?

2 - If I install both to get to 4GB total, will Vista-32 Home Premium be
able to see/use it all if I have Memory remap option in BIOS? I've seen
conflicting info on this related to DEP, PAE and performance hits if PAE is
used.

My head is spinning...any help would be greatly appreciated.

Best,

-Riff

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Paired memory will work better than individual sticks, so 4gb comprising two
pairs is best.

One pair + 1 single stick will not perform as well as two pairs, but you
will save on not buying the 4th stick

One pair will work well enough.

Vista/XP x86 will support 4gb, but not show it or fully use it, BUT Windows
may well see anything between 250 and 500mb more than if only 3gb was
installed. In worst cases where the design of the motherboard is not as good
as it could be, less than 3gb is seen, even though 4gb is present.

There is a performance trade off in using odd numbers of memory sticks, BUT
depending on what applications you run, you may never notice it. Also bear
in mind that the maximum memory that can be used by any 32 bit application
is 2gb, and many never ever get close to that kind of usage.

Also note that the memory slots may be color coded, and some pairings may
require that 0 and 2 are one pairing, 1 and three being the other. Put the
same pairs in the same color slots.

 

[Paul Randall]

32-bit Vista typically allows you to use a maximum of around 3 GB of memory.
Memory in excess of that is masked by the address space used by various
things in your computer, such as the graphics card. With 4 GB of RAM, you
will likely see between 2.9 and 3.4 GB. For most people it is not much of
an improvement over having just 3GB installed, but 'your mileage may vary'.

Hopefully your Dell came with a DVD that contains the manual in PDF format.
Or you can download it from Dell. Adobe Acrobat Reader has very good
searching capabilities; using that you should be able to quickly find info
on memory upgrades for your particular model.

-Paul Randall

 

[TheNetAvenger]

Pair the RAM, even if you just buy a pair of 512mb sticks for slots 3 and 4.

The RAM limitation in Vista 32bit is more dependant on the mainboard than
Vista itself. Vista 32bit, can technically see and use 4GB of RAM,
separating this into two chunks for the OS and applicaitons. However many
mainboard chipsets have limitations, and could limit the amount of RAM
visible to the OS.

In some mainboard situations, even moving to Vista 64bit won't let the OS
see the entire RAM in your system, and you will still be limited to 3-3.5GB
of available RAM.

Good luck...

 

[Tim Slattery]

Hi all,

I've seen numerous posts related to RAM usage in Vista-32 some of it
contradictory or confusing. I have 2 questions I'm hoping someone can help
me with.

1 - My Dell came pre-loaded with Vista-32 Home Premium and 2 GB DDR2 RAM (2
sticks of 1GB) in slots 1 & 2. Everything works great - no problems at all.
I've just purchased 2 more sticks of 1GB and want to know if I must install
both 1GB sticks as a matched pair in slots 3 & 4, or can I install just 1 GB
in either slot 3 or slot 4?

Check your motherboard or system documentation. Different motherboards
work different ways.

2 - If I install both to get to 4GB total, will Vista-32 Home Premium be
able to see/use it all if I have Memory remap option in BIOS? I've seen
conflicting info on this related to DEP, PAE and performance hits if PAE is
used.

It won't be able to use it all. A 32-bit system has 4GB of address
space, some of that must be used to access video RAM, BIOS, etc. See
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt/RAM.html

Using PAE would expand the address space to 36 bits, or about 68GB.
You have to have hardware that supports that, as well as an OS that
supports it. I think some MS server systems support PAE, I don't know
how common hardware that supports it is.

 

[ray]

Check your motherboard or system documentation. Different motherboards
work different ways.


It won't be able to use it all. A 32-bit system has 4GB of address
space, some of that must be used to access video RAM, BIOS, etc. See
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt/RAM.html

Using PAE would expand the address space to 36 bits, or about 68GB.

2 ** 36 = 64gb.

 

[Tim Slattery]

2 ** 36 = 64gb.

Windows Calculator tells me that 2**36 = 68,719,476,736. You're right
that since a binary GB is 1,073,741,824, that comes out to 64 binary
GB.