Gaming in Vista - 2GB RAM vs 3GB RAM

linkin

linkin

VIP Member
So i've ordered, and should recieve soon, my extra 1GB of RAM. hopefully this week.

Apparently MS made it so that Vista 32 couldn't "see" more than 3GB. Is this true? I know the RAM will still be there and be used, just not "seen"
Also, what it PAE? I've heard people saying that it enables you to see a full 4GB of RAM in a 32-bit O/S

Secondly, will i see an increase in performance in games and/or general applications? I know more is better, but the only lagging i've had with this system is in crysis and nothing else. In fact, my processor is probably the bottleneck in my system, then my 3870.
 
32 bit OS's only recognize up to 3.25GB (i think it varies slightly, but it's around 3.25). i doubt you'll see a huge increase with crysis if any at all.

i don't know a ton about PAE, but i've heard it can cause complications in certain apps and in windows in general, better off sticking with x64.
 
Vista 32bit can only see 3.25Gb of RAM. The leftovers would be not seen, like you stated.
I would recommend 4gb so that you can get dual channel memory which works a lot faster.
As for the PAE, I'm not sure about that, someone else on here might know.
 
OK, i installed my extra 1GB so now i have 3gb in total. formatted my new HDD and installed buy Vista is only seeing 2GB. what do i do?
 
there is no option on my BIOS to do that. It's an OEM bios from Acer... So Acer must think that their users are mentally crippled because there's no CPU clock/voltage control and no timing/voltage control for RAM either. I'm guessing the amount of RAM is shown in that area?
Also, CPU-Z shows me my full 3GB.
I've heard about modifying the boot.ini file... something about putting /3GB after something?

EDIT: Perhaps if i enable PAE it will work. how would i do this?

EDIt2: I uses the "BCDEdit /set pae forceenable" in CMD and rebooted but there is still nothing. by the way, My vista didn't update to service pack 2, so i'm manually downloading it. i think that is the issue.
 
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linkin93 said:
there is no option on my BIOS to do that. It's an OEM bios from Acer... So Acer must think that their users are mentally crippled because there's no CPU clock/voltage control and no timing/voltage control for RAM either. I'm guessing the amount of RAM is shown in that area?
Also, CPU-Z shows me my full 3GB.
I've heard about modifying the boot.ini file... something about putting /3GB after something?

EDIT: Perhaps if i enable PAE it will work. how would i do this?

EDIt2: I uses the "BCDEdit /set pae forceenable" in CMD and rebooted but there is still nothing. by the way, My vista didn't update to service pack 2, so i'm manually downloading it. i think that is the issue.
Click to expand...

is it a prebuilt computer? typically mainstream prebuilts will not have the settings necessary to overclock. this is of course a legal copy of vista, is it not?
 
It's custom built. the mobo is actually from an "Acer Power S290" but that's it.
Man this RAM is really needed in Crysis.. i'm getting around 1.8gb used, out of the 2gb that windows is letting me use.
 
You shouldnt even have to go into the bios to see how much ram is seen by your mobo. It will say how much when your mobo posts.

And btw, the memory limit isn't a microsoft thing. Its the 32bit architecture. Basically it can only address about 4gb of memory total and the rest simply isn't addressed and thus useless. So if you have 4gb of ram and 1gb of video memory, it will only address 3gb of ram. Make sense?
 
those of you saying "it only supports 3.25GB" please read this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946765

the reason it appears to be 3.5, 3GB, whatever is because 4GB-the amount shown is inaccesable as it is used as video memory.

So say you have 4GB of memory but 512mb video memory, 3.5GB will be shown
 
but the thing is people, i don't have 4gb of RAM, only 3gb... but vista still only shows me 2gb in system properties, task manageer etc but CPU-Z reports the correct amount.
Before, i tried installing windows with the 3gb and i was getting memory errors so i removed the 1gb stick and it worked. Put it back in and it isn't used by windows, and i havent even reched 4gb!!! my problem isn't with the 32-bit architecture, this is microsoft problem.
When i use "can you run it?" it always reports my graphics card has having 1.2gb of memory when it is only 512mb, i should have mentioned that.
 
4GB is address space. That is made of MMIO and RAM. If your hardware has set a side 2GB for MMIO then there is only 2GB left. That might be your problem, and if that is so, if Vista supported >4GB then all of it could be used. If you have a memory remapping function in bios that should be disabled.

Check also msconfig that there isn't set a maxmem.

You can check in msinfo32 or device manager how much of the 4GB is used for MMIO.
 
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I know all this! i'll try the MSCONFIG with MAXMEM becuase i did set it to 2048mb when i only had 2gb and didnt change it.
 
Ok, i just found out that the stick is bad. the maxmem function actually disabled the stick so it was not crashing. after disabling maxmem, i got a bunch of bluescreens and memory errors like 0x000000c1 and stuff. I have warranty and i'm shoving it back in their faces because this shouldn't happen. It came in anti-static and i was careful to discharge when installing it. back with the 2gb stick and maxmem set to 2048 everything is not crashing.
Silly me, shouldn't have enabled maxmem. that is also why it was crashing in vista install, becuase it ignores maxmem.
 
hehe, always the simple things eh :P

good to know you got it sorted though and now should be able to game like crazy (when you get your other stick of memory ofc) :D
 
yep. I must say, far cry 2 runs well maxed on my system. 1280x1024 and 2x AA really looks stunning. now i just have to beat half the game before i actually feel like playing far cry 2
 
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