Vista Max RAM

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hasan
  • Start date Start date
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Hasan

As the subject says, what's that max RAM that can be installed in any
version?
Short and sweet :)
Thanks.

Hasan
 
As the subject says, what's that max RAM that can be installed in any
version?
Click to expand...

Being pedantic for a second, the maximum RAM that can be installed has
nothing whatever to do operating systems - it is determined by the number of
RAM slots in the machine's motherboard, and the maximum size of the RAM
chips that each slot supports.

That said, the various versions of Vista *support* various amounts of RAM,
as follows:

Starter 256Mb
Home Basic 8Gb
Home Premium 16Gb
Business 128Gb
Enterprise 128Gb
Ultimate 128Gb

If you have a copy of Business, Enterprise or Ultimate, best of luck finding
a machine which will allow you to install 128Gb RAM... :-)
 
Hasan said:
As the subject says, what's that max RAM that can be installed in any
version?
Short and sweet :)
Click to expand...


For all 32 bit versions of Vista, the maximum amount of RAM supported is 4
GB. For the 64 bit versions, it depends on which version.

Home Basic - 8 GB
Home Premium - 16 GB
Business, Enterprise and Ultimate - 128+ GB
 
Thanks for the info.
I have a client who is a bit anal about wanting a minimum of 8GB of RAM for
his occasionally used home PC. He's got $$ to burn.
He also wants to upgrade to Vista as soon as it's released.
 
Warning 4 GB Limit with 32 bit versions of vista..
and even if you have 4, only 3 of those can be ulitized from the OS
 
Mark Rae said:
That said, the various versions of Vista *support* various amounts of RAM,
as follows:

Home Basic 8Gb
Home Premium 16Gb
Business 128Gb
Enterprise 128Gb
Ultimate 128Gb
Click to expand...

Only the 64 bit versions support that much. 32 bit versions all support
only 4 Gb. This is the mathematical limit of 32 bits, not an OS
restriction.

Mike
 
64 Bit editions of Vista support the most amount of RAM. If you are looking
at a 32 Bit machine, then the maximum is 4GB

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
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reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..
 
not an OS restriction.

Is an OS restriction.

Limit: 64 GB (use 36 bits for directions: 32 + 4 -PAE-). But in XP+SP2 or
Vista 32, PAE in restricted and not reallocated memory after 4 GB. Real
limit is 2.5, 3, 3.25... etc... depending of resources necessaries of MB.
(for driver compatibility mode)

--
Jose Manuel Tella Llop
MVP - Windows
(e-mail address removed) (quitar XXX)
http://www.multingles.net/jmt.htm
news://jmtella.com

Este mensaje se proporciona "como está" sin garantías de ninguna clase,y no
otorga ningún derecho.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
You assume all risk for your use.
 
4 GB, with the /PAE switch in boot.ini, only 3 without it

--
--Jonathan Maltz [Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - IIS, Virtual PC]
http://www.visualwin.com - A Windows Server 2003 visual, step-by-step
tutorial site :-)
http://vpc.visualwin.com - Does <insert OS name> work on VPC 2004? Find out
here
Only reply by newsgroup. I do not do technical support via email. Any
emails I have not authorized are deleted before I see them.
 
can you explain this in detail or provide a link with more information on
this?

thank you


Jonathan Maltz said:
4 GB, with the /PAE switch in boot.ini, only 3 without it

--
--Jonathan Maltz [Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - IIS, Virtual PC]
http://www.visualwin.com - A Windows Server 2003 visual, step-by-step
tutorial site :-)
http://vpc.visualwin.com - Does <insert OS name> work on VPC 2004? Find
out
here
Only reply by newsgroup. I do not do technical support via email. Any
emails I have not authorized are deleted before I see them.


NewFox said:
Warning 4 GB Limit with 32 bit versions of vista..
and even if you have 4, only 3 of those can be ulitized from the OS
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi,

Physical Address Extension allows the 32-bit OS to utilize up to 4 GB of
RAM. Without it, the OS may be limited to 3 GB

More info:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/pae_os.mspx

And many other pages (I suggest searching for PAE)

--
--Jonathan Maltz [Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - IIS, Virtual PC]
http://www.visualwin.com - A Windows Server 2003 visual, step-by-step
tutorial site :-)
http://vpc.visualwin.com - Does <insert OS name> work on VPC 2004? Find out
here
Only reply by newsgroup. I do not do technical support via email. Any
emails I have not authorized are deleted before I see them.


