What is the maximum RAM that can be used by Vista 32-bit versus 64-bit?
I thought I knew the answer to this one. 4GB for 32-bit, higher for 64-bit (depending on the flavor of Vista 64-bit).
But recently I saw a screencap of a machine reporting 16GB RAM -- on 32-bit Vista. How is this possible?
Apparently, Vista Service Pack 1 changed the way Vista reports memory. It now reports the amount of RAM that is physically installed in the machine, versus how much is available to Vista.
Vista 32-bit can only address 4GB maximum, no more, even though it now reports more.
I found the answer at Microsoft's knowledgebase, here. The various limits for each version of Vista are listed elsewhere, but this article explained clearly why Vista 32-bit will report more memory is available than it can actually use.
Cleared it up for me, anyway. :-)
I thought I knew the answer to this one. 4GB for 32-bit, higher for 64-bit (depending on the flavor of Vista 64-bit).
But recently I saw a screencap of a machine reporting 16GB RAM -- on 32-bit Vista. How is this possible?
Apparently, Vista Service Pack 1 changed the way Vista reports memory. It now reports the amount of RAM that is physically installed in the machine, versus how much is available to Vista.
Vista 32-bit can only address 4GB maximum, no more, even though it now reports more.
I found the answer at Microsoft's knowledgebase, here. The various limits for each version of Vista are listed elsewhere, but this article explained clearly why Vista 32-bit will report more memory is available than it can actually use.
Cleared it up for me, anyway. :-)
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