32bit Oses and 4Gb RAM limit question

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solariusx3

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Jul 4, 2005
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Hi guys pardon my noobish question. I heard many times that 32bit OSes is unable to address more than 4Gb of RAM. How is it that my office IT guy says that our server in running 8Gb of RAM on Win2k3 32bit Enterprise? Would'nt all that ram be wasted ?

Shouldnt they be using the x64 version? or does that mean that the OS is unable to utilise all the spare ram but the applications are able to ?
 
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Roguestar

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Aug 29, 2006
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The other .75 is reserved for kernel use; it usually takes around a gig. This is the same in any version of windows derived from NT.
 
vailr

vailr

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Oct 9, 1999
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Originally posted by: solariusx3
Hi guys pardon my noobish question. I heard many times that 32bit OSes is unable to address more than 4Gb of RAM. How is it that my office IT guy says that our server in running 8Gb of RAM on Win2k3 32bit Enterprise? Would'nt all that ram be wasted ?

Shouldnt they be using the x64 version? or does that mean that the OS is unable to utilise all the spare ram but the applications are able to ?
Click to expand...

Ask your "office IT guy" how much Ram appears when you bring up the System Properties window (Windows key + Pause/Break key). Then suggest that he upgrade to the x64 version of Server 2008, if he wants to actually use all 8 Gb.
 
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pallejr

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Apr 8, 2007
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If the win2k3 32bit enterprise has been configured correctly, it will use all the ram just fine
 
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Roguestar

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Aug 29, 2006
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Originally posted by: vailr
Originally posted by: solariusx3
Hi guys pardon my noobish question. I heard many times that 32bit OSes is unable to address more than 4Gb of RAM. How is it that my office IT guy says that our server in running 8Gb of RAM on Win2k3 32bit Enterprise? Would'nt all that ram be wasted ?

Shouldnt they be using the x64 version? or does that mean that the OS is unable to utilise all the spare ram but the applications are able to ?
Click to expand...

Ask your "office IT guy" how much Ram appears when you bring up the System Properties window (Windows key + Pause/Break key). Then suggest that he upgrade to the x64 version of Server 2008, if he wants to actually use all 8 Gb.
Click to expand...

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-...ts_windows_server_2003
Win2K3 Enterprise Edition sees 32GB of RAM; 64GB if it's SP2.
 
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solariusx3

Member
Jul 4, 2005
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Originally posted by: solariusx3
Hi guys pardon my noobish question. I heard many times that 32bit OSes is unable to address more than 4Gb of RAM. How is it that my office IT guy says that our server in running 8Gb of RAM on Win2k3 32bit Enterprise? Would'nt all that ram be wasted ?

Shouldnt they be using the x64 version? or does that mean that the OS is unable to utilise all the spare ram but the applications are able to ?
Click to expand...

Originally posted by: Roguestar
http://www.brianmadden.com/con...t-does-it-really-mean-
Click to expand...

Thanks Roguestar, gsellis for the links and all who helped. This certainly cleared my doubts for windows, how about *nix Oses? do the lmits apply or is the OS coded differently ?
 
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pallejr

Senior member
Apr 8, 2007
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yes, nix can also take advantage of the extended addressing model povided by the cpu, and go beyond 4GB
 
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