which nforce4 939 boards truly support 4GB RAM?

[ManDooM]

I want an nforce4 mobo that will support the full 4GB of DDR400 memory. They all claim to support it but I keep hearing that some of them won't recognize all 4GB if you have it in there. It also needs to be able to run at 400mhz because I was bummed to find out that my Abit NF7-S will force the FSB to 266 if I max out the memory (3GB).

Anyone got any suggestions? It also needs to support Athlon x2 and SLI.

 

[Lord Banshee]

All nForce4 boards and Vencie and better Athlon64s will support 4x1GB at 2T timing with DDR400. What does not support all 4GB of ram is WinXP 32-bit. I think it will see something like 3.5GB or something, and a single application can not use more than 2GB of RAM.. that is just how the 32-bit windows is... See the need for 64-Bit? i Do


What do plan to use 4GB of RAM and SLI for? just wondering

 

[ManDooM]

I'm using my PC as a Digital Audio Workstation. I use a lot of VST instruments so I need as much memory as possible. 2GB doesn't cut the mustard when I'm trying to load a full orchestra. I've actually thought about going server-based (Opteron) so I could have more room for RAM in the future but I think 4GB should fit my needs. As for SLI, I'm using the same PC for gaming because I'm poor.

 

[mike3uz]

However windows XP can only allcoate 3.5 GB.

 

[ManDooM]

ah, that sucks. 64-bit windows would be awsome for my audio work but unfortunately my audio workstation is also my main PC. I couldn't do much else if I switched to the 64-bit version.

EDIT: unless..... maybe I could dual boot?

 

[Lord Banshee]

I believe you can dual boot.

or use x86-64 24/7.. i think MS has a trail you can download, use it for a week (make a clone of HD before installing so you can alway return your orignal state) and see if you have any problems with it.

You can do know windows will not allow ANY 32-bit application use more than 2GB of RAM at a time (this is what i read). if your Program has a 64-bit version it will use 128GB lol.. so i would call them up and find out.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: ManDooM
As for SLI, I'm using the same PC for gaming because I'm poor.

4GB, dual core, SLI... doesn't sound like a poor man's computer to me.

 

[Peter]

As has been outlined in other threads asking the same question (hint hint), the problem here is the total addressable space for a 32-bit OS is 4 GB. In there, other things than RAM need their space - graphics card RAM, register sets of all I/O cards, and a handful of system essentials. That, and nothing but that, brings available RAM down to no more than 3.5 GB, even less with large graphics cards.

The RAM is being recognized alright, it's just that by far not all of it will be visible to 32-bit environments.

An SLI set of two 512-MB graphics cards costs you an entire gigabyte of 32-bit compliant address space, a gigabyte you can't have system RAM in.

 

[ManDooM]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: ManDooM
As for SLI, I'm using the same PC for gaming because I'm poor.

4GB, dual core, SLI... doesn't sound like a poor man's computer to me.

haha. I'm only planning for the future. I'll only be starting with one GPU and an Athlon 64 3200. Another video card and dual core processor will come much later when it's time to upgrade again (and when they're cheaper). And I only need 2GB more RAM and it's cheap.