NewFox said:
can you explain this in detail or provide a link with more information on
this?

thank you


Jonathan Maltz said:
4 GB, with the /PAE switch in boot.ini, only 3 without it

--
--Jonathan Maltz [Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - IIS, Virtual PC]
http://www.visualwin.com - A Windows Server 2003 visual, step-by-step
tutorial site :-)
http://vpc.visualwin.com - Does <insert OS name> work on VPC 2004? Find
out
here
Only reply by newsgroup. I do not do technical support via email. Any
emails I have not authorized are deleted before I see them.


NewFox said:
Warning 4 GB Limit with 32 bit versions of vista..
and even if you have 4, only 3 of those can be ulitized from the OS


"Hasan" <hasan at uh dot com dot au> wrote in message
Thanks for the info.
I have a client who is a bit anal about wanting a minimum of 8GB of RAM
for his occasionally used home PC. He's got $$ to burn.
He also wants to upgrade to Vista as soon as it's released.


"Hasan" <hasan at uh dot com dot au> wrote in message

As the subject says, what's that max RAM that can be installed in any
version?

Being pedantic for a second, the maximum RAM that can be installed has
nothing whatever to do operating systems - it is determined by the
number of RAM slots in the machine's motherboard, and the maximum size
of the RAM chips that each slot supports.

That said, the various versions of Vista *support* various amounts of
RAM, as follows:

Starter 256Mb
Home Basic 8Gb
Home Premium 16Gb
Business 128Gb
Enterprise 128Gb
Ultimate 128Gb

If you have a copy of Business, Enterprise or Ultimate, best of luck
finding a machine which will allow you to install 128Gb RAM... :-)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
For all practical purposes, even if the /pae switch is enabled, people
should expect 3GB usable instead of 4GB even if the OS stated support. The
newer breeds of graphics card have 512MB-768MB RAM and those consumes
address spaces. I haven't seen any graphic card drivers able to translate
those addresses outside of the 4GB boundaries yet......


Jonathan Maltz said:
Hi,

Physical Address Extension allows the 32-bit OS to utilize up to 4 GB of
RAM. Without it, the OS may be limited to 3 GB

More info:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/pae_os.mspx

And many other pages (I suggest searching for PAE)

--
--Jonathan Maltz [Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - IIS, Virtual PC]
http://www.visualwin.com - A Windows Server 2003 visual, step-by-step
tutorial site :-)
http://vpc.visualwin.com - Does <insert OS name> work on VPC 2004? Find
out
here
Only reply by newsgroup. I do not do technical support via email. Any
emails I have not authorized are deleted before I see them.


NewFox said:
can you explain this in detail or provide a link with more information
on this?

thank you


Jonathan Maltz said:
4 GB, with the /PAE switch in boot.ini, only 3 without it

--
--Jonathan Maltz [Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - IIS, Virtual PC]
http://www.visualwin.com - A Windows Server 2003 visual, step-by-step
tutorial site :-)
http://vpc.visualwin.com - Does <insert OS name> work on VPC 2004? Find
out
here
Only reply by newsgroup. I do not do technical support via email. Any
emails I have not authorized are deleted before I see them.


"NewFox" <-> wrote in message
Warning 4 GB Limit with 32 bit versions of vista..
and even if you have 4, only 3 of those can be ulitized from the OS


"Hasan" <hasan at uh dot com dot au> wrote in message
Thanks for the info.
I have a client who is a bit anal about wanting a minimum of 8GB of
RAM for his occasionally used home PC. He's got $$ to burn.
He also wants to upgrade to Vista as soon as it's released.


"Hasan" <hasan at uh dot com dot au> wrote in message

As the subject says, what's that max RAM that can be installed in
any version?

Being pedantic for a second, the maximum RAM that can be installed
has nothing whatever to do operating systems - it is determined by
the number of RAM slots in the machine's motherboard, and the maximum
size of the RAM chips that each slot supports.

