Ram on a 32bit so

[larsch]

Yes, unless all of it is called at once, as that would cause a OS crash, meaning the extra ram is simply an over commit. Some OS allow over committing (e.g. Linux), Windows generally doesn't for good reason. This is also why some people claim Linux etc uses less RAM, it doesn't it just over commits what it has.

A 32 bit CPU/OS can only address 2^32 no matter what over committing occurs, and they just make the gamble that you will never 'request' all addressable memory at once.

The fact remains, that a 4GB (2^32) is the maximum.

I'm not sure what you are arguing. You seem to have misunderstood something about memory remapping. It is not about committing memory at the OS level. It is something that happens at the hardware level. Some BIOSes let you enable/disable it.

PAE lets a 32bit OS address more than 4 GB, if you want to go there, but my post about remapping was about using it with 64bit Windows.

 

[Okedokey]

Firstly PAE is conducted in the operating system and secondlgy, the OS still has to address the space, and even then "The 32-bit size of the virtual address is not changed, so regular application software continues to use instructions with 32-bit addresses and (in a flat memory model) is limited to 4 gigabytes of virtual address space, or as microsoft says here "PAE does not change the amount of virtual address space available to a process. Each process running in 32-bit Windows is still limited to a 4 GB virtual address space."

 

[larsch]

Firstly PAE is conducted in the operating system and secondlgy, the OS still has to address the space, and even then "The 32-bit size of the virtual address is not changed, so regular application software continues to use instructions with 32-bit addresses and (in a flat memory model) is limited to 4 gigabytes of virtual address space, or as microsoft says here "PAE does not change the amount of virtual address space available to a process. Each process running in 32-bit Windows is still limited to a 4 GB virtual address space."

Of course the OS has to address the space. That goes without saying. And it is true that PAE does not change the size of the virtual address space. And in the context of memory remapping it doesn't matter.

 

[Okedokey]

To answer the OPs question, even with PAE and other technology, your 32 bit OS can only ever address and therefore use a maximum of 4GB regardless of where that memory address comes from. So yes, anything over 3GB even is a waste of system ram (assuming you have a gpu with 1GB VRAM) which is a pretty common occurance.

 

[larsch]

To answer the OPs question, even with PAE and other technology, your 32 bit OS can only ever address and therefore use a maximum of 4GB regardless of where that memory address comes from. So yes, anything over 3GB even is a waste of system ram (assuming you have a gpu with 1GB VRAM) which is a pretty common occurance.

As said previously, unless you have a server edition of Windows, you are limited. It is a common mistake to think that it applies to all 32bit operating systems.

 

[Okedokey]

As said previously, unless you have a server edition of Windows, you are limited. It is a common mistake to think that it applies to all 32bit operating systems.

Again, even server 32bit editions require PAE to overcome this limitation, but still, are limited by 4GB per process and still require AWE applications. Very very rare situtation, so the moniker that all 32bit OS are limited to 4GB is true in 99% of cases. Also given that almost no one in their right mind would use a 32 bit version of a server os, its probably hasn't happened for years and years.

So again, to answer the OPs question, assuming you are talking about everything other than the use case above, you'll be limited to 4GB.

 

[larsch]

Again, even server 32bit editions require PAE to overcome this limitation, but still, are limited by 4GB per process and still require AWE applications. Very very rare situtation, so the moniker that all 32bit OS are limited to 4GB is true in 99% of cases.

I already agreed with you that each process is limited to 4 GB.

I can mention a couple of things: The OS is caching stuff. That can quickly use up much ram. If you run multiple applications that can also use up a lot of ram. Multiple applications are not restricted to a total of 4 GB.

But the original point was: The OS can go beyond 4 GB. And if it can, 4 GB installed ram with memory remapping will give you 4 GB usable.

 

[Okedokey]

I already agreed with you that each process is limited to 4 GB.

I can mention a couple of things: The OS is caching stuff. That can quickly use up much ram. If you run multiple applications that can also use up a lot of ram. Multiple applications are not restricted to a total of 4 GB.

Unless you try to call them all at once.

But again, the OP is clearly looking for advice on a desktop consumer level, where 32 bit OS will not benefit from more than 3/4GB or system memory. Thats the answer. If you want to discuss server optimisations and implementations, fine, start a thread.

 

[larsch]

Unless you try to call them all at once.

You need to understand how memory addressing works. That statement is not valid.

But again, the OP is clearly looking for advice on a desktop consumer level, where 32 bit OS will not benefit from more than 3/4GB or system memory. Thats the answer. If you want to discuss server optimisations and implementations, fine, start a thread.

I don't think the OP has had any doubts since post #2. Please keep telling yourself that all of yours posts are to clear things up for him.

 

[G80FTW]

I think the real question here is who is still using a 32bit operating system in 2013?

The whole argument of it seeing 3.25gb or full 4gb is stupid. It doesnt matter. Because the point is, you can put 4GB into your 32 bit OS and it will work just fine. Does it matter if it only uses 3GB~ of it? No. Because RAM that small is dirt cheap these days the only reason to argue how much it can use is if your trying to save money by installing only 3.25GB of RAM which is stupid.