Ive upped my RAM..
- Thread starter yenrod
- Start date
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ian turner
Guru
- Location
- Leicestershire
Absolutely no difference whatsoever unless using a 64 bit operating system.
If you don't know if you are then you're not and 32 bit OS only address upto 4Gb of RAM and the 4th GB is not available as it's used by your hardware.
If you don't know if you are then you're not and 32 bit OS only address upto 4Gb of RAM and the 4th GB is not available as it's used by your hardware.
HJ
Cycling in Scotland
- Location
- Auld Reekie
Nope, Ian is right, unless you have a 64 bit OS you have wasted your money... still the good news is you can down load a 64 bit version of most of the common Linux distros for free...
D
Deleted member 1258
Guest
Yep ian is right, I have 4gigs of ram with a 32 bit system, typically it uses 2.8-9 gigs, its still very quick at that though, at some point I am going to put 64 bit on it. It was just silly me brought a new computer and chucked in the ubuntu disk I had in my disc bag without checking it and shortly after installation realising what I had done.
Mr Pig
New Member
- Location
- North Lanarkshire
What I thought was that the extra ram would not show up on the system for you to see but that in practice the machine would actually use it. Not fully but enough to make a difference.
ian turner
Guru
- Location
- Leicestershire
Seen yes used no.
The area of address space that covers the 3-4gb memory block is allocated to the expansion cards and various bits of hardware. It used to be the top end of the first GB. Some motherboards will allow you to move this block up to a higher point but again only if using a 64bit operating system as otherwise it couldn't access the hardware properly.
Crucial basically say the same thing . You might get a bit more but it's unpredictable. People with the graphics built into the motherboard will have less than the full amount of memory as the graphics chipset takes from the sub 3GB memory area.
Highest I've seen quoted is 3.2gb which isn't worth the money. If the motherboard can take more than 4gb total then it's probably better to up by 2gb and install a 64 bit OS. Until recently Microsoft were offering windows 7 premium at a pre order price of £45 but that has just jumped to £69.
Let us know what the os claims you have when you plug it in (the value on the general tab of system in control panel not the one when it boots up).
But then unless you are currently using most of the 3gb with some memory hungry software it won't have any effect.
The area of address space that covers the 3-4gb memory block is allocated to the expansion cards and various bits of hardware. It used to be the top end of the first GB. Some motherboards will allow you to move this block up to a higher point but again only if using a 64bit operating system as otherwise it couldn't access the hardware properly.
Crucial basically say the same thing . You might get a bit more but it's unpredictable. People with the graphics built into the motherboard will have less than the full amount of memory as the graphics chipset takes from the sub 3GB memory area.
Highest I've seen quoted is 3.2gb which isn't worth the money. If the motherboard can take more than 4gb total then it's probably better to up by 2gb and install a 64 bit OS. Until recently Microsoft were offering windows 7 premium at a pre order price of £45 but that has just jumped to £69.
Let us know what the os claims you have when you plug it in (the value on the general tab of system in control panel not the one when it boots up).
But then unless you are currently using most of the 3gb with some memory hungry software it won't have any effect.
Sittingduck
Legendary Member
- Location
- Somewhere flat
Check in the OS Yenners. You should see that Windows (if 32 bit) only recognises 3.5Gb memory anyway. It'll show up fine when the machine boots and goes through POST but once the OS is loaded the additional .5 Gb will not even be recognised, much less used.
numbnuts
Legendary Member
- Location
- Gone over the hill and far away
I upped my ram too from 512mb to 2gb and now it goes from "not responding"
to whoosh 
to whoosh 
akaAndrew said:
It's both. You need 64 bit hardware in order to run a 64 bit OS that will be able to allocate to the memory. But you might be unlucky enough to be running a 32 bit OS on 64 bit hardware - if for example you downloaded the wrong Linux ISO for your processor.
hackbike 666
Guest
yenrod said:...well will be soon to 4gb - will it make some / any difference
Ive 3gb at the mo' and 160gb memory...
Any viewpoints.......
How do you get 160gb of memory?
Sittingduck
Legendary Member
- Location
- Somewhere flat
^HDD size innit
