Ram

joel406 wrote:

>
>I got a freinds system in front of me. It has 6 gigs of RAM. Confirmed
>Vista Ultimate x32...Confirmed, No Doubt!! X32! Installed.
>
>System sees all 6 gigs!?!
>
>Thought only 3.2~3.5 would be visable.
>
>What am I missing?

That it can't use all that it sees.
 >> Stay informed about: Ram 

PAE is a feature of the processor that requires support in the motherboard
and operating system (PAE support is included in Windows XP, Server 2003
etc.). NO application changes are required as the PAE feature has no affect
on application coding. PAE allows the operating system to map any part of
the 4 GB (32 bit) virtual address space into physical memory pages above 4
GB.

Each process (e.g. application) on 32 bit OS is limited to a 4 GB address
space - this can not be changed. Whether a system will benefit from more
physical RAM and PAE will depend on the collective actual memory requirement
of the workload - all the applications and system services running
concurrently.

The operating system feature called AWE DOES require application changes.
This feature allows an application to request that the operating system map
different physical memory pages into the virtual address space of the
application - this is similar to how "expanded memory" worked (expanded
memory was only used for a few years when the 80386 based systems were
around - ancient history now!). Applications have to be specifically coded
to use this feature - SQL Server 2000 (and later versions) are designed to
use this feature.

How much physical memory a 32 bit operating system can use on any particular
hardware depends on the hardware details as well as the operating system.
There are many motherboards (especially older ones not designed for 64 bit
operating systems) that limit the RAM usable by a 32 bit OS(even when PAE is
enabled) and in some cases even for 64 bit OS, because some of the hardware
(e.g. video adapters) requires part of the address space. This is explained
in [URL="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605."]http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605.[/URL]

The information in the page at
[URL="http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/WindowsGeneralWeb/RAMVirtualMemoryPageFileEtc.htm"]http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/WindowsGeneralWeb/RAMVirtualMemoryPageFileEtc.htm[/URL]
may also be useful.
 >> Stay informed about: Ram 

On Sun, 7 Dec 2008 00:12:28 -0500, "Peter Foldes"
wrote:

Peter Foldes didn't write the following, he quoted it verbatim from a
post by Bruce Sanderson made just a few days ago... and for some
reason he (Peter Foldes) forgot to give proper attribution.

[URL="http://forums.techarena.in/windows-server-help/1077431.htm"]http://forums.techarena.in/windows-server-help/1077431.htm[/URL]

Post #10

>PAE is a feature of the processor that requires support in the motherboard
>and operating system (PAE support is included in Windows XP, Server 2003
>etc.). NO application changes are required as the PAE feature has no affect
>on application coding. PAE allows the operating system to map any part of
>the 4 GB (32 bit) virtual address space into physical memory pages above 4
>GB.
>
>Each process (e.g. application) on 32 bit OS is limited to a 4 GB address
>space - this can not be changed. Whether a system will benefit from more
>physical RAM and PAE will depend on the collective actual memory requirement
>of the workload - all the applications and system services running
>concurrently.
>
>The operating system feature called AWE DOES require application changes.
>This feature allows an application to request that the operating system map
>different physical memory pages into the virtual address space of the
>application - this is similar to how "expanded memory" worked (expanded
>memory was only used for a few years when the 80386 based systems were
>around - ancient history now!). Applications have to be specifically coded
>to use this feature - SQL Server 2000 (and later versions) are designed to
>use this feature.
>
>How much physical memory a 32 bit operating system can use on any particular
>hardware depends on the hardware details as well as the operating system.
>There are many motherboards (especially older ones not designed for 64 bit
>operating systems) that limit the RAM usable by a 32 bit OS(even when PAE is
>enabled) and in some cases even for 64 bit OS, because some of the hardware
>(e.g. video adapters) requires part of the address space. This is explained
>in [URL="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605."]http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605.[/URL]
>
>The information in the page at
>[URL="http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/WindowsGeneralWeb/RAMVirtualMemoryPageFileEtc.htm"]http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/WindowsGeneralWeb/RAMVirtualMemoryPageFileEtc.htm[/URL]
>may also be useful.
 >> Stay informed about: Ram 

vista before sp1 could not see, could not use

Vista SP1 can see, cannot use



"joel406" wrote in message

>
> I got a freinds system in front of me. It has 6 gigs of RAM. Confirmed
> Vista Ultimate x32...Confirmed, No Doubt!! X32! Installed.
>
> System sees all 6 gigs!?!
>
> Thought only 3.2~3.5 would be visable.
>
> What am I missing?
>
>
> --
> joel406
 >> Stay informed about: Ram 

On Sun, 7 Dec 2008 04:58:52 +0200, "Apatosaurus frank" wrote in message

> >
> > I got a freinds system in front of me. It has 6 gigs of RAM. Confirmed
> > Vista Ultimate x32...Confirmed, No Doubt!! X32! Installed.
> >
> > System sees all 6 gigs!?!
> >
> > Thought only 3.2~3.5 would be visable.
> >
> > What am I missing?
> >
> >
> > --
> > joel406
 >> Stay informed about: Ram 

"Peter Foldes" wrote:

>PAE is a feature of the processor that requires support in the motherboard
>and operating system (PAE support is included in Windows XP, Server 2003
>etc.). NO application changes are required as the PAE feature has no affect
>on application coding. PAE allows the operating system to map any part of
>the 4 GB (32 bit) virtual address space into physical memory pages above 4
>GB.

All true, but Vista doesn't support PAE (it supports a bit of it in
order to enable DEP, but not to increase address space). MS puts full
PAE support only in their server operating systems, not Vista or XP.
 >> Stay informed about: Ram 

joel406 wrote:

>I got a freinds system in front of me. It has 6 gigs of RAM. Confirmed
>Vista Ultimate x32...Confirmed, No Doubt!! X32! Installed.

>System sees all 6 gigs!?!

No doubt the BIOS sees and reports all 6GB, but the OS won't.

>Thought only 3.2~3.5 would be visable.

Exactly right, that's all 32-bit Vista can use.

>What am I missing?

I don't know. Exactly where are you being told that 6GB is available.
 >> Stay informed about: Ram