Memory limitation on Win98SE ?

CamisaAmarela

Member
Dec 5, 2001
48
0
0
Hi!

Probably you read this same question a thousand times: I read somewhere that 98SE cannot address above
196Mb - more than this would be useless ? Is that true ?

Thanks in advance...
 

CurtCold

Golden Member
Aug 15, 2002
1,547
0
0
of RAM? I've used 256MB, and 512MB with 98 before, and games sure didn't mind. Where did you read this article at? Maybe it's optimised for 192, but if it doesn't use it, well I know it recognizes it in the control panel, under system. I dunno why it wouldn't use more if it needed it and it was there...Maybe I'm wrong...
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,163
18,730
146
This is addressed in th FAQs stickied to the top in the General Hardware forum.

Read this

All 32-bit Windows versions, including Win9x, WinNT, Win2K and WinXP (apart from Win2K/WinXP AS and DC) can ADDRESS up to 4GB of RAM.

Win2K/XP Advanced Server supports up to 8GB of RAM and Win2K/XP DataCenter can support up to 64GB of RAM.

Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition and Millennium Edition can only physically ACCESS a maximum of 2GB of RAM.

Win9x/ME can go up to 512MB of RAM before it requires an adjustment to the vcache to use more RAM. Under the [vcache] section of system.ini in the Windows directory, add the following entries:

MinFileCache=65536
MaxFileCache=65536


The above figures in kilobytes limit the VCache to a fixed size of 64MB and is merely a suggested size. The VCache can have a size of up to approximately 500MB.

For more information regarding the 512MB RAM limit and the workaround, see this article.

 

Bad Dude

Diamond Member
Jan 25, 2000
8,464
0
76
So with:
MinFileCache=65536
MaxFileCache=65536
Does it means that you are setting your system only to have only 64MB RAM, eventhough you have over 512MB RAM?

Please explain further.
Thanks.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,572
10,208
126
Originally posted by: Bad_Dude
So with:
MinFileCache=65536
MaxFileCache=65536
Does it means that you are setting your system only to have only 64MB RAM, eventhough you have over 512MB RAM?

Please explain further.
Thanks.

No, that limits VCACHE from "stealing" more than 64MB from the rest of your main memory.

You also need to add MaxPhysPage=3FFF (I think that's right) under [386Enh] in SYSTEM.INI, or use the MSInfo program, under the advanced properties of one of the programs - except I forgot offhand which one (It's the one that lets you control which startup programs run), and limit Win9x to 512MB of RAM. Otherwise you might get bluescreens from letting it use more, because it has bugs.