WinXP: 4gigs ram ok?

[JEDI]

Microcenter has Intel Core i3 2100 3.1ghz Processor (boxed) & MSI H61M-E33 Motherboard for $99.99

I want to upgrade to it but but need to buy DDR3 memory.
my current system is 3gigs DDR2 ram running WinXP.

Is there still problems having 4gigs on WinXP?

 

[lxskllr]

No problems. You won't be able to utilize all of it, but you can put as much ram as you want in the box.

 

[dawp]

yup, if I remember correctly the 32bit version of xp can address a max of 4 gig minus what is used by the system. you can get more usable memory be remapping the memory hole, at least you could on older systems, don't recall if you still need to do that on newer systems.

 

[dpodblood]

The maximum Windows XP 23-bit can address is 3.5 GB of RAM (regardless of what is shows in the device manager only 3.5 GB will be addressed). It certainly won't hurt anything to have 4GB in the system, you simply wont be able to take advantage of it. My recommendation would be to upgrade to Windows 7 as soon as you can afford to.

 

[dawp]

I'd also get 8gig for if and when you do go win 7 you'll be ready. especially since ram is cheap right now.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

No worries. I've been running 4GB in XP for ages now (still do on some rigs).

 

[dpodblood]

I'd also get 8gig for if and when you do go win 7 you'll be ready. especially since ram is cheap right now.

That will probably be overkill of the OP. Given that he is matching this with an i3 I doubt that machine will be used for any heavy duty tasks like gaming, photoshop, or video processing.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Don't worry about getting 4 Gigs, just get it. XP won't be able to utilize 100% of it (more like 3.25 or 3.5), but you'll be set when you get Win7.

I also second the notion, if you're planning on getting Win7 within the year, to actually pick up a 2x4GB kit, just to prepare for the future, as RAM is probably not going to get any cheaper, and might go up in price, due to the Japan earthquake/tsunami/nuke disasters. (God bless them.)

There may be a way to use 8GB of RAM even with 32-bit XP, as a RAMdisk. I recall reading about some product ("SuperSpeed RAMDisk"?) that could do that, if you had a 64-bit proc.

I have 8GB in my desktop rigs, and while the Task Manager doesn't show much over 3GB of usage, it does show that it is also caching about 4GB for additional performance, which is nice.

 

[dpodblood]

Don't worry about getting 4 Gigs, just get it. XP won't be able to utilize 100% of it (more like 3.25 or 3.5), but you'll be set when you get Win7.

I also second the notion, if you're planning on getting Win7 within the year, to actually pick up a 2x4GB kit, just to prepare for the future, as RAM is probably not going to get any cheaper, and might go up in price, due to the Japan earthquake/tsunami/nuke disasters. (God bless them.)

There may be a way to use 8GB of RAM even with 32-bit XP, as a RAMdisk. I recall reading about some product ("SuperSpeed RAMDisk"?) that could do that, if you had a 64-bit proc.

I have 8GB in my desktop rigs, and while the Task Manager doesn't show much over 3GB of usage, it does show that it is also caching about 4GB for additional performance, which is nice.

Just an FYI: Most RAM is manufactured in Taiwan.

 

[Nothinman]

The maximum Windows XP 23-bit can address is 3.5 GB of RAM (regardless of what is shows in the device manager only 3.5 GB will be addressed). It certainly won't hurt anything to have 4GB in the system, you simply wont be able to take advantage of it. My recommendation would be to upgrade to Windows 7 as soon as you can afford to.

The actual limit is 4G. You get less than that because hardware needs addresses for things like MMIO and those are used starting at the 4G mark moving down. So the amount that Windows will see is dependent on your hardware's needs.

 

[tweakboy]

It will only recognize 3.2GB if your 32bit, if your 64 bit OS then it will recognize all 4GB

 

[lamedude]

Use XP SP1 then you can use all of it. 😉

 

[Nothinman]

It will only recognize 3.2GB if your 32bit, if your 64 bit OS then it will recognize all 4GB

Once again, the limit is 4G. The amount that Windows actually gets out of that is hardware dependent.

Use XP SP1 then you can use all of it.

Ah yes, using an older release of an already antiquated OS. Nice idea there...

 

[JesseKnows]

There is an XP fix for hibernation problems with 2GB or more. You may need to locate that.