3G is really 4G in 32bit OS's?

In 32bit OS's, even though it says 3G, is it really 4G? In other words, knowing that in bios it says 4G,is the system going to use all 4 or only the 3? The reason I'm asking is that I can't decide to put only 3G, that will take it out of dual channel( I suppose). Or try to deal with the headache of a 64bit OS with 4G( considering driver problems and hardware issues). thoughts?

dkdgbroyles said:

In 32bit OS's, even though it says 3G, is it really 4G? In other words, knowing that in bios it says 4G,is the system going to use all 4 or only the 3? The reason I'm asking is that I can't decide to put only 3G, that will take it out of dual channel( I suppose). Or try to deal with the headache of a 64bit OS with 4G( considering driver problems and hardware issues). thoughts?

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It's going to be dual channel, but it's only going to use 3G. If you are using XP or Vista, I wouldn't even worry about it unless you want to switch to 64bit.

Thing is, I really wanna go 64bit but very affraid of driver and hardware issues. Is it that big of a headache? I would imagine that in 1-2 years 4G of ram would be the norm and I want a system that will go that way but at the same time don't want that headache. Assuming I'm correct about 4G will be the norm.

Well, most stuff you run into these days is at least capable of running in a 64 bit environment. I haven't had many problems and the drivers are starting to mature. However, it's almost inevitable that you will have a program that won't work. In my experience, Star Trek Armada II won't work and neither will my copy of AutoCAD 06. Google your programs if you are scared, but like I said, for the most part you should be good.

I have 4 gigs ram with Ultimate x64. I haven't really had that many problems with it. But there are some older games that won't run on 64 and there are a couple games that will run on 64 but have a tendency to crash or lockup the computer every now and then (eq2, crysis, gc2 so far)