Vista 32bit and 4gb RAM help!

[salsa88]

I'm running vista 32bit and like others my 4gb RAM shows up as 3.25gb in the OS and 4.0gb in the bios. Is there a way around the RAM cap so i can use all 4gb of RAM?

[jayfella]

nope. its a physical limit, not an OS limit.

[salsa88]

nope. its a physical limit, not an OS limit.
3.25gb on 32bit OS, 4gb on 64bit OS.. sounds like an OS limit to me.

[OldSkool]

It's the 32bit version, that's normal. If you want to use more ram, upgrade to a 64bit version. As said, it IS an OS limit, you are correct.

[jason4207]

Well I guess you could say its a physical limit of 32-bit OS (although there are some exceptions). :p

2^32 = 4,294,967,296 = 4GB addressable memory, but that has to be shared for all devices w/ addressable memory...RAM doesn't get it all.

[salsa88]

It's the 32bit version, that's normal. If you want to use more ram, upgrade to a 64bit version. As said, it IS an OS limit, you are correct.
Thats what I was thinking
Thanks

[jayfella]

i meant that Vista is not deciding you cant use anymore than 4GB, its physically impossible to do so unless you change to 64bit.

[smokie mcpott]

If you want to believe its the limit of the operating system then go right ahead. Name ONE operating system that runs 32bit that can use 4GB RAM.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEdrv.mspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366796(VS.85).aspx

[jayfella]

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEdrv.mspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366796(VS.85).aspx (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366796%28VS.85%29.aspx)


I guess i stand corrected :confused:

Am i going nuts or isnt it mathematically impossible to use more than 4GB. I admit i was wrong, fair enough, but id like to know where i went wrong.

[OldSkool]

Thats what I was thinking
Thanks

Np, :beer:

[jdf_warrior]

Ringing in for the ARCHITECTURE limit, rather than a OS limit. Yes this is me being nit picky and a smart a**

This thread or similar should be made a sticky. The "it's not showing all my ram because I'm using a 32bit OS" threads come up, ALOT.

[Is_907]

salsa88: In case you're wondering, it's very much worth it to run Vista x64 (assuming you're not running a Pentium4 ;))
The improvement in performance is noticeable for the CPU and the RAM. Give it a try.

[Dapman02]

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEdrv.mspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366796(VS.85).aspx

From what I read, while those will help you id the extra ram, I read it slows it down pretty bad.