Technical Question: Windows version and RAM
By
Arcanaville,
Posted on: 2012-06-19 08:09 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
I vaguely remember, from what I've read, that the limitation on any 32-bit OS is 3 GB RAM. So XP-32 will read 3 GB, and Win 7-32 will also only read 3 GB. I think there's a way around the max RAM limit, but I've never had to look into it much.
(Don't quote me on this).
Biscuits is correct.
You will need a 64 bit CPU / system to go past the 4Gb limitation, regardless of your version of Windows.
That said, Win7 is worth upgrading to regardless. 
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Ugh, well that stinks. Looks like I'll be calling Dell to see what type of motherboard I have and see if a 64 bit CPU upgrade is possible.
Thanks to you both for the information. Much appreciated.
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Actually, a 32-bit OS can address up to 4 Gb of RAM, but that includes ALL RAM in the system including system RAM, graphics RAM, PCI Memory Range, ACPI and a few other bits and pieces.
For example, if you have a computer with a 32-bit OS, 4 Gb of system RAM and a video card with 512 Mb of video RAM you'll wind up with a usable portion of RAM that is a bit over 3 Gb.
If you take that same computer with a 32-bit OS, 4 Gb of system RAM and replace the video card with one of the newer cards that has a 2 Gb nVidia 670 video card, well, you have a bit under 2 Gb of usable RAM.
If instead you use a 64-bit OS, you don't run into that limitation until you get to something like 16 Eb (Exabytes) of addressable RAM.
So, to answer the OP's question, make sure you get a 64-bit version of Windows 7. The processor architecture (32-bit or 64-bit processor) has nothing to do with the OS version.
EDIT: Wiki link. An article on the 32-bit vs 64-bit memory limit.
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Most processors made in the last few years (4?) have been 64-bit processors aside from those used in netbooks (Atom processor). Intel has been making 64-bit processors since 2004 (not including Itanium processors for servers).
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Originally Posted by flipside
Ugh, well that stinks. Looks like I'll be calling Dell to see what type of motherboard I have and see if a 64 bit CPU upgrade is possible.
Thanks to you both for the information. Much appreciated. |
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Memory limits for Windows XP.
Memory limits for Windows 7.
XP-32 maxes at 4GB (though with upper memory, you'll only see about 3).
XP-64 maxes at 128GB. But XP-64 was the ******* stepchild of Microsoft and hardware support, while "okay-ish" EVENTUALLY, is pathetic next to WinVista/Win7 support.
Win7-32 maxes at 4GB (There's "Starter" which maxes at 2, but only an idiot would buy that, as it's meant for low memory tablet type systems.)
Win7-64 Home Basic: Maxes at 8GB.
Win7-64 Home Premium: Maxes at 16GB.
Win7-Pro/Enterprise/Ultimate: Maxes at 192GB
One last thing, while people are telling you to just ignore 32-bit and go 64-bit, I'm going to say this. I don't know what your system is. So I don't know if it is 64-bit OS compatible. You may want to post a CoH Helper dump here and give us whatever specs you can on the machine (Make, Model, Model Number, etc) so we can give you an informed "64-bit will work fine".
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
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I keep forgetting Microsoft coded artificial memory limits into the different version of Windows 7 64-bit.
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Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Win7-64 Home Basic: Maxes at 8GB. Win7-64 Home Premium: Maxes at 16GB. Win7-Pro/Enterprise/Ultimate: Maxes at 192GB |
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
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I should also point out that MS has a "Windows 7 upgrade compatibility checker" which will tell for both 32 and 64 bit systems what can be run.|
Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
One last thing, while people are telling you to just ignore 32-bit and go 64-bit, I'm going to say this. I don't know what your system is. So I don't know if it is 64-bit OS compatible. You may want to post a CoH Helper dump here and give us whatever specs you can on the machine (Make, Model, Model Number, etc) so we can give you an informed "64-bit will work fine".
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... that a weird does sentence like look.
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Let's just say I trust Microsoft only as far as I can caber-toss a planet out of a black hole's gravity well from the singularity...|
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
I should also point out that MS has a "Windows 7 upgrade compatibility checker" which will tell for both 32 and 64 bit systems what can be run.
... that a weird does sentence like look. |
If not less.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
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Yeah. I trust that compatibility checker about as much as I do the Minimum System Requirements for this game.|
Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
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If not less. |
I remember loading Windows XP on a system that barely met the Minimum Requirements for a Hardware class my previous employer sent me to.
