[rrico18]

I know that windows xp can only see no more than 4 GB of ram.
I have 8GB install on my XP and It only show that I have 3.25 in my system Properties
I try editing my boot.ini file and my page file but it stay the same but when i start my computer it said that it see all 8 GB of ram during the post can some one help me

[Hybr!d]

Actually it's Windows 32Bit that can only see 3.25, you will need 64bit XP or 64bit Vista.

[rrico18]

Originally Posted by Dave Hybrid

Actually it's Windows 32Bit that can only see 3.25, you will need 64bit XP or 64bit Vista.

thanks but you dont know any software that will let you pass the 3.25 max because i have xp 64 bit cd but i dont really want to format my drive

[Carbon]

There is no software. It's a matter of basic binary arithmetic. A 32-bit system cannot address that much RAM unless it doesn't address anything else for IO like HDDs and video cards.

[rrico18]

Originally Posted by Carbon

There is no software. It's a matter of basic binary arithmetic. A 32-bit system cannot address that much RAM unless it doesn't address anything else for IO like HDDs and video cards.

Hmm thank you so then what should i do with the other stick of ram i have in my computer. sell it?

[Hybr!d]

Do whatever, it is useless in a 32bit PC.

[thingie2]

Yea, like stated above, it's not possible to make a 32-bit OS access more than 4GB of RAM > 2^32 = 4,294,967,296 bytes = 4GB, that's why it's limited, but a 64-bit OS > 2^64 = 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 bytes = 17,179,869,184 GB so about 17 billion GB is the maximum amount of RAM capable with a properly programed 64-bit OS, however currently (as far as I know) no OS goes past supporting about 128GB of RAM, but the majority of motherboards hit their limits at about 8GB, however the new X58 boards, I've seen a few support 24GB, but for that you would need sticks of RAM with 4GB on each.

[rrico18]

Originally Posted by thingie2

Yea, like stated above, it's not possible to make a 32-bit OS access more than 4GB of RAM > 2^32 = 4,294,967,296 bytes = 4GB, that's why it's limited, but a 64-bit OS > 2^64 = 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 bytes = 17,179,869,184 GB so about 17 billion GB is the maximum amount of RAM capable with a properly programed 64-bit OS, however currently (as far as I know) no OS goes past supporting about 128GB of RAM, but the majority of motherboards hit their limits at about 8GB, however the new X58 boards, I've seen a few support 24GB, but for that you would need sticks of RAM with 4GB on each.

my motherboards see that it has 8 GB of ram it just my xp does not. If i would install xp 64 bit on my computer will all my programs i have install work? because i heard that not that many games and software can run on a 64 bit os

[Carbon]

XP x64 is horrible. Vista x64 is a lot better and has very few incompatibilities.

[thingie2]

Yea, Vista 64 is much better than XP 64.