That said, the various versions of Vista *support* various amounts of
RAM, as follows:

Starter 256Mb
Home Basic 8Gb
Home Premium 16Gb
Business 128Gb
Enterprise 128Gb
Ultimate 128Gb

If you have a copy of Business, Enterprise or Ultimate, best of luck
finding a machine which will allow you to install 128Gb RAM... :-)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Only in Server.

In XP+SP2 / Vista 32, PAE is enabled (by design -> DEP). Is an PAE
restricted mode whit 32 bits pointers for driver compatibilty.

--
Jose Manuel Tella Llop
MVP - Windows
(e-mail address removed) (quitar XXX)
http://www.multingles.net/jmt.htm
news://jmtella.com

Este mensaje se proporciona "como está" sin garantías de ninguna clase,y no
otorga ningún derecho.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
You assume all risk for your use.


Jonathan Maltz said:
Hi,

Physical Address Extension allows the 32-bit OS to utilize up to 4 GB of
RAM. Without it, the OS may be limited to 3 GB

More info:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/pae_os.mspx

And many other pages (I suggest searching for PAE)

--
--Jonathan Maltz [Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - IIS, Virtual PC]
http://www.visualwin.com - A Windows Server 2003 visual, step-by-step
tutorial site :-)
http://vpc.visualwin.com - Does <insert OS name> work on VPC 2004? Find
out
here
Only reply by newsgroup. I do not do technical support via email. Any
emails I have not authorized are deleted before I see them.


NewFox said:
can you explain this in detail or provide a link with more information
on this?

thank you


Jonathan Maltz said:
4 GB, with the /PAE switch in boot.ini, only 3 without it

--
--Jonathan Maltz [Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - IIS, Virtual PC]
http://www.visualwin.com - A Windows Server 2003 visual, step-by-step
tutorial site :-)
http://vpc.visualwin.com - Does <insert OS name> work on VPC 2004? Find
out
here
Only reply by newsgroup. I do not do technical support via email. Any
emails I have not authorized are deleted before I see them.


"NewFox" <-> wrote in message
Warning 4 GB Limit with 32 bit versions of vista..
and even if you have 4, only 3 of those can be ulitized from the OS


"Hasan" <hasan at uh dot com dot au> wrote in message
Thanks for the info.
I have a client who is a bit anal about wanting a minimum of 8GB of
RAM for his occasionally used home PC. He's got $$ to burn.
He also wants to upgrade to Vista as soon as it's released.


"Hasan" <hasan at uh dot com dot au> wrote in message

As the subject says, what's that max RAM that can be installed in
any version?

Being pedantic for a second, the maximum RAM that can be installed
has nothing whatever to do operating systems - it is determined by
the number of RAM slots in the machine's motherboard, and the maximum
size of the RAM chips that each slot supports.

That said, the various versions of Vista *support* various amounts of
RAM, as follows:

Starter 256Mb
Home Basic 8Gb
Home Premium 16Gb
Business 128Gb
Enterprise 128Gb
Ultimate 128Gb

If you have a copy of Business, Enterprise or Ultimate, best of luck
finding a machine which will allow you to install 128Gb RAM... :-)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Please elaborate.... so this patch is not needed in XPSP2 pro for example?


JM Tella Llop said:
Only in Server.

In XP+SP2 / Vista 32, PAE is enabled (by design -> DEP). Is an PAE
restricted mode whit 32 bits pointers for driver compatibilty.

--
Jose Manuel Tella Llop
MVP - Windows
(e-mail address removed) (quitar XXX)
http://www.multingles.net/jmt.htm
news://jmtella.com

Este mensaje se proporciona "como está" sin garantías de ninguna clase,y
no otorga ningún derecho.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
You assume all risk for your use.


Jonathan Maltz said:
Hi,

Physical Address Extension allows the 32-bit OS to utilize up to 4 GB of
RAM. Without it, the OS may be limited to 3 GB

More info:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/pae_os.mspx

And many other pages (I suggest searching for PAE)

--
--Jonathan Maltz [Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - IIS, Virtual PC]
http://www.visualwin.com - A Windows Server 2003 visual, step-by-step
tutorial site :-)
http://vpc.visualwin.com - Does <insert OS name> work on VPC 2004? Find
out
here
Only reply by newsgroup. I do not do technical support via email. Any
emails I have not authorized are deleted before I see them.


