Win. Vista not showing all RAM

[celdish]

I am using Windows Vista 32bit and i have 4GB of RAM. however only shows up 3GB in windows Vista. I have tried to go into Bios to enable Memory remap/memory hole (I have a ASUS P5B mainboard) but then suddenly Vista only shows 2 GB of RAM. How can i get it to use all of the 4GB RAM?

I have installed 4x 1024mb Kingston DDR2 800Mhz RAM srticks..

ANy help to get this solved would be great

 

[Mondoman]

It's a limit of the way most 32-bit operating systems deal with the hardware. There's no easy way around it -- just use a 64-bit OS, like "normal" Vista, or accept that 32-bit Vista will only "see" around 3GB of your RAM.

 

[Guest]

Vista 32bit is suppose to be able to address 4Gb maximum...
But yeah 64 bit is still the way to go =)

 

[Mondoman]

Vista 32bit is suppose to be able to address 4Gb maximum......

As can Win XP. However, other hardware components use up some of the 4GB of address space, leaving less than 4GB left for the RAM.

 

[Guest]

You may be right, I was under the impression vista could actually make you see the 4Gb.

Anyway kind of a moot point because you should go 64bit anyway with 4gig!

 

[meljor]

Vista 32bit is suppose to be able to address 4Gb maximum......

As can Win XP. However, other hardware components use up some of the 4GB of address space, leaving less than 4GB left for the RAM.

how is that? please explain why it doesn`t happen with for example 1gb and it does happen with 4gb? and wich other components do that?
i surely won`t say you are wrong but it sound very strange to me.... so teach me please

 

[Guest]

Well to start with
2^32 = 4 gig

In win XP, using the /3gb switch will let you use 3gig for the programs while 1 gig is for system(from what I read might be wrong)
I'd like more technical detail to, if anyone care/have them

 

[kamel5547]

Vista 32bit is suppose to be able to address 4Gb maximum......

As can Win XP. However, other hardware components use up some of the 4GB of address space, leaving less than 4GB left for the RAM.

This is correct... as was mention the addressable space under 32 bits is 2^32 (or 4GB). with one Gig of ram you are only using 2^10 address spaces so there are 2^22 adress spaces left for other use. Once you start hitting about 3 GB of RAM you reach a limit which depends on your specific system setup, however generally you cannot recognize more than 3.2 GB or so.

The only fix for this is to either a) reduce usuage of the memory space by other parts of windows or b) create a bigger address space with a higher limit (i.e. go to 64 bits). It isn't even an OS dependent issue, although some OS's will sue the memory space more efficiently there is still a hard "wall" on the number of addresses available.

Think of it like area codes, at some point there are no more numbers possible so you need to add a new area code or prefix to allow more numbers, the 64 bit solution is basically like adding a large prefix .

 

[Nitro350Z]

It doesnt actually use the memory space, it uses the address for that space. The memory that is not detected is not used by other hardware, it is merely not allocated because the physical adresses for that space is already used by other components. Correct me if I'm wrong.

HTH

 

[Mondoman]

Here you go:
h20331.www2.hp.com/Hpsub/downloads/RAM%20Allocation%20w-WinXP_HP%20MWP%20x64%2003Nov05.doc
(It's a Microsoft Word file)

 

[Guest]

Sweet, thanks a lot, that was very informative!

Thanks!

 

[celdish]

Vista 32bit is suppose to be able to address 4Gb maximum......

As can Win XP. However, other hardware components use up some of the 4GB of address space, leaving less than 4GB left for the RAM.

Does this mean that the 32bit Vista is using all the 4x 1024mb RAM but only 3GB because the other 1GB is beeing used to address space.

I use the system alot for video editin and think it is important to get fully use of all the 4 GB RAM, should i get the 64bit Vista version instead? will my computer be better suited then?

Thank you for replies..

 

[Mondoman]

...
Does this mean that the 32bit Vista is using all the 4x 1024mb RAM but only 3GB because the other 1GB is beeing used to address space.

All 4GB is physically there, but the 32bit OS is ignoring the 1GB because it has no way to access it, since all the addresses are used up.

Imagine a street where the address of the first house is 1 and the address of the last house is 100. Clearly, you can only have 100 "normal" address on such a street, and so you can only deliver mail to at most 100 different houses on that street. Even if there are physically 150 houses on the street, 50 won't be able to get mail, or will have to make arrangements to get more addresses for the street (e.g. 64-bit address space instead of 32-bit) so they can have addresses, or will have to make arrangements to share a single address between 2 or more houses (this is analogous to what can be done now on certain 32-bit OSs, but it requires special programming in both the apps and the OS).
Now if the postal service comes in and builds a distribution center on the street and takes up addresses 1-10 for that center, even though there are still 100 houses on the street, now only at most 90 houses can have their own address and so get mail, and 10 houses will be ignored. This is the type of situation you are seeing with your RAM.

I use the system alot for video editin and think it is important to get fully use of all the 4 GB RAM, should i get the 64bit Vista version instead? will my computer be better suited then?

Yes, as long as all your programs will run on 64-bit Vista and all your hardware has 64-bit drivers available. Since Vista is just being released, I would wait six months or so for the main bugs to be discovered and worked out, and for all the vendors to release 64-bit software and drivers, before switching over. It won't hurt the RAM to be "ignored" for a few months.