# [SOLVED] can 32bit operating systems support 4gb ram?



## stuck (May 26, 2008)

i am building a pc and want to use a 32 bit operating system either vista or xp and wondered how much ram i can add
some people have said 3gb some have said 3.5gb and some have said 4gb which is it?:4-dontkno
********************* AND
should i have two 2gb ram moduels or four 1gb modules???
i have space for four 1gb moduels


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## peterhuang913 (May 24, 2008)

*Re: can 32bit operating systems support 4gb ram?*

It is 4GB - video card ram.


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## stressfreesoul (Mar 17, 2008)

*Re: can 32bit operating systems support 4gb ram?*

Ive got two 2G in my XP pro SP2 and it utilises 3.25G of it. Not sure whether there are any variations as to what service pack or type (home or pro), but mines up to date (apart from SP3 cos it doesnt agree with my system) and thats how much it "sees"


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: can 32bit operating systems support 4gb ram?*

need for xp 1g vista 2g


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

*Re: can 32bit operating systems support 4gb ram?*

it really depends on the motherboard


but you can with a cooperative motherboard install four gigs of ram >>>> it will only be usuable as 3.4gigs because a 32bit operating system doesnt have enough memory registers to accomodate 4 gigs


a much better choice and often has better performance is the configuration of 2 x one gig sticks and a matched pair of 2 x 512mb sticks

a total of three gigs and all will run in dual channel


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## stuck (May 26, 2008)

*Re: can 32bit operating systems support 4gb ram?*

thanks to all that have replied 
i would like to get as much ram as my computer will support!!!
linderman's solution seems to be the best but is that really the maximum my computer will support??
and is that ballanced with my 3.0GHZ intel E8400 dual core processor


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

well its your call really



I am running four x one gig sticks myself with a E8400 and I can say you will never use even 3gigs before the cpu is maxed

you can use a whisker over two gigs but not even as much as 2.6 gigs before you saturate the cpu even overclocked like I am at 3.8ghz


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## stuck (May 26, 2008)

thanks that is very helpful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i am now going to get 2 x 1gs + 2 x 512mbs
thanks again..........................ray:ray:ray:ray::smile::smile::smile:


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## jonno112 (Nov 8, 2003)

I was just wondering how your ram set up went and was it worth breaking up that way?


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## stuck (May 26, 2008)

i have not got the ram because i am building my computer in bits
i have only got my motherboard, hard drive and case so far
so i do not know......sorry
however from what i have learned my ram setup would be much better than three one gigs because you are not using the full power of your computer ie: two X DUAL channel you would be using 1 dual channel and half of a dual channel so half the speed!
sorry i can't be more helpful!

stuck.........


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## stressfreesoul (Mar 17, 2008)

As probably has been previously mentioned, 2x1Gb dual and 2x512Mb dual will get you the best benefits (as long as they are paired and ready for it)


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## mikekoi (May 25, 2009)

32 bit Windows Operating systems use a ceiling of 3GB. A small amount of the remainder is used by hardware which operates in the background. 64 bit architectures can address over 8GB but with 4GB will use only about 3.5GB. 
If you are building your own machine you can always use crucial.com who provide a free scan of your system/motherboard and give free recommendations of available memory types and configurations for your computer.


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