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Ram- How much can I add?

ChiknNutz

New Member
If using Win XP, it will only recognize 3GB. Most systems seem to take pairs of RAM, so you'd probably have to put in a full 4GB anyway.
 

SignBurst PCs

New Member
You don't need 64 Bit to take advatage of 4GB of RAM. If you want more than 4, then you will need 64 Bit. 4 is better than 2. Windows may only report between 3.2 - 3.6, depending on your board. It will make a big difference. You motherboard does have to be able to support 4GB though.
 

eforer

New Member
Unless your using 64bit, anything over 2gb won't make a difference.


That is completely untrue. A 32 bit OS (any 32 bit os) can address a maximum of 4gb of physical memory. Furthermore, while windows may report only 3-3.5 gb, it will allocate any ram over 3gb to the kernel. In fact, with 4 gb of RAM it XP Pro allocates 2gb to the kernel 2gb to application. Beyond that, doing 3gb in a true dual channel configuration involves buying 4 dimms, it doesn't cost much more to go to 4 gb.
 

SignBurst PCs

New Member
I sencond that. Many people believe that anything over 2GB in 32 bit windows is useless. I disagree whole-heartedly. eforer is correct. You can even use the 3gb Switch in your boot.ini file to allow windows to only use 1gb and leave 3GB for you applications. The swithc does come at a slight risk though as I have seen it make some systems unstable. Backup, Backup, Backup before making chages like that!
 
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