Can a 32-bit OS machine use up all 8GB RAM + 20GB page file? • Hacker News Board

Re: Can a 32-bit OS machine use up all 8GB RAM + 20GB page file?

#61

Post by AD1066 » Sat, Jul 14, 2012, 9:02 PM UTC

masklinn wrote: post #51

AD1066 wrote: post #29

Holy Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. I ordered 8 GB of RAM for my HP laptop last night and spent well over two hours reading about this exact subject to see if I needed to install Windows 64-bit when it arrives. I think I even stumbled upon this same page. That being said, I still don't fully understand; Once I install the new RAM, will I only receive the benefits if I perform a new 64-bit install of Windows 7, or will up…

> Once I install the new RAM, will I only receive the benefits if I perform a new 64-bit install of Windows 7 That is correct, the alternative is to use a ($1000+) Server edition, some of which do give access to >4GB in 32b. If you put 8GB RAM in a laptop running a 32b non-server Windows, you'll simply see 4GB. You may see very small improvements nonetheless due to dual-channel activating (when pairing identical stic…

Thanks!

Re: Can a 32-bit OS machine use up all 8GB RAM + 20GB page file?

#62

Post by cookiecaper » Sun, Jul 15, 2012, 5:38 AM UTC

3amOpsGuy wrote: post #30

thechut wrote: post #23

I dual boot Ubuntu 12.04 32-bit and Windows 7 32-bit on my HP laptop, it has 8GB of RAM. When I am running Ubuntu I see 7.8GB (I'm assuming this is 1000 vs 1024 issue and doesn't concern me) in my system settings and resource monitor. When I am running Windows I only see 3.8GB of RAM in resource monitor, but I see the full 8GB if I look in device manager. Can somebody explain this to me?

>> I'm assuming this is 1000 vs 1024 issue It'll likely be your graphics card uses a portion of your main RAM for its memory. This is common.

I'm not sure this is true for discrete cards. Onboard GPUs will utilize good chunks of system memory (and this is configurable in the system BIOS generally), but discrete cards don't use any afaik.

Re: Can a 32-bit OS machine use up all 8GB RAM + 20GB page file?

#63

Post by listic » Sun, Jul 15, 2012, 12:16 PM UTC

thechut wrote: post #23

I dual boot Ubuntu 12.04 32-bit and Windows 7 32-bit on my HP laptop, it has 8GB of RAM. When I am running Ubuntu I see 7.8GB (I'm assuming this is 1000 vs 1024 issue and doesn't concern me) in my system settings and resource monitor. When I am running Windows I only see 3.8GB of RAM in resource monitor, but I see the full 8GB if I look in device manager. Can somebody explain this to me?

> I'm assuming this is 1000 vs 1024 issue I think rather some of the address space has I/O ports mapped to it, both in Windows and Linux.

Re: Can a 32-bit OS machine use up all 8GB RAM + 20GB page file?

#64

Post by RachelF » Sun, Jul 15, 2012, 12:51 PM UTC

masklinn wrote: post #47

ralish wrote: post #39

Most of the responses to the question seem to be "sort of" correct but missing important parts of the overall picture. Further, a complete answer to the question is going to be subject to the operating system the given application is running under as the specifics are going to be heavily dependant on OS implementation. I can't speak for Unix systems, but on the Windows side, it's complicated and messy: PAE (Physical…

> Client editions of Windows do not support PAE while server editions do. That is not correct, client editions fully support PAE. > As for why PAE isn't supported on client editions It is supported (and enabled), the limits are implemented separately and independently. > this isn't a licensing problem (you can buy x64 editions for the same price that have massively increased RAM limits) Windows 7 Home Basic x64 will…

Here's how to bypass the 4GB limit in Windows 7 x32: http://www.unawave.de/windows-7-tipps/32-bit-ram-barrier.htm...

Why not go x64? x32 can be faster, and MS does not allow OS upgrades from 32 to 64 bit.