• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Look ! You can force 32 bit Vista to use 4GB RAM

D

DaveBC

Senior member
Here is the Knowledge Base.

I wish I would have seen this two weeks ago. I just upgraded from from OEM 32bit to retail 64 bit upgrade Home Premium. Just so I could use all of my 4 GB.

DOH!:shocked:

A simple BCD edit.

1. Navigate to the command prompt executable (cmd.exe) and right click it. Select Run as Administrator.
2. Click Continue or enter administrative credentials at the UAC prompt.
3. Type the following: BCDEDIT /SET PAE ForceEnable

You should see a message that the operation completed successfully.

When you restart the system, Windows should report all of your RAM. You may need to refresh the Windows Experience Index (WEI) in the System applet to detect the change.


Well, I will save my OEM copy and when I build my next machine I'll give Wifey this Mboard with the OEM copy on it. And use the retail one for the new one.

DaveBC
 
This isn't new, PAE has existed for ages. However it still sucks in terms of performance and breaks a lot of drivers, you are better off using Vista x64.
 
Originally posted by: ViRGE
This isn't new, PAE has existed for ages. However it still sucks in terms of performance and breaks a lot of drivers, you are better off using Vista x64.
Click to expand...

Thanks, New to me. I paid for the 64 bit version so I'll stick with it. It has a few quirks that I need to iron out. Most notably SLI wont work with 3d mark 06. But it seems to work ok in games.

Firewall and Virus compatibility was an adventure.

Dave

 
Originally posted by: DaveBC
Originally posted by: ViRGE
This isn't new, PAE has existed for ages. However it still sucks in terms of performance and breaks a lot of drivers, you are better off using Vista x64.
Click to expand...

Thanks, New to me. I paid for the 64 bit version so I'll stick with it. It has a few quirks that I need to iron out. Most notably SLI wont work with 3d mark 06. But it seems to work ok in games.

Firewall and Virus compatibility was an adventure.

Dave
Click to expand...

Why would you want a Virus to be compatible 😛

 
Originally posted by: Hurricane Andrew
Originally posted by: DaveBC
Originally posted by: ViRGE
This isn't new, PAE has existed for ages. However it still sucks in terms of performance and breaks a lot of drivers, you are better off using Vista x64.
Click to expand...

Thanks, New to me. I paid for the 64 bit version so I'll stick with it. It has a few quirks that I need to iron out. Most notably SLI wont work with 3d mark 06. But it seems to work ok in games.

Firewall and Virus compatibility was an adventure.

Dave
Click to expand...

Why would you want a Virus to be compatible 😛
Click to expand...

Oops... typo 😱 virus scanner.

Thanks for the link bsobel.

I try it out.



 
Originally posted by: bsobel
Link not sure if 3dmark uses DX10, but if it does it would explain the issue...
Click to expand...


I don't think that one applies. I have DX 9 cards.

SLI does work with games. It is evident with SLI visualization ON. Just not with 3d Mark 06.
 
Vista firewall is quite good, you probably don't need your older firewall. For AV I'm using Avast, it's 64bit, works good, and it's free.
 
There are plenty of people out there that thinks that MS article needs to be rewritten, to clearify things. I've seen nobody that has gotten Vista 32-bit to address more than 4 GB physical memory. I've seen a couple of posts claiming that an early beta release of vista had the opportunity to go beyond 4 GB (probably because the code is based on windows 2003).

Vista has a PAE kernel, but like XP SP2, it is to support hardware enforced DEP.

But I don't think PAE sucks in performance. It has a bit more overhead than non-PAE, but not much.
 
But I don't think PAE sucks in performance. It has a bit more overhead than non-PAE, but not much.
Click to expand...

The issue comes to light if certain hardware and drivers have to double buffer because of it.
 
Originally posted by: bsobel
The issue comes to light if certain hardware and drivers have to double buffer because of it.
Click to expand...

If I'm not mistaken, Microsoft changed the behavior of PAE from XP SP2. So that addresses above 4 GB will never be used. So no double buffering should ever be needed
 
Look ! You can force 32 bit Vista to use 4GB RAM
Click to expand...

Did you actually try it? I'd be surprised if it worked.

This isn't new, PAE has existed for ages. However it still sucks in terms of performance and breaks a lot of drivers, you are better off using Vista x64.
Click to expand...

PAE doesn't affect performance much, it just adds an extra level of page tables and long mode on AMD64 requires yet another level.
 
Originally posted by: pallejr
Originally posted by: bsobel
The issue comes to light if certain hardware and drivers have to double buffer because of it.
Click to expand...

If I'm not mistaken, Microsoft changed the behavior of PAE from XP SP2. So that addresses above 4 GB will never be used. So no double buffering should ever be needed
Click to expand...

Ooops you are correct, but the behaviour which I thought was carried over to Vista is the opposite of what the OP is suggesting. I wonder if they loosened the restriction they introduced in SP2 due to all the new driver testing.... Smilin any thoughts?
 
Originally posted by: Cutthroat
Vista firewall is quite good, you probably don't need your older firewall. For AV I'm using Avast, it's 64bit, works good, and it's free.
Click to expand...

I do have the Vista firewall on, and Avast. However I am also using an little free ware program from sphinx. And my router firewall... MAC addressing ... limited fixed ip range. Nvidia's hardware Media Shield is present but not installed I have had hassels from that one before.

I really hope that MS gets their all in one program going for 64 bit. They have been threatining to release it for years now.🙂

 
Originally posted by: DaveBC
Originally posted by: Cutthroat
Vista firewall is quite good, you probably don't need your older firewall. For AV I'm using Avast, it's 64bit, works good, and it's free.
Click to expand...

I do have the Vista firewall on, and Avast. However I am also using an little free ware program from sphinx. And my router firewall... MAC addressing ... limited fixed ip range. Nvidia's hardware Media Shield is present but not installed I have had hassels from that one before.

I really hope that MS gets their all in one program going for 64 bit. They have been threatining to release it for years now.🙂
Click to expand...

wow.. all I have is router, and all firewalls are down...

and I haven't had single problem yet.
 
Originally posted by: Nothinman
Look ! You can force 32 bit Vista to use 4GB RAM
Click to expand...

Did you actually try it? I'd be surprised if it worked.
Click to expand...

Even better, I wonder if he did any benchmarking pre and post. I'll bet a nickel that going through all of this to be able to see the full 4GB did nothing positive for him.

 
Even better, I wonder if he did any benchmarking pre and post. I'll bet a nickel that going through all of this to be able to see the full 4GB did nothing positive for him.
Click to expand...

Being able to address all of your memory is always a benefit.
 
Your are absolutely correct. In my orginal post I mentioned I had already instlalled 64 bit vista prior to reading about this option...🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top