On Wed, 4 Jun 2008 21:40:57 +0100, "Doug" <Doug
<dougti@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
[color=blue][color=green]
> > How can I check to see if 4GB is being made available for the system to
> > utilize?[/color]
> It sounds like the RAM isn't being detected. What does the BIOS show?[/color]

[color=blue]
> Either way, the maximum amount of RAM you will be able to access (without
> enabling PAE) is 3.2GB.[/color]


Two points:

1. PAE doesn't help on Windows client operating systems, just on
servers.

2. The maximum accessible amount is not precisely 3.2GB, but varies
from as little as 2 to 2.5 (in rare cases) to as much as 3.5GB,
depending on your hardware configuration. Here's my standard post on
this subject:

All 32-bit versions of Windows (not just XP) have a 4GB address space.
That's the theoretical upper limit beyond which you can not go.

But you can't use the entire 4GB of address space. Even though you
have a 4GB address space, you can only use *around* 3.1GB of RAM.
That's because some of that space is used by hardware and is not
available to the operating system and applications. The amount you can
use varies, depending on what hardware you have installed, but can
range from as little as 2GB to as much as 3.5GB. It's usually around
3.1GB.

Note that the hardware is using the address *space*, not the actual
RAM itself. The rest of the RAM goes unused because there is no
address space to map it too.




--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
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