dumb question: does XP support 4GBs of RAM?

O

ozziegn

The man behind the curtain...
Joined
Jan 13, 2001
Messages
17,533
I'm wanting to add another 2gigs of memory to my XP machine, but I don't know how XP will react to 4gigs.

would it work or no? if not, I suppose I could dig out my copy of Vista which does support 4gigs, right?

please comment on either one.
 
Pertinent question to ask is "Why?" The answer to that question will influence how XP (32-bit) will 'react'.


Firstly, the mere fact of the amount of physical memory isn't the be-all and end-all of it. It's the interplay of physical memory, virtual memory management, and your actual activities which generate outcomes. If your computing activity doesn't really currently push the limits of what you have then adding more physical memory is doing bugger-all. If that computing activity IS pushing those boundaries already, then adding more RAM will bring added performance, but adding more physical memory AND changing to 64-bit Windows will bring more benefit.
 
okay, so then the 32bit of Vista doesn't work with 4gigs either, right?
 
Wrong. 32-bit Windows works just fine on rigs with 4Gb of RAM.

It just won't report 4Gb of RAM as available. It'll report 4Gb minus however much is allocated to hardware addressing in your rig, because that has to occur via the same 4Gb addressing 'window'. And it'll still be subject to the same '2Gb per application' virtual memory restriction as before.

32-bit Windows works. 64-bit Windows works better ;)
 
alright. I guess I can give Vista yet another try. the question is: do I install all 4gigs of memory while I install Vista or should I just use 2gigs and then add the other 2 after I install Vista?

someone told me earlier that there is some sort of patch that Microsoft has in this situation. is this true?
 
ozziegn said:
alright. I guess I can give Vista yet another try. the question is: do I install all 4gigs of memory while I install Vista or should I just use 2gigs and then add the other 2 after I install Vista?
Click to expand...


Either way is fine..
 
but what about this MS patch I heard about? is it something I need to use? if so, where would I find this on Microsoft's site?
 
you people.

you can use 4gb with linux,windows xp,windows vista,mac os x.

but if they are 32bit, it will only report you having about 3.2gb of memory free (maybe less).

the 64bit version is capable of addressing more memory, so you see 4gb free.

i recommend buying the 4gb, if you have a 32bit operating system now, when you get a 64bit o.s. you will be able to have 4gb free.

that's it i think.
 
I've read that if you're installing vista x86 you need to install it with less than 4GB, then you can add the rest after it's installed.

If you want you can try installing with all 4GB in. If it doesn't work take one or two out then try again.
 
I bought the extra 2gigs because it was extremely dirt cheap.
 
4GB does work with XP Professional.
The OS won't be able to use all of it for 32 bit version due to other hardware using some of the memory address space.

64bit version doesn't have that problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top