64-bit Memory Usage Question

d3adpoetic

d3adpoetic

New Member
So i got Windows 7 64bit a couple days ago, and 4 more GB's of RAM to go a long with it. It's my understanding that even with a 64bit OS, if i run a 32bit application it can still only access up to 4GB of memory even though the OS can access all 8GB's, is this correct?

My question is this... if i'm running a 32bit game that's a memory hog and lets say it's using around 3GBs of RAM, i still have 5GBs left over for the OS to use. Does the OS limit itself to the 4GB max when running a large 32bit game\app, or can the game use as much of the 4GB as it wants, and the OS can still run it's own system things beyond the 4GB cap? I tried to word that the best i could... also, if i'm running multiple 32bit apps that each use a considerable amount of memory do they all share the same 4GB space? Each program can only use up to 4GB, but do they all see the same 4GB chunk? That was another weird question... i just never had a 64bit OS before and im curious how it handles memory.

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
I'll look into it sometime but I'm pretty sure it's a 32bit app. I think Photoshop was the only 64bit app in the suite. I know once I tried to load about 30+ 1080p videos into it and it caused my machine to grind to a halt. I don't think all my RAM was used up, but I know a good chunk of it was (like around 4GB :P)

I actually have a video I should be working on, but have slacked off most everything because of my birthday :P Maybe tomorrow I'll import the videos and see what it takes to crash it...
 
Each application can use up to 4GB. Two applications can use 8GB combined, ...

linkin93 said:
a 32 bit program can still only access ~3gb of ram of a 64-bit o/s
Click to expand...

You are probably thinking of that 3.x GB physical RAM limitation you see on 32bit Windows, right? That is something else.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top