RAM = ?

RAM = ?

by zpxykm Aug 23, 2011 1:33PM PDT

Hello friends:

Last year I bought a HP laptop Pavilion dv6-1334us. The OS is w7 home Premium 64-bit. RAM is 4GB.

Later on, I dislike w7 and changed the OS to wXP pro sp3.

Today I checked the RAM by: my computer/properities/general. IT displays:

Computer:
Pentium[R] Dual-Core CPU
T4300 @2.10GHz
2.10GHz 2.90 GB of RAM
Physical Address Extension

You see, 4GB became 2.9GB, where is the 1.1 GB RAM gone?

Discussion is locked

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You're lucky.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Aug 23, 2011 7:08PM PDT

I've seen that as low as 2.1GB RAM. It's all about this being a 32 bit OS and how peripherals and video memory have to be in the 4.0GB Address space.

Nothing is busted but it is widely and deeply discussed. In fact there was a patch issued to show 4.0GB RAM Installed to stop the phone calls to tech support. Remember all the patch does is show the installed RAM and not what the 32 bit OS can use.
Bob

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How expand?

by zpxykm Aug 24, 2011 1:11AM PDT

Hi Proffitt:

Thanks! Your reply gave me some I did not know.

The problem I am having now is the shortage of RAM. I have not enough memory
for running my big project. Is there any way to expand the RAM of my pc?

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No.

by Kees_B Forum moderator Aug 24, 2011 1:20AM PDT

That must be a big project. What kind of project is it?

Kees

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Adding RAM will not fix this. Here's why.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Aug 24, 2011 4:40AM PDT

On a 32 bit Windows OS an app is limited to 2.0GB of RAM (actually a few bytes less.)

Adding RAM will not lift that limit. There is a SPECIAL CASE where you can get up to 3.0GB but it's so special that no programmer would inquire how (they use google to find out!)

You have the RAM so it's not that at play here.

Bob

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Idling RAM?

by zpxykm Aug 24, 2011 8:40AM PDT

Hi Bob:

I use CrucialScan.exe to scan my pc, a reinstalled 32-bit XP from w7. The results are:

Maximum Memory: 8192GB
Currently Installed Memory: 4GB
Total Memory Slots: 2
Available Memory Slots: N.A.
2048 MB(slot1) 2048 MB(slot2)

If "On a 32 bit Windows OS an app is limited to 2.0GB of RAM" why do it allow the Maximum Memory
, 8GB, much more than "limited"? If a 32-bit pc can install 8GB RAM, but you only can use, at most, 2GB
RAM, than at least 6GB RAM are idling/wasting! Is it true?!

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Yes.

by MarkFlax Forum moderator Aug 24, 2011 8:46AM PDT

The limit on a 32 bit XP is 4 GB.

So the remaining 4 GB is not being used.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778%28v=vs.85%29.aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_xp

Application usage is limited to 2GB;
http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/brianmadden/archive/2004/02/19/the-4gb-windows-memory-limit-what-does-it-really-mean.aspx

Mark

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It's clear

by zpxykm Aug 24, 2011 1:40PM PDT

Hi Mark:

The two articles explain the limitation clearly.

For a family pc, usually only one uses one pc, the kernel part of RAM never gets sufficient use.

Thanks!

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Now that we have all this covered.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Aug 24, 2011 8:49AM PDT

Do you want to discuss why folk move to a 64 bit OS and lift the limits?

Also, can you tell the forum about your code? That is what language you are writing in?
Bob

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RAM = ? -- Reconsider your options

by oterrya Aug 26, 2011 3:23PM PDT

I know you said you disliked Windows7 but I strongly suggest you return to WIndows7 and actually upgrade to the Professional version. It is so much better than XP in somany ways that I cannot even begin to address them here. Security, speed and flexibility to name just a few.

You can in WIndows7 set options in several places to make the various areas to partially have the look and feel of an older OS. Although I like most of the new look and feel, it might make it more friendly from your point of view. If you have a heavy memory intensive application, you will gain speed by increasing your memory. My Windows7 installation with little running, (Outlook and mostly just Windows operational utilities), shows 2.7Gig of RAM used. If your operation is similar. this would leave only 1.3Gig of hardware RAM for your application before it overflows into virtual storage (on Disc) which will greatly slow you down.. Increasing your RAM to even 6Gig (better would be 8Gig), would greatly alleviate this.

I have an HP laptop, dual core that is only a little bit faster than yours running Windows 7 Professional. I do have 8Gig of RAM. At the same time that I upgraded to Windows 7, I upgraded to MS Office 2007. I have a large database that grows by about 300,000 records every month. From this I produce large complex reports. They run so much faster now than they did before that I would strongly resist if anyone would dare tell me I had to go back.

Anyway, I suggest you go back to Windows 7 and explore a bit more before giving up on it. Do also upgrade MS Office if you are using it for your applications. You may find that your world has actually improved and that the things yo disliked have become less important.

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or XP 64 bit

by porsche10x Aug 27, 2011 1:47AM PDT

If you're really set on XP, consider the 64 bit version of Windows XP Pro. This should solve your memory issues and allow adding more ram as well. However, if you do this, you may have problems finding drivers for your system components and peripherals. Check first before you upgrade.

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