chipsets with 4gb support under vista

[asintu]

Is this true? In order to use 4gb of memory under vista you can only use certain chipsets?
I've got the following from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605

"For Windows Vista to use all 4 GB of memory on a computer that has 4 GB of memory installed, the computer must meet the following requirements:

? The chipset must support at least 8 GB of address space. Chipsets that have this capability include the following:
? Intel 975X
? Intel P965
? Intel 955X on Socket 775
? Chipsets that support AMD processors that use socket F, socket 940, socket 939, or socket AM2. These chipsets include any AMD socket and CPU combination in which the memory controller resides in the CPU."

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

You missed this part in the explanation of how to get 4Gig usable RAM:

An x64 (64-bit) version of Windows Vista must be used.

It's not a chipset problem, it's an OS problem. 32-bit versions of Windows (or any 32bit OS) can only "see" 4Gbytes (2^32 bytes). The problem is that Windows maps the video card memory to the top end of this 4Gb range, so you can only "see" and use ~3.5Gb of the 4Gb.

To see and use all 4Gig, you need to use a 64-bit version of windows. This applies to any RAM amount over 4Gig as well, so if you ever put in 8Gig of RAM, you will need a 64-bit version to use it.

All modern,recent chipsets (from at least P965 on) support 8Gig RAM, at least as far as I know. P35, X48, X38, 780, 790 all do at least.

 

[asintu]

so you can't fully use 4gb under 32bit vista? wow..that's lame...xp for me then.

 

[Johnniewalker]

Originally posted by: asintu
so you can't fully use 4gb under 32bit vista? wow..that's lame...xp for me then.

32-bit XP will be just as 'lame'.

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: asintu
so you can't fully use 4gb under 32bit vista? wow..that's lame...xp for me then.

XP 32bit is the same.....you need a 64bit OS. Might aswell go Vista 64.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: GarfieldtheCat
It's not a chipset problem, it's an OS problem.

Well...except when its a chipset problem. Try running 64-bit OS on Intel 945 series or other chipset that have a maximum addressable memory space of 4GB - same problem. And a lot more than mapped graphics memory has to go under 4GB boundary. In fact, video memory is the least of it unless your video card has more than 512MB RAM.

As evidence of the chipset influence (when its a chipset problem), if you install 8GB in a chipset that supports a maximum of 8GB, guess what happens even if you are using 64-bit OS? 16GB RAM on 16GB chipset? Back where we started.