Sure, we finally got it to finish loading. We let it sit through the initial boot for a two hours (including lunch). We let it finish logging in to the Desktop about a half hour later. We finally got it to bring up the Control Panel 20 minutes later.
Sure, it "ran" Windows XP, but I'd hate to have had to use that system to try to do anything.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
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I'm suddenly very, very glad I decided not to buy a copy of Windows for dual-booting my new computer: I probably would have spent *days* trying to figure out why only a quarter of the RAM was being detected by Windows.
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Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Win7-32 maxes at 4GB
Win7-64 Home Basic: Maxes at 8GB. Win7-64 Home Premium: Maxes at 16GB. |
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another reason I go for Pro/Ultimate whenever I can. I'd rather have the higher ceiling than to worry about memory limitations beyond what the Motherboard can handle.
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Originally Posted by Katie V
I'm suddenly very, very glad I decided not to buy a copy of Windows for dual-booting my new computer: I probably would have spent *days* trying to figure out why only a quarter of the RAM was being detected by Windows.
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I wouldn't call that "running". Unless you consider the slow gimp a broken-legged movie zombie does to be "running".
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Originally Posted by Texas Justice
Sure, it "ran" Windows XP, but I'd hate to have had to use that system to try to do anything.
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Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
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You should tell us more about your system. Upgrading an old Pentium 4 based system for example is a huge waste of money. Since you are saying you are running Windows XP, it suggests your system is probably pretty old.|
Originally Posted by flipside
This should be a simple technical question for most, but I'm being forgetful and thickheaded today so please excuse the simple question(s).
I'm currently running Windows XP on a 32 bit processor. My understanding is that the max addressable RAM for Windows XP is 4GB. To get anything larger, I need to get to a new version of Windows. I'm considering ponying up the money for Windows 7 Home and believe that should allow me to up the max addressable RAM to 32GB? And that is not affected by the 32 versus 64 bit processor. Is all of that correct? |
I've run into problems with some of the early 64bit MBs where I had issues with Windows 7 64 with items like USB ports not working properly. Windows 7 32/Vista 32 runs just fine.
So before you go off plunking down $100 or more for Windows 7. Let us know more. Windows 7 32 for example would be a waste of resources.
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Easiest thing to do flipside is to grab CPU-Z and it can tell you if your CPU is 64-bit compatible. Under the instructions line in the processor box of the CPU tab should list something like x86-64 (for an AMD CPU) or EM64T (for an Intel CPU) as one of the instruction sets it supports if your CPU can support 64-bit.
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As far as I know, there is no upgrade path from any 32-bit Windows to any 64-bit Windows of any version. So I would never run Win7-32, because its a dead end. You can't even back it up and restore it to a newer Win7-64 system. I would stay XP until I had a system that could properly run Win7-64, and then make that one jump once and for all.
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Originally Posted by newchemicals
Windows 7 32 for example would be a waste of resources.
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<runs out to buy RAM> |
Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Win7-Pro/Enterprise/Ultimate: Maxes at 192GB
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Originally Posted by Texas Justice
Sure, we finally got it to finish loading. We let it sit through the initial boot for a two hours (including lunch). We let it finish logging in to the Desktop about a half hour later. We finally got it to bring up the Control Panel 20 minutes later.
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You might want to check out the max addressible memory for the CPU as well|
Originally Posted by WanderingAries
another reason I go for Pro/Ultimate whenever I can. I'd rather have the higher ceiling than to worry about memory limitations beyond what the Motherboard can handle.
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I think the 3rd generation I7s can still only support 32Gb if you want higher than that you will be looking at Xeons or multiprocessor MBs.
others are lower
e.g. for an I7 860 its 16Gb
http://ark.intel.com/products/41316/...Cache-2_80-GHz)
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This is very true (IE: I forgot about it) and you also have to keep in mind what the motherboard is capable of as well.
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Originally Posted by Gaia
You might want to check out the max addressible memory for the CPU as well
I think the 3rd generation I7s can still only support 32Gb if you want higher than that you will be looking at Xeons or multiprocessor MBs. others are lower e.g. for an I7 860 its 16Gb http://ark.intel.com/products/41316/...Cache-2_80-GHz) |
This should be a simple technical question for most, but I'm being forgetful and thickheaded today so please excuse the simple question(s).
I'm currently running Windows XP on a 32 bit processor. My understanding is that the max addressable RAM for Windows XP is 4GB. To get anything larger, I need to get to a new version of Windows. I'm considering ponying up the money for Windows 7 Home and believe that should allow me to up the max addressable RAM to 32GB? And that is not affected by the 32 versus 64 bit processor.
Is all of that correct?
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