How to get 8GB of RAM fully used in Vista 32-bit?

[Gerr]

I believe there is a switch somewhere in Vista that lets Vista 32-bit use more than the 3.2GB of RAM, but at a performance hit. Anyone have any info on this?

 

[amdfansftw]

it's not vista specific that said that's all i know about it. i would post this in a hardware section

 

[SandEagle]

32-bit Vista = 4 gb address space

you'll need to run a 64-bit O/S (Vistax64) for 8GB

 

[Gerr]

Originally posted by: rrahman1
32-bit Vista = 4 gb address space

you'll need to run a 64-bit O/S (Vistax64) for 8GB

You are correct for native addressing. But I read somewhere that you can force a 32-bit OS to utilize more than it's native address space but at a lower performance. Thus if you have 8GB of RAM, the first 3.2GB of RAM will be used like it currently is, but the remaining 4.8GB can still be used, just at a performance hit.

Anyone have any experience with this option?

 

[Crusty]

As far as I know the only Win32 OS's to support more then 4gb of physical ram are the server flavors.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: Gerr
I believe there is a switch somewhere in Vista that lets Vista 32-bit use more than the 3.2GB of RAM, but at a performance hit. Anyone have any info on this?

Read this.

 

[pallejr]

You cannot force the OS to do something that it is not programmed to do. And Microsoft has put a limitation on how much physical memory it will address in pae mode - 4 GB.

 

[Nothinman]

I believe there is a switch somewhere in Vista that lets Vista 32-bit use more than the 3.2GB of RAM, but at a performance hit. Anyone have any info on this?

You believe incorrectly. What you're probably thinking of is the /3GB switch but that only affects the VM layout and has nothing to do with the physical addressing support of the OS.

Your only options are to move to Windows Server 2003 Enterprise, Vista64 or a non-crippled free OS like Linux, FreeBSD, etc.

 

[Gerr]

ya, was a long shot, oh well.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Gerr
I believe there is a switch somewhere in Vista that lets Vista 32-bit use more than the 3.2GB of RAM, but at a performance hit. Anyone have any info on this?

Its limited to 4gig even in PAE mode as too many drivers borked. The driver situation is better now (due to server requirements) but is unlikely to result in a raise in that limit. Besides double buffering sucks, run Vista 64 if you have that much memory, it's rock solid here.

 

[QuixoticOne]

Yeah I think the PAE option is your only real hope with a 32 bit OS.

Otherwise run something 64 bit.

I just installed Vista x64 with 8GB RAM and it's working well enough so far.

Though it seems like a "toy" OS compared to 64 bit LINUX, but that's probably
just my own needs / expectations for built in and easily available tools etc.

Generally you can order x64 install media here and use your existing 32 bit key
to activate it with no troubles; it was like $10 to $15 shipped last I checked:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/1033/ordermedia

 

[Gerr]

Can I do this upgrade with an OEM copy?

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: QuixoticOne
Yeah I think the PAE option is your only real hope with a 32 bit OS.

Otherwise run something 64 bit.

I just installed Vista x64 with 8GB RAM and it's working well enough so far.

Though it seems like a "toy" OS compared to 64 bit LINUX, but that's probably
just my own needs / expectations for built in and easily available tools etc.

Generally you can order x64 install media here and use your existing 32 bit key
to activate it with no troubles; it was like $10 to $15 shipped last I checked:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/1033/ordermedia

I don't know why people don't just use Vista x64 if they want to use 4GB+,drivers/compatibility in general is very good,no way I'm going back to 32 bit OS.

I can understand if they don't have the 64 bit drivers or use a lot of specialized software that's not compatible,however why have 8GB in a Microsoft 32 bit OS if it does not get used?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Create a virtual drive with the remaining ram? Definitely a performance hit.

 

[Nothinman]

Create a virtual drive with the remaining ram? Definitely a performance hit.

Impossible unless it's a feature of your BIOS since the OS has to be able to address the memory in order to create a ramdisk from it.