XP RAM Limitation

  • Thread starter Thread starter toliveras
  • Start date Start date
T

toliveras

Motherboard-type aside, what is the maximum amount of RAM
supported by XP Home Edition and Professional.

I know that W2K can support 2 GB, but what is Microsoft's
say as far as max amount and max speed.

Once I find out what the limitations are then I will check
for the type of board I want to get, so it is not maxed
out before I even start.

If anyone know of a KB article that I could read I would
greatly appreciate it.
 
4 GB is supported by XP Home and Pro. The 64 bit XP
supports 16 GB.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q283247
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/evaluation/overviews/revguide.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;286463
this last has this...

1.1 Hardware Requirements
============================================================
==========

Before you install Windows XP Professional, make sure your
computer meets the following minimum hardware requirements:

* 233 megahertz (MHz) Pentium or higher microprocessor (or
equivalent)
* 128 megabytes (MB) recommended (64 MB of RAM minimum; 4
gigabytes (GB) of RAM maximum)
* 1.5 GB of free space on your hard disk
* VGA monitor
* Keyboard
* Mouse or compatible pointing device
* CD-ROM or DVD drive
For Home
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;306824
1.1 Hardware Requirements
============================================================
==========

Before you install Windows XP Home Edition, make sure your
computer meets the following minimum hardware requirements:

* 233 megahertz (MHz) Pentium or higher microprocessor (or
equivalent)
* 128 megabytes (MB) recommended (64 MB of RAM minimum; 4
gigabytes (GB) of RAM maximum)
* 1.5 GB of free space on your hard disk
* VGA monitor
* Keyboard
* Mouse or compatible pointing device
* CD-ROM or DVD drive


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


message | Motherboard-type aside, what is the maximum amount of RAM
| supported by XP Home Edition and Professional.
|
| I know that W2K can support 2 GB, but what is Microsoft's
| say as far as max amount and max speed.
|
| Once I find out what the limitations are then I will check
| for the type of board I want to get, so it is not maxed
| out before I even start.
|
| If anyone know of a KB article that I could read I would
| greatly appreciate it.
 
that you can buy 1Gigabyte memory modules, and that most board have
four memory sockets, then you can install 4Gb of RAM. That's about a
full DVD movie's playing time! >
Seriously although not a problem today for XP, it's a bit of overkill
and a BIG cost. Unless you are using a Video Editing application
most users are comfortable at 256 Mb. Power Users will go to 512Mb
and when you are seriously into memory intensive data sizes [movies
etc] then go for 1Gb plus.
Click to expand...
No matter how much main memory your system boasts, Windows XP still
Click to expand...
creates and uses a page file for virtual memory and initially sets up
the swap file as 1.5 times the RAM capacity.


So what if it does ? (a) you can set the MAX pagefile size to
anything you want in control panel. This guy may loose 4GB disk space
or so for swap space. If he's running out of disk space he's got
other performance problems.

Re: Adding GB of memory. Adding memory before you see if you need it
by running task manager or performance manager (perfmon) and see what
you need all your applications loaded. 99% of the time 256MB is fine.

Unless you run applications that can use more memory, spend your money
on something you will enjoy. MSofffice+email+a web browser runs fine
in 256MB. If you've got 100 dollar bills burning a hole in your
pocket, I'll lighen your load. I take paypal.
 
Even though XP Pro has the capability to allocate 3GB to applications,
and 1GB to the OS, if the application was not written to use 3GB (very
few are - I think a few upper end CAD and Video editing programs are),
the extra GB of memory allocated to the application will be wasted.
For you normal, off the shelf software, it will be wasted.

--

Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your service
--------------------------------------------------------
BAR said:
By default, Version 5 processes on Windows can allocate up to 2.0GB
Click to expand...
of memory for storing data and code.
The 4GB address space offered by the operating system is split in
Click to expand...
two areas of 2GB each: the first 2GB is for user mode, and the other
2GB isg reserved by the kernel.
With XP Pro, it is possible to increase the default allocation
Click to expand...
capabilities up to 3.0GB (3GB for user mode, 1GB reserved for kernel).
Such capability requires additional tunings in order to be effective:
XP Professional is required.
A modification of boot.ini file is needed to activate this
Click to expand...
capability at the system level. The boot.ini switch /3GB needs to be
added in order to make 3GB available for user mode applications. For
example:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Click to expand...
Professional 3GB" /fastdetect /3GB
 
Back
Top