NewFox said:
can you explain this in detail or provide a link with more information
on this?

thank you


4 GB, with the /PAE switch in boot.ini, only 3 without it

--
--Jonathan Maltz [Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - IIS, Virtual PC]
http://www.visualwin.com - A Windows Server 2003 visual, step-by-step
tutorial site :-)
http://vpc.visualwin.com - Does <insert OS name> work on VPC 2004?
Find out
here
Only reply by newsgroup. I do not do technical support via email. Any
emails I have not authorized are deleted before I see them.


"NewFox" <-> wrote in message
Warning 4 GB Limit with 32 bit versions of vista..
and even if you have 4, only 3 of those can be ulitized from the OS


"Hasan" <hasan at uh dot com dot au> wrote in message
Thanks for the info.
I have a client who is a bit anal about wanting a minimum of 8GB of
RAM for his occasionally used home PC. He's got $$ to burn.
He also wants to upgrade to Vista as soon as it's released.


"Hasan" <hasan at uh dot com dot au> wrote in message

As the subject says, what's that max RAM that can be installed in
any version?

Being pedantic for a second, the maximum RAM that can be installed
has nothing whatever to do operating systems - it is determined by
the number of RAM slots in the machine's motherboard, and the
maximum size of the RAM chips that each slot supports.

That said, the various versions of Vista *support* various amounts
of RAM, as follows:

Starter 256Mb
Home Basic 8Gb
Home Premium 16Gb
Business 128Gb
Enterprise 128Gb
Ultimate 128Gb

If you have a copy of Business, Enterprise or Ultimate, best of luck
finding a machine which will allow you to install 128Gb RAM... :-)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
XP (with PAE in boot.ini): 4 GB
XP+SP1 (with PAE in boot.ini): 4 GB
XP+SP2 (with / without PAE): 2.5 - 3.75 GB. (4 GB never)
Vista32 = same XP+SP2.

In spanish: Problemas con 4 GB o más de memoria. No se ve toda la memoria
instalada. (32 – 64 bits)
http://www.multingles.net/docs/jmt/4gbmem.htm

--
Jose Manuel Tella Llop
MVP - Windows
(e-mail address removed) (quitar XXX)
http://www.multingles.net/jmt.htm
news://jmtella.com

Este mensaje se proporciona "como está" sin garantías de ninguna clase,y no
otorga ningún derecho.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
You assume all risk for your use.


NewFox said:
Please elaborate.... so this patch is not needed in XPSP2 pro for example?


JM Tella Llop said:
Only in Server.

In XP+SP2 / Vista 32, PAE is enabled (by design -> DEP). Is an PAE
restricted mode whit 32 bits pointers for driver compatibilty.

--
Jose Manuel Tella Llop
MVP - Windows
(e-mail address removed) (quitar XXX)
http://www.multingles.net/jmt.htm
news://jmtella.com

Este mensaje se proporciona "como está" sin garantías de ninguna clase,y
no otorga ningún derecho.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
You assume all risk for your use.


Jonathan Maltz said:
Hi,

Physical Address Extension allows the 32-bit OS to utilize up to 4 GB of
RAM. Without it, the OS may be limited to 3 GB

More info:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/pae_os.mspx

And many other pages (I suggest searching for PAE)

--
--Jonathan Maltz [Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - IIS, Virtual PC]
http://www.visualwin.com - A Windows Server 2003 visual, step-by-step
tutorial site :-)
http://vpc.visualwin.com - Does <insert OS name> work on VPC 2004? Find
out
here
Only reply by newsgroup. I do not do technical support via email. Any
emails I have not authorized are deleted before I see them.


"NewFox" <-> wrote in message
can you explain this in detail or provide a link with more information
on this?

thank you


4 GB, with the /PAE switch in boot.ini, only 3 without it

--
--Jonathan Maltz [Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - IIS, Virtual PC]
http://www.visualwin.com - A Windows Server 2003 visual, step-by-step
tutorial site :-)
http://vpc.visualwin.com - Does <insert OS name> work on VPC 2004?
Find out
here
Only reply by newsgroup. I do not do technical support via email.
Any
emails I have not authorized are deleted before I see them.


