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Sli, 32bit OS's and RAM

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  • 12-07-2007 10:34am
    #1
    Inquitus
    Registered Users Posts: 13,757 ✭✭✭✭


    Having read the thread below about Ram utilisable in XP 32bit (or Vista for that matter), I thought I would pen a few thoughts.

    A 32bit OS can only dish out mem addresses to 4GB of memory.

    A current Sli rig with 2 8800GTX's takes 1.5GB of the available space, so in a top end Sli Rig on a 32bit OS you are capped at 2.5GB of useable RAM.

    I run Vista Ultimate with 2GB of RAM and I don't consider that to be quite enough imo. I think 3GB will give me a decent improvement.

    So in my new build details in a thread below, I am installing 4GB of Ram of which only 3.12 will be usable along with 768MB of Graphics Ram.

    In the last generation or 2 Graphics RAM has gone from 256MB to 768MB in the blink of an eye, you can now buy OEM X2900XT's with 1GB of RAM, running 2 of those in crossfire will leave less than 2GB avail for System usage.

    If the amount of Graphics Ram continues to grow we will reach a point, if we are not there already, where the GPU takes too much of the available 4GB address space to the detriment of the rest of the system, yet the 64bit Driver and Software support (esp in Vista) sucks atm to the extent where it is not really a viable proposition.

    Something is going to have to give here as I believe we have reached the limit of top end builds on a 32bit OS.

    Inqui


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    #2
    Blazer
    Registered Users Posts: 17,434 ✭✭✭✭Blazer


    Well I'm using dual boot with Vista 32bit and XP Pro 64bit.
    Games are running no prob on the 64bit and are a little bit faster.
    Far Cry once patched to 64bit looks fabulous and there's no draw whatsover on the graphics side.
    The only reason I'm running 32bit Vista is because it's the Ultimate and the 64bit is Enterprise..I want the media center part of it.


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    #3
    redtom
    Closed Accounts Posts: 261 ✭✭redtom


    Inquitus wrote:
    A current Sli rig with 2 8800GTX's takes 1.5GB of the available space, so in a top end Sli Rig on a 32bit OS you are capped at 2.5GB of useable RAM.

    If you don't have two SLI cards on an SLI motherboard, and if SLI isn't even switched on in the BIOS, will you still get only the 2.5 gigs of RAM? I just upgraded to 3 gigs from 1 on an ASUS A8N SLI with a Radeon X700 Pro card and windows only sees 2.5 gigs - however the BIOS sees all 3 and System Information reports 3 gigs under Total Physical Memory, and 2 under Available Physical Memory. Bit confused...


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    #4
    8T8
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,757 ✭✭✭8T8


    Yes because of all sorts of things 2GB is the {simple explanation} boundry for 32-bit.

    If you go higher than that then all sorts of factors come into play that include, the motherboard chipset, bios, amount of RAM on GPU, operating system & other peripherals in the system.

    All of this can lead to a 32-bit system with 3 or 4GB's of RAM installed having anywhere from 2.5GB - 3.xGB usable.

    It can vary from system to system because of the way the bios is implemented or other devices in the system like discrete graphics and integrated graphics on the same board.

    It's all very messy when you get into the details but personally speaking the average user has no need for more the 2GB and games don't make use of it under 32-bit OS & some applications need to be compiled with it in mind so really general users get nothing from any more RAM in 32-bit.

    The simple answer is if you want more RAM you go 64-bit.

    (On a side note Vista 64-bit is quite usable, running it myself though would not recommend NVIDIA if you want max performance {go ATI} however the majority of stuff works & driver/app support is getting better & better gradually, 64-bit ffdshow tryout was just recently released for example)


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