32 bit OS 3GB better than 4GB of ram?

[bgc99]

Hello,
I was looking at the manual for an Asus mobo I'm considering and it said for a 32 bit OS they recommend putting 3GB because if you put 4 it won't all be recognized.

How much would be recognized with 4GB installed? Is there any loss of performance caused by putting in too much memory? I was thinking that if it was 4, the memory would operate in dual channel mode even if it all isn't recognized, but with 3 it would not run in dual channel mode. Is that not correct?

I'm also wondering if the triple channel kits on Newegg would be the same as buying 3 seperate 1GB sticks? And is 3x1 better than 2GB + 1GB?

I'll be running XP SP3.

Thanks,
BGC

 

[garritynet]

Does your MB support having only three slots occupied? If not then you may have to choose between purchasing 2 or 4 gigs regardless. Personally I say just just go with 4 gigs unless you are going with a 1gig videocard.

 

[Indus]

No but if you have vista, its been known to have bsod's if you have a 32 bit version and have more than 3.25 gigs. That's the limit that will be recognized.

 

[Blain]

In my 32-bit XP installation, Windows reports 3.5GB of system memory.
Buy a 4GB kit and don't worry about it. ^_^
Having more than is reported by Windows will not drop your performance.

 

[Voo]

32 Bit means that the maximum of adressable space would be 2^32 Byte or exactly 4gb, but now you have to map other memory (mostly the RAM of the GPU) into this adress space as well, so you'll wind up with anything between 3.5gb and 3gb of usable RAM in the end.

 

[taltamir]

the exact amount it will not see depends on the OS you use, your motherboard, your video card's ram amount, and other peripherals (eg: soundblaster card, etc).

However their recommendation is stupid.

Furthermore, 64bit allows you to run 64bit code, which is theoretically up to 5 times faster.
I have personally benchmarked 7z compression as 23% faster, and I have seen professional reviews showing that certain hash calculations to be 3 and 4 times the speed when done in 64bit.
By using a 32bit OS you deny yourself all this potential speedup. And there are actually programs now that are 64bit ONLY with no 32bit executeables.

So do yourself a favor and use a 64bit OS. Do yourself a second favor and get a 2x2 pack of ram.

 

[andyrpsmith]

See my woes with 4GB RAM in the Dual Sata2 post in Motherboards. I ended up with 3GB made up as 2 x 1GB in slots 1&2 plus 2 x 512MB in 3&4. Total 3GB with windows 7 actually using all 3GB. Motherboard reports mem running in dual channel mode, seems to run in this mode as long as banks 1&2 have identicle modules and banks 3&4 also.

Andy

 

[bgc99]

This would be a build for my parents, trying to keep cost as low as possible. The system that died had XP 32bit so that's what the new one will have at least for now.

Thinking of a 785G mobo, Athlon II X4. To me it seems better to go with 2x2 for now to leave 2 slots free for another 2x2 if/when upgrading to Win7. I don't know how the builtin graphics would affect the available ram vs a dedicated card.

Thanks,
BGC

 

[Emulex]

there is overhead for using 64bit code as well. bloat.

i'd wait for 6gb+ to use 64bit o/s honestly.

some dell idiot sent a 64bit o/s with 4gb of ram and its more trouble than its worth dealing with old apps for the kid.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Why does your dad need that much RAM? Right now I'm running Warcraft III, µTorrent, then 3 IE windows with Youtube, an episode of Bleach in Flash, and this page; for 1.15GB in XP. Take out that Flash anime (740MB!), and I'm at 578MB.

2x1GB should be more than enough for XP. That gives you dual-channel now and 2 upgrade slots.

 

[bgc99]

Why does your dad need that much RAM?
2x1GB should be more than enough for XP. That gives you dual-channel now and 2 upgrade slots.

In fact they don't, I suppose I got that amount in my head from looking at prebuilt systems as possible replacements for what they had. In fact my system only has 1GB of ram in it running XP SP3.

I guess I was thinking build it so that running Win7 wouldn't be a problem in the future, but as Emulex says, 4GB would probably still need to be upgraded to more at that time anyway.

Thanks,
BGC