32 bit Vista Ultimate with service pack one sees 8GB of RAM installed

[HDTV1080P]

What is up with Vista 32 bit edition? I have read several technical books and newsletters over the past 2 years that mentions that Windows 32 bit will only see or use up to 4GB of memory. To test this I installed XP onto a PC that had 8GB of memory. Windows XP saw only 3.5GB of memory installed out of 8GB. Then I installed 32 bit Vista Ultimate with service pack 1 and the 32 bit Vista reported that it saw 8GB of RAM. This can be very confusing for consumers, even though Vista 32 bit sees 8GB of actual RAM installed it can only address a maximum under ideal conditions of 4GB or less. Microsoft should change the Windows property screen so that it shows both the actual memory installed and the actual useable memory.
Currently I am using 8GB of memory with 64 bit Vista Ultimate so that I take full advantage of 8GB of DDR3 memory running at 1600MHZ.

[kaliraver]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

What is up with Vista 32 bit edition? I have read several technical books and newsletters over the past 2 years that mentions that Windows 32 bit will only see or use up to 4GB of memory. To test this I installed XP onto a PC that had 8GB of memory. Windows XP saw only 3.5GB of memory installed out of 8GB. Then I installed 32 bit Vista Ultimate with service pack 1 and the 32 bit Vista reported that it saw 8GB of RAM. This can be very confusing for consumers, even though Vista 32 bit sees 8GB of actual RAM installed it can only address a maximum under ideal conditions of 4GB or less. Microsoft should change the Windows property screen so that it shows both the actual memory installed and the actual useable memory.
Currently I am using 8GB of memory with 64 bit Vista Ultimate so that I take full advantage of 8GB of DDR3 memory running at 1600MHZ.

I've ran into the same thing on my personal computer.

[crackinhedz]

Currently I am using 8GB of memory with 64 bit Vista Ultimate

Im getting my new (refurb) pc tomorrow, and it will have an Intel duo quad priocessor with Vista 64bit...but only holds 4GB...

do you think 4GB will be sufficient for 64bit??

[Havok83]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

Im getting my new (refurb) pc tomorrow, and it will have an Intel duo quad priocessor with Vista 64bit...but only holds 4GB...

do you think 4GB will be sufficient for 64bit??

Its definetly fine. You'd be okay with 2gb, but 4 is defiently better.

As for topic starter, 32-bit systems will only use a max of 4gb. Its actually a bit lower than that (somewhere between 3 and 4). A 64-bit version is necesary in order to take advantage of anything higher than 4

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

Im getting my new (refurb) pc tomorrow, and it will have an Intel duo quad priocessor with Vista 64bit...but only holds 4GB...

do you think 4GB will be sufficient for 64bit??

4GB is fine with 64 Bit. You can always add more memory if you want faster speed. 8GB is great if you have several dozens of applications open at once. 4GB is fine for most uses. Some motherboards have issues with 8GB of memory.

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

Some motherboards have issues with 8GB of memory.

the item description says it will only hold 4GB...so im out of luck for 8.

But thanks for the info. I don't run many applications at once anyways. Mostly internet surfing with occasional dvd shrink.

Vista 64/Intel duo quad core may even be overkill for me.

[rdodolak]

Vista originally showed the usable memory, but MS changed it to the total memory for SP1.

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Win...36b281033.mspx

Changes in memory (RAM) reporting

SP1 also changes how the random access memory (RAM) that is installed in your computer is reported. Before SP1, the amount of memory reported was equal to the amount of memory that Windows was able to use. In SP1, the amount of memory reported is the amount of memory that is actually installed on your computer. If you have 4 gigabytes (GB) of memory installed, you’ll now see 4 GB of memory reported by features such as System or Performance Information and Tools in Control Panel. This change can only happen if your computer's basic input/output system (BIOS) is capable of displaying that much RAM.

[doctorD]

Ran into this same issue when after my recent new PC build. Both XP and Vista has this issue.

Vista 64 is the way to go with SP1 installed.

[kaliraver]

I think when I redo my system I will be installing Windows Vista 64-bit since thats the way its going for Windows and about time if you ask me.

[lch]

i only can see 2.8G out of my 4G

[arush5268d]

While Vista, depending on where you look in the system files, may show 4gb of ram...the 32bit version will only utilize 3gb of that. The rest, sadly, is waste.

My graphics card will use up to a gig of system memory if Windows allocates it - and I've often wondered if Vista will send the unusable ram to the graphics card but haven't been able to find any documentation on this.

[tau31]

Running on a quadcore w/ 8 gigs here. Vista 64.