Hey Brian,
As far as I know, the Windows NT generation is not limited to 3GB RAM, only to 64GB (32bit O/S limit - do your own math ;). One thing is what the O/S reports (and what MS
wants us to believe), and another thing is what's actually doable. Nothing new there, unfortunately.
MS have several web pages describing the subject, though in very cloudy terms. The essence is that WIN only reports up to 'about' +3GB RAM, the rest is allocated to
system (as in e.g. swap) and programmes.
The often overlooked fact is that WIN will only allocate up to 3GB of RAM - per
process, that is. How many processes are running on your system?
I have build and/or setup several WIN NT systems with 4/8GB of RAM w/o any problems at all. Those are all A/V systems with RAID and all the bells and whistles, and no
complaints so far. Oldest system is almost eight years old.
It's kind of like the old NT-Switch-trick - only a few (like 2) keys in the
registry are changed, and then you've got Server. Bummer.
The limit for WIN NT Pro is 64GB by design (NT5/6/7/8=maybe). Home Edition is limited to
32GB, for whatever reason. Probably "bragging rights" :)
It's all on the MS web site, though in very cloudy terms. But the determined
individual will find it.
Using +4 GB will include the "/PAE" switch in boot ini. Normally, this is added
automatically by the O/S, and will run smoothly by so.
For an A/V system for professional use, 32GB RAM is not unusual on e.g. WIN XP
Pro.
HTH
-----Original Message-----
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com [mailto:hardware-
boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Brian Weeden
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 5:29 AM
To: hwg
Subject: [H] More than 4GB of ram and VM question
I'm currently running the beta on Windows 7 32-bit and using 2 sticks
of 2GB
RAM. I have a recent need to occasionally run a VM with another OS in
it.
I would like to assign that OS 2 GB of RAM, but as I only have 3.6 GB
available and need to run some rather memory intensive apps in the
native
Windows OS at the same time, I can't.
I'm looking at adding another 4 GB of RAM. I realize that a 32-bit OS
can't
address more than 4 GB, but my question is whether I can assign the VM
to
the other 4 GB? Or is that not going to work because it's running
inside
the host OS which has the limitation?
And yes, I will probably make the move to 64-bit when Windows 7
actually
comes out.
---------------------------
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation <http://www.secureworldfoundation.org>
Montreal Office
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US
