Question concerning RAM.

L

lawlonslawt

New Member
This may sound stupid. -.-

I just built a new system, and started having trouble getting Vista to recognize my 4gigs. I fixed that issue, but as I was fooling around with the RAM, putting sticks on and off the board, I realized how hot they were getting during use. Is it normal for my RAM to be like.. insanely hot? I asked on some other forums this exact same question. Someone suggested my voltage might be too high on the RAM.

What's the voltage supposed to be on my RAM?

I'm not overclocking anything at the moment, and I'm talking about Crucial Ballistix Tracers. 4gigs. Four sticks.
 
Are you running the 32 or 64bit edition of Vista there? The 32bit architecture sees the 3gb barrier. For voltage settings in the bios you need to look over the requirements on the memory itself. Some run at 1.8v and upto 1.95 while others run at 2v.
 
Yes, it's very normal for performance RAM to get very warm, even at default voltages. That's why it has the heat spreaders. Those things can actually handle more voltage than most boards can throw at it, so I wouldn't worry about that. My OCZ was practically glowing after 10 minutes of use. And it doesn't matter what operating system you have (why did you mention that anyways?)
 
PC eye said:
The 32bit architecture sees the 3gb barrier.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I would call it an architecture barrier. PAE has been a part of the x86 architecture for a long time. But for various reasons (like bad drivers), Microsoft say they won't go beyond 4G.
 
The 3gb barrier as it commonly called is the 3gb of flat virtual memory address space. 2000, XP, 2003 all see the 4gb cap while most only notice the missing 1gb of memory when installing 4gb on a system running the 32bit versions of XP or Vista. Some will see a total amount of avialable ram at 3.25gb as they report.

Microsoft provided one article on how to tweak the boot information in the 2000, XP Pro, and Server 2003 versions of Windows you can look over at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx But a good reference on the 3gb barrier is better heard from http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm
 
The problem with the missing RAM has little to do with the virtual address space. That problem belongs to the physical address space, which PAE can expand beyond 4G.
 
Yes, PAE can do that, if your BIOS supports that feature. However, Windows will allocate some to the PCI.. PAE or no, there's no way around that. The max you'll see is a tad over 3GB. I have dual PCI-e x1950 Pro 512MB cards, and I can only see and use 2.5GB of RAM.
 
Should be fine, if they crap out on you..just call up the company and claim your warranty service. Mine run rather warm(they don't have heat spreaders though) so i think you'll be okay.
 
With memory not seen available taken away from the 4gb to see 3-3.25gb that difference is simply mapped out to hardwares in general. Windows simply uses it differently making it unavailable as ram for programs, games, whatever there.

For cooling memory if it lacks heat spreaders you can easily find a large variety of 3rd party addon spreaders as well as memory coolers. Often you simply have to look in other place other then newegg like coolerguys.com or xoxide.com to see a larger selection since they deal mainly with gaming and customizing accessories.
 
I'm just making small talk. Somone talked about the x86 architecture, and I just wanted to say: with proper hardware support, Microsoft could easily allow for all 4GB of RAM to be available
 
nyhk said:
I'm just making small talk. Someone talked about the x86 architecture, and I just wanted to say: with proper hardware support, Microsoft could easily allow for all 4GB of RAM to be available
Click to expand...

Why would Microsoft want that to happen? They want to get more money out of your pockets by pushing you to purchase Vista.
 
nyhk said:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/pae_os.mspx#ETG

According to that list, 4GB RAM was supported before SP2
Click to expand...

As mentioned earlier Windows 32but versions(XP-Vista) will still run with 4gb of memory installed. But upto 1gb of available ram will be mapped out to hardwares and not available for programs, games, etc. The Windows Server 2003 version being server orietated on the other hand can easily see 32gb. The desktop versions are the ones that get strapped with the barrier otherwise.
 
You need to differentiate between "4GB RAM" and "4GB address space" - check the list.

With 4GB RAM, some of it can be located below 4G, and some of it above (memory remapping).
 
What you seem to be missing there is that most desktops still are no way in need of 4gb for most unless getting memory intense softwares like graphic design or enginerring as well as software develpment even calculus where the need for a large amount of ram becomes a necessity. I pondered on going with a pair of 3gb dimss here when contemplating adding the additional 64bit edition of Vista into the mix on a work horse type along with programs that demand cpu time as well as having the extra memory capacity present.

Besides the information seen at the dansdata link posted earlier you may want to review what developers are facing when trying to break the 3gb barrier for various applications.


[FONT=verdana,arial]28 December 2007 [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,helvetica]Breaking the 3Gb/s barrier[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial]By Larry Williams, Director of Business Development, Ansoft Corporation[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Planet Analog [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]October 13, 2005 (2:45 PM EST)[/FONT]

http://www.planetanalog.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=172300872
 
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