AskMeAnything Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Is there any good method of making full use of all the memory in a 32 bit system on Windows 7. Currently, on a 32 bit machine, Windows supports only 3.37 GB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Nathan Posted February 20, 2012 Administrators Share Posted February 20, 2012 How many gigs do you have installed? I'm assuming 4gigs? Windows 32 bit can only handle 4gigs of physical memory total, this number includes your video card memory. I'm guessing you probably have video card with 768 video memory or something close to that? The only way to remedy this is to go with 64 bit version of Windows. It's really not a big deal anymore, I haven't run into ANY compatiblity issues and I run a lot of different programs. Not only will be able to use all your memory you can also process things quicker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete T Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 i have 64 bit version to no issues really not even on running programs just got make sure its supports 64 really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godric Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 You cant use more than 4 Gb of memory on 32 bit. In 64bit version you can add upto 196Gb, I think. And there shoudlnt really be a problem with this. I have used a 32bit for so many years and run heavy applications too. There werent any problems though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHiLL Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 A 32-bit operating system can normally only address 4GB of memory in total, however this doesn't just include RAM, but video and other system memory. Since the latter are of more importance, they get addressed first, and your physical RAM gets addressed what ever is left. Some BIOS' come with something called PAE (Physical Address Extension) which is the only other way of getting past 4GB on a 32-bit operating system. Not all BIOS have this though. I would recommend using Windows 7 x64 (which would unfortunately require a full format), because there are very few compatibility issues these days. Even a lot of old legacy software works with it! Nathan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olliesub Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 If you have 3 GB of RAM, I would just automatically get a 64 bit version of Windows 7. Drivers won't be too much of a problem. Getting 64 bit is important just to insure that all of your hardware is getting used to its fullest, so your can get the most out of your computer. Your computer might even be faster! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 A 32-bit operating system can normally only address 4GB of memory in total, however this doesn't just include RAM, but video and other system memory. Since the latter are of more importance, they get addressed first, and your physical RAM gets addressed what ever is left. Some BIOS' come with something called PAE (Physical Address Extension) which is the only other way of getting past 4GB on a 32-bit operating system. Not all BIOS have this though. I would recommend using Windows 7 x64 (which would unfortunately require a full format), because there are very few compatibility issues these days. Even a lot of old legacy software works with it! Dont think you can use PAE to any usefull extent in windows 7 anyways, you would have to use windows server which would then pose the question of why bother buying that when ya could just buy windows 7 x64 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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