XP is not reading all of my RAM

[Patrick Keenan]

So he should blame the driver developers like Microsoft do?

Yes, but it's not just "driver developers". It's application developers,
too.

Consider Digidesign Pro Tools, which will not run on 64-bit anything,
despite the fact that the extended memory might come in handy.

However, as an aside, since I'm mentioning PT, an installation of IE8 breaks
it completely to the point where it won't launch, and that probably isn't
Digidesign's fault.

-pk

 

[dennis]

The reason is anything *but* unknown.

No 32-bit OS can access more than about 3.5 gig of RAM - this applies to
Windows, Mac OS and Linux.

No, read the link I provided earlier.

 

[JS]

I'm aware of the 2D vs 3D and office apps
don't need 3D however Photo editing software
using the same LCD or CRT display does visually
appear better with my 256MB card when compared
to my 32 or 64MB card (all are Nvidia).

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com

Office documents and most photo editing don't take advantage of any
advanced
GPU acceleration. Any old junk will do. 8MB shared RAM Intel 815 will.
(Unless you want Aero, which still doesn't need anything too advanced.
nVidia
6150 or Intel 945 will do.)

Video? Unless you're looking at Hi definition, again any old junk will do.
With a decently powerful CPU you don't even need that good a card for hi
def.

Gaming or 3D design / CADD is the only thing that needs a really high end
card.

If there is a balance it would depend on what you use
your system for. For example:
Office apps = Almost any decent video card (64 to 128MB)
Photo editing = Good video card (128 to 256MB)
Video = Mid range performance card (256 to 512MB)
Gaming = High end card (Fast video processor, 512 to 1GB)
Extreme Gaming = Dual video cards (1, 2 or 4GB)

The above is just a ballpark reference and not an absolute.
Gaming systems also use Intel processors that are either
overclocked or Extreme processors that are not clock locked,
have the fastest drives usually in a RAID configuration and memory
designed for running above the standard FSB speed.

No, I'm doing ok with what I have. I was just thinking that if I had
bought the 1GB video card I was looking at a while back, then I could
have

[quoted text clipped - 67 lines]

everything else just fine...it just isn't saying I have 7 gig
anymore.
Suggestions anyone?

 

[dennis]

Yes, but it's not just "driver developers". It's application developers,
too.

32bit applications are just limited to limited user space. They don't
fail like drivers do (they only do virtual addressing).

 

[John John - MVP]

32bit applications are just limited to limited user space. They don't
fail like drivers do (they only do virtual addressing).

Unless they are doing Windowing Extensions...

John

 

[dennis]

Unless they are doing Windowing Extensions...

Well, the VA doesn't get any bigger, and there are some limitations when
using AWE. But yes, it is a way for a single application to use it all.