Steve Erbach
erbachs at gmail.com
Tue May 20 08:40:46 CDT 2008
John, "What we have here is a failure to commun'cate" BLAM! Oh, yeah! I was curious about what you said here: » What happens if you install less than 4 gigs (only 2 gigs)? Windows no longer has to carve the holes out to map the memory of the video card so you end with with ALL of that 2 gigs available as memory. « So, if you have MORE than 2 GB of RAM, Windows will "carve holes" in RAM but if you have 2 GB or LESS then it doesn't? Sounds funny. Is there a performance boost with the mapped memory if you've got 4 GB installed? If so then the reverse is true if you've only got 2 GB win no mapping? Steve Erbach Neenah, WI On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 9:04 PM, jwcolby <jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com> wrote: > > 1.) I'm going to upgrade my pc -- was going to go all the way to 2 > gigs until the recent conversation about Windows XP not being able to > use more than 1.2, so my question is, why pay for 2 if the system's only > going to use 1.5? > > Uhhh... I think there has been a failure to communicate... (one of my > favorite movie lines). > > Windows XP x32 can use up to 4 gigabytes of RAM. Windows XP x64 can use > ... unknown but way more than you can fit in your machine. > > The x32 4 gig limitation comes from the fact that using a 32 bit address > register you can only physically access 2^32 addresses which equals 4 > gigs. NOW, having said that, any memory that is on perepheral devices > such as (for example) 128 or 256 megs on a video card have to be > "mapped" into that same 4 gigs of ram space, so what happens is that > Windows carves "holes" in that 4 gigs and "maps" the video memory into > that hole, so that you end up with 4 gigs of memory MINUS the "mapped" > memory from your video card. USUALLY you will end up with something > between 3.25 and 3.6 gigs of RAM if you install 4 gigs of memory in a > windows x32 machine. > > What happens if you install less than 4 gigs (only 2 gigs)? Windows no > longer has to carve the holes out to map the memory of the video card so > you end with with ALL of that 2 gigs available as memory. > > > 2.) Is there a modem/wireless router combo? I'm using cable Internet. > If I have to buy both, seems like someone would be making a single unit > that does both by now. > > I don't know but the cable company provides whatever they provide. They > usually do not give (or at least offer) you a choice. Most of us just > go buy a wireless modem of our own choice to place "behind" the cable modem. > > John W. Colby > www.ColbyConsulting.com > > > Susan Harkins wrote: >> 1.) I'm going to upgrade my pc -- was going to go all the way to 2 gigs until the recent conversation about Windows XP not being able to use more than 1.2, so my question is, why pay for 2 if the system's only going to use 1.5? >> >> 2.) Is there a modem/wireless router combo? I'm using cable Internet. If I have to buy both, seems like someone would be making a single unit that does both by now. >> >> Susan H.