how much RAM with XP?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Francis Marsden
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Francis Marsden

A while ago I read that Windows XP home has trouble recognizing more that 3
gigs of ram, and recently read that it has trouble recognizing more than 2
gigs. Is this true, and has the problem been solved?
 
A while ago I read that Windows XP home has trouble recognizing more that 3
gigs of ram,
Click to expand...


It's not a matter of "having trouble." All 32-bit versions of Windows,
even though they have a 4GB address space, can only use *around* 3.1GB
of RAM. That's because some of that space is used by hardware and not
available to the operating system and applications. The amount you can
use varies, depending on what hardware you have installed, but is
usually around 3.1GB. But I've seen numbers as high as 3.5GB.

and recently read that it has trouble recognizing more than 2
gigs.
Click to expand...


Not correct.

Is this true,
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The former yes; the latter no, as I said above.

and has the problem been solved?
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The "problem," as you call it, is inherent to the structure of the
operating system/hardware combination. It is not solvable.

By the way, at least as far as Windows XP is concerned, 3GB of RAM is
*way* more than almost anyone can make effective use of. So it's
largely a non-issue.
 
Francis Marsden said:
A while ago I read that Windows XP home has trouble recognizing more that 3
gigs of ram, and recently read that it has trouble recognizing more than 2
gigs. Is this true, and has the problem been solved?
Click to expand...

32 bit Windows XP will allow up to 4GB of virtual memory. This address space
is usually split into 2GB for processes and applications whilst the other
2GB is used by the Windows executive software.

It is possible to override this by using the /3GB switch in the boot.ini
file to allow 3GB for applications and processes.

Ed Metcalfe.
 
Unknown said:
Don't you mean '32 bit Windows XP will allow up to 4GB of ACTUAL memory'?
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No, I don't. Virtual Memory is the sum of both paged (what most people think
of as virtual memory) and non-paged (physical RAM) memory. Virtual memory
address space is limited to 4GB in 32 bit Windows.

Ed Metcalfe.
 
Somewhat of a play on words. 4 GB of memory (actual) can be installed in
many computers. In most all cases only 3.1 GB can be used. When this is the
case, almost no page files are required for virtual memory..
 
Unknown said:
Somewhat of a play on words. 4 GB of memory (actual) can be installed in
many computers. In most all cases only 3.1 GB can be used. When this is
the case, almost no page files are required for virtual memory..
Click to expand...

<sigh> Not a play on words at all. Try doing a little research to check what
you *think* you know before correcting people. Do a Google for Windows
Virtual Memory Manager:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/winntas/training/ntarchitectoview/ntarc_7.mspx?mfr=true

I never said XP would not take 4GB of physical RAM. It will. If you install
4GB of physical RAM 32 bit Windows will not page *anything*.

Ed Metcalfe.
 
Not true.

I have 4Gb of RAM installed and my page file (virtual memory) is set at 3Gb.
Have not had a complaint from XP about too much memory or swap file is too
large or anyhting along those lines.

I just opened Everest Ultimate Edition 4.10.1122 and it shows:
Swap space
Total 4701Mb
Used 534Mb
Free 4167Mb
Utilization 11%

Virtual Memory
Total 8028Mb
Used 1200Mb
Free 6828Mb
Utilization 11%

Paging File
Utilization 4%

So, I would say XP IS using my swap file, for whatever reason.
 
Jerry said:
Not true.

I have 4Gb of RAM installed and my page file (virtual memory) is set at
3Gb. Have not had a complaint from XP about too much memory or swap file
is too large or anyhting along those lines.

I just opened Everest Ultimate Edition 4.10.1122 and it shows:
Swap space
Total 4701Mb
Used 534Mb
Free 4167Mb
Utilization 11%

Virtual Memory
Total 8028Mb
Used 1200Mb
Free 6828Mb
Utilization 11%

Paging File
Utilization 4%

So, I would say XP IS using my swap file, for whatever reason.
Click to expand...

Jerry,

As far as I'm aware if all 4GB of physical RAM is recognised and working
Windows *can't* be using the swap file. A 32 bit address space will not
allow for more than 4GB of VM.

The numbers you posted aren't logical anyway - why would Windows page
anything when you have so much free physical RAM? There's no point.

Ed Metcalfe
 
| Actually, ignore that last post of mine. A mistake on my part!
|
| Ed Metcalfe.
|

Actually you should "Try doing a little research to check what you *think*
you know before correcting people."

I ignored your first post which was not accurate either.
 
I did not correct anything. If you read the original post, the subject was
ACTUAL memory.
Do a little research before you respond to posts.
 
Unknown said:
Didn't research did you?
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Unknown,

Point taken - having re-read my posts and done some re-reading of Windows
Memory Management I hadn't researched properly before responding to the
query.

Apologies to all for the incorrect information and to Unknown for the terse
replies. Wasn't having a good day yesterday but that's no reason to respond
as I did.

Ed Metcalfe.
 
Apology accepted. We all have bad days.
Ed Metcalfe said:
Unknown,

Point taken - having re-read my posts and done some re-reading of Windows
Memory Management I hadn't researched properly before responding to the
query.

Apologies to all for the incorrect information and to Unknown for the
terse replies. Wasn't having a good day yesterday but that's no reason to
respond as I did.

Ed Metcalfe.
Click to expand...
 
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