32bit memory limts.
 

Want to put a bit more ram in my housemates pc since we're finding as he likes to leave wow running and alt tab out to do other stuff the system is paging out a fair bit.

Am I right in thinking he'd be better off going from 2gb > 3gb

(2x 1gb and 2x512mb) than to 4gb since he's running the 32bit version of vista home premium.

I can of course install a 64bit OS for him to take advantage of extra memory but he doesn't really want to reinstall everything on the computer so it seems a bit pointless putting 4gb in if its only going to see 3gb anyway.

I know on my system with 4gb ram my 32bit version of Xp can only address 3gb of it.

Not sure if its relivent but he also has a 512mb Video card.

Re: 32bit memory limts.
 

No 32bit OS can address over 3gig of ram, no matter how pretty or bloated :p. For me I'd get him 4gig anyway since ram is so cheap nowadays just in case he needs a reinstall later. It should run seamlessly with all 4 installed.

Re: 32bit memory limts.
 

technically, it's 4Gb, but around a gig will be assigned elsewhere (page files, GPU, etc.) You will only see 3Gb to 3.5Gb of RAM even if you put in 4Gb. a 32bit OS can only address 4Gb in total.

Re: 32bit memory limts.
 

I'll leave that upto him.

I know my machine sees 3gb on XP pro 32bit (I usually use vista x64 but have xp on there for some older games)

Re: 32bit memory limts.
 

Some chipsets may have a small advantage with matched quads, if they are tuned to optimize bankswitching - the old Intel 8xx chipsets did, not sure if it was carried forward to later chipsets.