WinXP and 32 GB system RAM lmit?

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Guest

I have a new 32 GB quad-core PC that I plan to install WinXP 32-bit on.
Since WinXP 32-bit only utilizes 4 GB RAM, will the remaining 28 GB be
wasted, or can it somehow be utilized?

Thanks.

Scott
 
On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:07:01 -0800, Scott Ehrlich <Scott
I have a new 32 GB quad-core PC that I plan to install WinXP 32-bit on.
Since WinXP 32-bit only utilizes 4 GB RAM, will the remaining 28 GB be
wasted, or can it somehow be utilized?
Click to expand...


It will be wasted. Actually everything over something around 3.1GB
will be wasted. All 32-bit versions of Windows (Vista as well as XP),
even though they have a 4GB address space, can only use *around* 3.1GB
of RAM. That's because some of that space is used by hardware and not
available to the operating system and applications. The amount you can
use varies, depending on what hardware you have installed, but is
usually around 3.1GB.

However, note that even if 32-bit Windows *could* use that much RAM,
it's highly unlikely that your apps could make use of it. In fact,
even 3GB is substantially more than RAM than most people running
Windows XP can make effective use of. Chances are you would see no
performance difference between 1GB and 3GB, unless you do very
memory-hungry tasks, live editing large photographic images or videos.
 
Ken Blake said:
On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:07:01 -0800, Scott Ehrlich <Scott



It will be wasted. Actually everything over something around 3.1GB
will be wasted. All 32-bit versions of Windows (Vista as well as XP),
even though they have a 4GB address space, can only use *around* 3.1GB
of RAM. That's because some of that space is used by hardware and not
available to the operating system and applications. The amount you can
use varies, depending on what hardware you have installed, but is
usually around 3.1GB.

However, note that even if 32-bit Windows *could* use that much RAM,
it's highly unlikely that your apps could make use of it. In fact,
even 3GB is substantially more than RAM than most people running
Windows XP can make effective use of. Chances are you would see no
performance difference between 1GB and 3GB, unless you do very
memory-hungry tasks, live editing large photographic images or videos.
Click to expand...


What are the insights of adding /pae to the boot.ini? What does that truly
buy me?
From both the OS and application perspective, from programs such as matlab,
mathematica, adobe acrobat, photoshop, etc?

Thanks.

Scott
 
The person who sold you a computer with 32GB of RAM is gaining much more
from it than you ever will.
 
Scott said:
What are the insights of adding /pae to the boot.ini? What does that truly
buy me?
Click to expand...

Nothing. XP will never address more than 4 GB, even with /PAE on. You
would need Windows Server 2000 or 2003 to use the additional memory.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en/library/ms791485.aspx

As far as I understand the available information (someone correct me
if I am wrong), even on a Windows Server the address space for each
process would still be limited to 4 GB. Memory above 4 GB would be
used for paging, in favor of swapping to the page file on disk. So
/PAE wouldn't buy you anything here either from a single application's
perspective, but you would be able to run more programs simultaneously.

usch
 
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