• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Vista and RAM

N

Nate5452

n00b
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
53
I know Vista 32bit only allows up to 4GB.

What I don't understand is why on my computer (VISTA HOME)it is showing 3.25 GB on RAM

and on my Fathers computer (VISTA BUSINESS) it shows at 4.00GB


Now there are two different types of ram.


Even though its showing 3.25GB am I still getting full use out of the 4.00GB installed?


Thanks
Nate
 
Do you have SP1 with all updates? Do you have a 512mb video card? What is your configuration like?
 
I am under the impression that any 32 bit OS cannot see more than about 3.1gb of ram, not 4gb. Is your father's computer 64 bit? 3.25 seems about right to me for a 32 bit OS.
 
32bit = 4gb of addressing space.

If you've got a 512mb video card, you can address another 3.5gb of physical memory. Is your fathers machine running onboard video, perhaps?
 
I think what he's talking about is in the Computer Systems screen. It shows how much is installed, even though you can't access it all. SP1 shows 4GB in the Computer System Information window, even if your only using 3.25 as reported by task manager.

OP make sure you have SP1, it installs the fix to show 4GB of ram, but both of you are still going to only use the same amount so it's not really a big deal, it just shows how much is installed.
 
Well yeah I suppose if you're counting your ram toward shared video memory... but as far as usable system memory for the OS I'm pretty sure there is no 32 bit that can address more than around 3.1 without some kind of mod.
 
In My Dads computer (currently shows 4gb) we have a geforce 8600 video card installed.

In my computer (I believe it shows 3.25) I have a 4870 1GB. I believe I have the service pack in stalled and I will double check


Nate
 
When i had vista 32 bit i put 4 gigs of ram , it showed 4 gigs, i do not believe the system
utilized all 4 gigs. When i had xp with 4 gigs it would only show 3.25 which from all
i have read here and other sites this is all a 32 bit system can use,there are a multitude
of threads about this. I have gone to 64 bit on both computers i have, now 1 runs 4gigs,
the other 8 gigs.
 
just another thought look at your ram usage when i had 32 bit vista i was using above
40 percent,with 64 bit i now use 30 percent.
 
Nate5452 said:
In My Dads computer (currently shows 4gb) we have a geforce 8600 video card installed.

In my computer (I believe it shows 3.25) I have a 4870 1GB. I believe I have the service pack in stalled and I will double check


Nate
Click to expand...
The 1gig video card if probably why it is only showing 3.25. I remember in my old 32bit system when I enabled SLi it dropped to 3.25, when I ran a single card it would show all 4 gigs ... Even though it is still only using about 3. I'd say just get a 64bit OS and enjoy 4gigs of RAM.
 
My Vista 32-bit shows 4 GB under System Properties but I know its not using it all, task manager shows less. Maybe the one computer isn't up to date with Vista updates?
 
It'll tell you how much you have installed, but it won't use all of it past 4GB. Even when I popped in 8GB of RAM in x86 (right before switching to x64), it showed that I had 8GB installed, but Task Manger only showed it using about 3.xGB.
 
From Microsoft:

However, to avoid potential driver compatibility issues, the 32-bit versions of Windows Vista limit the total available memory to 3.12 GB.
Click to expand...

The article also describes how Vista handles system memory and graphics memory, with regard to what service pack you have. It sounds to me like the different is just in how it reports memory, not in how it uses it.
 
Z(+)DIAC said:
I thought Vista 32-bit didn't register 4gbs, only 64-bit versions....
Click to expand...

OEMs complained to Microsoft about 32bit OSs because their customers were complaining. Customers were buying 4GB+ of memory but were angry when their system could only "see" 3.25GB or so.

So to help the OEMs, Microsoft implemented a fix for the 32bit OS' to show the full amount of memory installed as opposed to only showing how much system memory was being addressed. This fix did not overcome the overall addressing limitation of 32bit OS.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top