Re: dxdiag reporting 3G RAM instead of 4G


Hi Us3r,

Don't worry about being confused - you are not alone when it comes to
memory management :D.

Will try to explain the best I can -

It all relates to something called Address Space this is an area where
the system keeps track of what each part of the actual memory you have
is used for so that the processor can find the correct data when needed.


This is known as mapping

A 32 bit system has by design a maximum of 4 Gigabyte of -address
space- where the actual RAM is -mapped -to so that the Maximum that a 32
bit system can use is 4 Gigabyte

This Address space is however not used to map only RAM but also things
such as hardware locations and graphics memory.

Because of this the most RAM that may be mapped and thus used will be
the 4 Gigabyte minus the amount used for things other than RAM.

This amount varies depending on what hardware devices you have and so
the actual amount of RAM available will vary between 2.9 Gigabyte and
3.5 gigabyte (approx)

Although your motherboard may be capable of addressing more than 4
gigabyte the operating system cannot.

If you want to access more than this amount of RAM you will have to run
a 64 bit OS

The confusion is caused by manufacturers quoting that their boards can
use 8 gigabyte but not mentioning that to do this you need 64 bit
:sarc::sa:

If you want further info check out these...

'64-bit: More than just the RAM - Vista Forums'
(http://www.vistax64.com/vista-news/99613-64-bit-more-than-just-ram.html)


'Practical PC Online - Beginner's Guides: Vista - How Much Memory Can I
Have With Windows Vista?'
(http://www.practicalpc.co.uk/computing/vista/vista-32bit-memory.htm)

'64-bit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia'
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit)

Sorry if this is a little technical - hope it helps


--
barman58


.

Relevant Pages

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