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Geek Culture / Is there a way to make xp detect 4 gb ram?

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Mr Z
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 16:00
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Hi all.

I have just maximized my ram to 4 gb (which is as much as my computer can handle). In BIOS, it stands that I got 4 gb. BUT, in xp it say about 3 gb, even less, dependent on where you look. Since my computer can handle 4 gb, I want to be able to use every single mb of them... is there a way to make my 32-bit xp to find all my 4 gb ram?

Take care,
Mr Z.

Darkness, you haunt me. If I give in, I would be an monster beyond imagining. Light, you guide me. Thanks to you, I see past the nothingness. Life, I choose to live in the light.
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Benjamin
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 16:08 Edited at: 30th Dec 2007 16:09
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The only way is to upgrade your OS and processor to 64-bit. The reason you can only use 3gb is because the rest of the address space is used for other things such as GPU memory.

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Mr Z
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 16:27
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My computer is an laptop, so changing processor to 64-bit would be extremly hard...

Does this mean I have about 1 gb GPU memory? That would be cool!

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David R
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 16:38 Edited at: 30th Dec 2007 16:41
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~4GB is the numerical limit for RAM on any 32 bit OS (and processor for that matter) regardless of whether it's XP or not. If there were a way to address more memory with the existing architecture, I'm certain we'd be doing it already.


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bitJericho
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 16:41
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension


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Mr Z
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 16:42 Edited at: 30th Dec 2007 16:49
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I know 4 gb is the limit of 32-bit architectures, but that is what I have, so it should work. I have the same problem with ubuntu, but there seems to be an setting or something that can change that (previus versions of ubuntu have supported that much ram, so why should not the one I have be able to, and there by, why should not xp be able to?).

EDIT:

@Jerico2day

I have heard of that technique, but I should not have to use it. As you can read in that wiki, it allows 32-bit systems to have more then 4 gb, so it should not be any problem with ram up to 4 gb.

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bitJericho
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 16:45
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Quote: "I know 4 gb is the limit of 32-bit architectures, but that is what I have, so it should wor"


You don't understand. It's 4GB across all devices. That means if you have a 512mb video card, you have 3.5gb left for ram, and that applies to all devices connected to your computer. That's why you only see 3ish gigs.


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David R
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 16:45
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Yeah, PAE will do it, but you need a mobo that will support >4 GB, as well as a processor (which should be easy >Pent. Pro) but only the server versions of Windows support PAE IIRC (XP and Vista can't I don't think)


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Mr Z
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 16:54
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Quote: "You don't understand."


I do understand, just that I responded to David Rs post.

Quote: "It's 4GB across all devices. That means if you have a 512mb video card, you have 3.5gb left for ram, and that applies to all devices connected to your computer. That's why you only see 3ish gigs."


That was interesting. I didn´t know that. But I have 4 gb ram and about 128 mb video... it should display more then 3 gb.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 17:37
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I enabled PAE on my XP and it only shows 3.35GB, and yes my hardware supports 4GB.

Quote: "but only the server versions of Windows support PAE IIRC "

When you enable it in XP, your system properties will say "Physical Address Extension" under the Computer specs.

I'm not positive on this, but I think all PAE will do on XP is allow the remaining memory to be strictly reserved for the kernal only.


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IanM
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 18:58
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Every device, even the ones you don't use directly yourself, will use up a little of the 4GB address space. If video memory is cached then that will double the size of the video allocation. If your BIOS is cached, then that will use a chunk, etc. In this case, caching is good - you are trading a little memory for a little extra speed.

Basically, unless you literally strip your OS to the bone (ie, remove device drivers, disable caching in the BIOS etc), you are unlikely to ever see more than 3GB on the non-datacentre 32-bit versions of windows, and you'll never see 4GB. To be honest, it's probably not worth worrying too much about, as the best you will do is slow your system down, with the worst being to make your system unusable.

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Mr Z
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 20:18
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After a bit more checking:

Xp cannot find more then 2.87 gb ram. Is there any way to make it recognise more? Even up to 3 gb would be nice, bit 2.87...

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bitJericho
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 20:20 Edited at: 30th Dec 2007 20:20
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Nope.

Seriously though, it's 3 gigs! Unless your rendering 3d videos it'd be more trouble then it's worth. Upgrade to a 64bit OS if you need more than 3 or 4 gigs


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Mr Z
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 20:28
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Well, I´m just crazy in ram. Plus I would hate for my money to have gone to waste . Ok, not that much money, but still. On the otherside, if I install an os that can detect all the ram, then I will have 4 gb, so I will have plenty of room to have fun in.

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Agent Dink
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 21:48
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You won't even use all that ram ^_^ I have 3.5 gigs out of my 4 and I rarely use more than 2 gigs at time.

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Matt Rock
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 22:13
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Seriously, I only have 2 gigs of RAM, and I can open just about any program the second I click it, and I load most maps in games faster than most other people . And since I made the upgrade, rendering FPSC stuff takes about 1/8th the time, lol. I'd see about using that extra juice for page flip or whatever.

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andrey d
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 22:54
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32 bit XP will use 3.5 gigs of ram max, and by the way, what are you really gonna use to stress all of that ram?
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Mr Z
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 23:04 Edited at: 30th Dec 2007 23:22
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Seriusly, no. The most I´ve come up with was still using less then 2 gb. But then I was useing virtual box to test another os, and I had given it over 1 gb. But I´m that type who just like to have it there. It just feels good knowing that I never ever have to worry about it.

Quote: "I load most maps in games faster than most other people"


I played Overlord with 446 mb ram (I have an 512 mb card back then but it shared some with the graphics card), and guess what. Loading was slooooooooooooow. Then I added 2 gb and loading then went lightning fast . Ram rocks.

EDIT:

Quote: "I have 3.5 gigs out of my 4"


Why do you get 3.5 when I get 2.8? Does it have to do with that I have xp home edition? Or is it something else?

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Agent Dink
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 23:49
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My bad. I get 3.0 not 3.5 gigs.

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andrey d
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Posted: 30th Dec 2007 23:57
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Quote: "I played Overlord with 446 mb ram (I have an 512 mb card back then but it shared some with the graphics card), and guess what. Loading was slooooooooooooow. Then I added 2 gb and loading then went lightning fast . Ram rocks."

Please point out a single game on the market that uses more than 2 gigs of ram.
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David R
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Posted: 31st Dec 2007 00:03 Edited at: 31st Dec 2007 00:06
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Quote: "Please point out a single game on the market that uses more than 2 gigs of ram."


Yeah, I was just thinking that - the only way more RAM would be needed is if the app was running out of RAM to begin with and ended up paging the HD. Then adding RAM would definitely be a speed boost.

Otherwise, besides swapping inferior/slower RAM for faster sticks, I fail to see how superfluous quantities of RAM would speed up a game

EDIT:
Then again, you probably had less RAM than necessary if your GPU shared system memory, so the game could of ended up paging to the HD whilst loading, and the extra RAM fixed the problem.


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Phaelax
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Posted: 31st Dec 2007 03:14 Edited at: 31st Dec 2007 03:15
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Quote: "Xp cannot find more then 2.87 gb ram"





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Cash Curtis II
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Posted: 31st Dec 2007 04:47
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@Mr Z -
I'm sure that since you're using a laptop the difference is that your GPU memory is shared with RAM.


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