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4 GB RAM recognized on 32 bit Vista

post #1 of 4
Thread Starter 
Ok so I installed vista 32 on one physical HD and 64 bit on another. I am seeing 4 gigs of ram on the computer in vista. See for yourself. I don't understand, it is either a lie or has to do with 64 bit OS on a seperate drive. I thought that the whole 32 bit thing was bound by Kernel stuff.
LL
post #2 of 4
it shows 4gigs but only uses 3.5 gigs.
post #3 of 4
correct, with the installation of SP1, windows will report installed memory, but not available memory.

go to task manager, then performance tab. it will show total memory available. usually 2.5GB to 3.5GB depending on config.
post #4 of 4
32 bit os CAN address 4 gb of ram, but al your hardware also needs to use memory addresses as well.

Supposedly Vista does a better job of memory addressing than XP.

Basically, the OS could address 4 gb of ram, but then something else would have to give - Video card? HD? Optical Drive? since everything else is also necessary, something's not gonna get the address...might as well be the excessive ram.

just curious, did you get all 4 gb to show in the task manager as well?
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