"NewFox" <-> wrote in message
Warning 4 GB Limit with 32 bit versions of vista..
and even if you have 4, only 3 of those can be ulitized from the OS


"Hasan" <hasan at uh dot com dot au> wrote in message
Thanks for the info.
I have a client who is a bit anal about wanting a minimum of 8GB of
RAM for his occasionally used home PC. He's got $$ to burn.
He also wants to upgrade to Vista as soon as it's released.


"Hasan" <hasan at uh dot com dot au> wrote in message

As the subject says, what's that max RAM that can be installed in
any version?

Being pedantic for a second, the maximum RAM that can be installed
has nothing whatever to do operating systems - it is determined by
the number of RAM slots in the machine's motherboard, and the
maximum size of the RAM chips that each slot supports.

That said, the various versions of Vista *support* various amounts
of RAM, as follows:

Starter 256Mb
Home Basic 8Gb
Home Premium 16Gb
Business 128Gb
Enterprise 128Gb
Ultimate 128Gb

If you have a copy of Business, Enterprise or Ultimate, best of
luck finding a machine which will allow you to install 128Gb RAM...
:-)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
32bit Vista will not give you 4GB installed RAM!

I opened a service request with Microsoft (SRZ061127002189) to get a
definitive answer.

Here a summary of their answer:
32bit Vista does by design not(!) use the full 4GB of physically installed
RAM.
Technically it could use 4GB (by using PAE to access the memory remapped by
the mainboard above the 4GB address boundary). By a marketing design
decision all Windows Vista 32bit editions are limited to 4GB address space.
Vista Starter ist limited to 1GB. "This is based on marketing decisions and
cannot be cheated with the PAE-Kernel."

I find it hard to believe that someone made such a marketing decision: I can
understand that MS limits physical memory of some Vista edtitions to 4GB. I
do not understand a design decision to not fully use this memory even though
it is technically possible. I assume there are technical or security issues
involved - but this is just my feeling and not based on facts.

Some background links:

Intel® Chipset 4 GB SystemMemory Support
http://www.polywell.com/us/support/faq/4GB_Rev1.pdf

Memory Limits for Windows Releases
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...en-us/memory/base/memory_limits_for_windows_r
eleases.asp

Information regarding PAE-Kernel:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms791485.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEdrv.mspx
 
I find it hard to believe that someone made such a marketing decision: I
can
understand that MS limits physical memory of some Vista edtitions to 4GB.
I
do not understand a design decision to not fully use this memory even
though
it is technically possible.
Click to expand...

marketing decision = driver compatibility.

In PAE (extended) mode not all drivers works.

--
Jose Manuel Tella Llop
MVP - Windows
(e-mail address removed) (quitar XXX)
http://www.multingles.net/jmt.htm
news://jmtella.com

Este mensaje se proporciona "como está" sin garantías de ninguna clase,y no
otorga ningún derecho.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
You assume all risk for your use.
 
To add to what Mike stated:

32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295 bits or in other words 32-bit memory
addresses can directly access 4 GiB of byte-addressable memory. This is max
thus you need to subtract what the OS may use. Thou I remember the day when
Bill Gates did state that a OS should never need more than 64 K of RAM. Ahh
the good old days....

As an FYI:

64-bit architecture has a memory ceiling equivalent to 4,294,967,296
gigabytes or 16 exabytes of RAM. Less today's common 1 GB for the Operating
System.
 
That is fine, but it's not a 32-bit issue. When PAE is enabled we get 36-bit
addresssing, and 2^36 = 64 GB. Windows uses a mapping page to support the
36-bit addresses on 32-bit systems.

On the antique 32-bit Win2K Advanced Server you could set the PAE switch in
boot.ini and have access to 8 GB of memory. With the 32-bit Win03 Enterprise
Edition you could enable PAE and address 64 GB RAM thanks to PAE's 36-bit
addressing extension. Now, in the newer 32-bit Vista if you enable PAE you
are not able to address any of that extra memory, and you are reverted back
to 32-bit limitation of 4 GB.

As noted by other posters, the actual amount you can address will be more
like 3.2 GB because the BIOS takes memory away from you and gives it to
things like PCI-x video cards. This shuffling of memory occurs prior to
Windows boot, so from the very beginning Windows thinks the system only has
3.x GB installed.

For more information about this, please see Microsoft Articles 929605 and
255600.
 
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