XP Pro & VISTA Memory Usage?

[Tom]

A friend told me Windows XP Pro and MS VISTA can only use 4GB RAM is that
true?

Tom

 

[Tom]

A friend told me Windows XP Pro and MS VISTA can only use 4GB RAM is that
true?

Tom

I just read that 32bit Windows will only use 3.5gb ram and the rest will be
used by hardware. How much memory will 64bit Windows recognize?

Tom

 

[Bob I]

I just read that 32bit Windows will only use 3.5gb ram and the rest will be
used by hardware. How much memory will 64bit Windows recognize?

Tom

Working answer is:
"More than can be installed in current motherboards"

 

[Tim Slattery]

A friend told me Windows XP Pro and MS VISTA can only use 4GB RAM is that
true?

The 32-bit versions of both XP and Vista have a 32-bit (4GB) address
space, and therefore can use a maximum of 4GB. But some of that
address space must be used to access video RAM, BIOS, etc, so you will
probably get about 3.5GB. See
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt/RAM.html

The 64-bit versions of these systems allow MUCH more RAM.

 

[M.I.5¾]

That's what's been reported. I can't confirm it. I do know that
Vista will reserve some memory for itself though, but 512Megs of RAM
for just the OS seems a bit excessive.

You have misunderstood. Both XP and Vista use the memory *address range*
for other devices. They do not use the memory as such. The amount actually
pinched depends on the hardware fitment and is not a fixed value.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Depends on the edition of Vista x64. Business and Ultimate support 128Gb.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx

 

[Tom]

That's what's been reported. I can't confirm it. I do know that
Vista will reserve some memory for itself though, but 512Megs of RAM
for just the OS seems a bit excessive.

As for how much the 64bit versions of Vista will recognize, this is
from Microsoft's site:

Vista Home Basic: 8GB
Vista Home Premium: 16GB
Vista Ultimate, Enterprise, Business: 128+ GB

Just remember though, just like WinXP64, a lot of the time, you can't
use the 32-bit drivers, and 64-bit driver support is very limited.

Thanks for the useful reply. We were discussing Photoshop and other memory
instensive applications when the 32bit memory roadblock came up.

Tom

 

[Tom]

The 32-bit versions of both XP and Vista have a 32-bit (4GB) address
space, and therefore can use a maximum of 4GB. But some of that
address space must be used to access video RAM, BIOS, etc, so you will
probably get about 3.5GB. See
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt/RAM.html

The 64-bit versions of these systems allow MUCH more RAM.

--
Tim Slattery
MS MVP(Shell/User)
(e-mail address removed)
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt

OK