About Setting PAE ( Physical Address Extension ) in VISTA ULTIMATE 32-bit

Question

I have just got Dell XPS M1530 with below configurations :

Intel Core 2 Duo T9300
4GB RAM
GeForce 8600 GT 256 MB
200 GB 7200 rpm drive
Intel Next-Gen Wireless
Windows Vista Ultimate
15.4 TFT TrueLife WSXGA+

I have understood that not all of the 4GB will be used by the OS.

My questions are:

1. My friend said that Vista will use approximately of 3.25 GB only and THE REST of it will be used by the graphic card. So what I get from what he said is my graphic card memory will expanded to 512MB or more. Does what I think correct? If not, what is the correct condition for my system above?

2. I also have read that to fully use all of the 4GB, I must use the Vista 64-bit and in other article, I read that there is a utility/technology named PAE ( Physical Address Extension ) which is only available for 32-bit Windows.

I was confused when I come to part that mention if I use PAE, the 32-bit Windows will use totally of 4GB and on the next part of the SAME article, it said that I must use the Vista Service Pack 1 for PAE to INDICATE/RECOGNIZE ( INDICATE ONLY, NOT USING ) the system physical memory available is 4GB.
Which one is correct?

What does PAE for if it ONLY RECOGNIZING the amount of memory available?

3. Is there any other way to fully use the 4GB RAM beside Vista 64-bit? Because it must be very difficult to get the application software for the 64-bit, and expensive of course.

4. What are the advantages using 64-bit instead of the 32-bit Windows?

Thank you very much.

Message Edited by chrisliando on 04-30-2008 07:03 PM

Davet50 · Answer

No there is not with a 32bit system. The system allocates ram to all devices as they need it. The biggest user is your video card than the rest of the system componets..there is no work around it other than moving to a 64 bit OS

With SP1 windows will not report the total amount of ram in a system but the actual ram available is still the same..

I think that the 64 bit Os is very stable and seems to run a lot faster than the 32 bit

kirkd · Answer

Dell does not have PAE on it's systems. PAE and any procedure to use all 4GB requires a 64-bit OS. If you check the actual RAM available on your system in Task manager, you will see 3.58GB, pretty close to 4GB. The unavailable RAM is not used by anything, but the address space it normally would use is reserved by the OS for re-mapping the video RAM and other uses. These items need to be re-mapped into main memory so that the OS can use the data. The OS determines how much address space you can access. Your video RAM does not expand by the lost amount, however, the video card can use a large amount of core RAM if necessary for intensive applications.

XPS M1530, Vista Home Premium SP1, T7250 Core 2 Duo (2.0 GHz 800 MHz FSB), 4 GB DDR2 667 MHz RAM, 200 GB SATA II 7200 RPM, Nvidia 8600M GT 256 MB, Wireless-AGN Mini-Card, BlueTooth, WSXGA+ High Def LCD (1680x1050) w/ 2 MP Camera

Dimension 9100, Dual-Boot Win XP SP2/ Vista Home Premium SP1, 3.0 GHz P4, 3 GB DDR2 533 MHz RAM, 160 GB SATA II Samsung (XP), 300 GB SATA II Seagate (Vista), 250 GB SimpleTech USB (WD Drive), Nvidia Go 6800 (425/825 MHz - XP, 400/800 MHz - Vista, Vista Driver - 169.25), Dell 1901 UltraSharp FP

Inspiron E1705, Win Vista Premium, T7200 Core 2 Duo (4MB, 2.0 GHz 667MHz), 2 GB DDR2 677 MHz RAM, 120 GB Samsung HD, Nvidia Go 7900 GS - 156.69 Driver, 17” Sharp UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-Screen WUXGA

gdwrnch3 · Answer

Dell has nothing to do with PAE. PAE is in the OS.

you do not need a 64 bit system to use PAE.

Acess cmd w/admin rights: Click on the Start Pearl > type cmd in the Search Bar > and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter (this allows you to run cmd in administrative mode)

2) Type BCDEdit /set PAE forceenable

It will however make little to no difference at all

Message Edited by gdwrnch3 on 05-02-2008 08:05 PM

kirkd · Answer

I meant to say Dell doesn't support setting PAE via the BIOS. However, setting PAE on a 32-bit system will not result in accessing the lost address space. Need 64-bit OS.

XPS M1530, Vista Home Premium SP1, T7250 Core 2 Duo (2.0 GHz 800 MHz FSB), 4 GB DDR2 667 MHz RAM, 200 GB SATA II 7200 RPM, Nvidia 8600M GT 256 MB, Wireless-AGN Mini-Card, BlueTooth, WSXGA+ High Def LCD (1680x1050) w/ 2 MP Camera

Dimension 9100, Dual-Boot Win XP SP2/ Vista Home Premium SP1, 3.0 GHz P4, 3 GB DDR2 533 MHz RAM, 160 GB SATA II Samsung (XP), 300 GB SATA II Seagate (Vista), 250 GB SimpleTech USB (WD Drive), Nvidia Go 6800 (425/825 MHz - XP, 400/800 MHz - Vista, Vista Driver - 169.25), Dell 1901 UltraSharp FP

Inspiron E1705, Win Vista Premium, T7200 Core 2 Duo (4MB, 2.0 GHz 667MHz), 2 GB DDR2 677 MHz RAM, 120 GB Samsung HD, Nvidia Go 7900 GS - 156.69 Driver, 17” Sharp UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-Screen WUXGA

funkmasterta · Answer

PAE is set in the OS:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366796(VS.85).aspx

To enable PAE, use the BCDEdit /set command to set the pae boot entry option.

Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP/2000: To enable PAE, use the /PAE switch in the Boot.ini file. To disable PAE, use the /NOPAE switch.

Davet50 · Answer

That's fine for XP but not vista.

funkmasterta · Answer

From the link:

PAE is supported only on 32-bit versions of Windows; 64-bit versions of Windows do not support PAE. The following 32-bit Windows releases support PAE:

Windows Server 2008

Windows Vista

Windows Server 2003

Windows XP

Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

Windows 2000 Advanced Server

kirkd · Answer

Availability of PAE depends on the system chipset and the construction of the system board. If the extra address lines are not present or the chipset is not 965 or higher, no PAE and no expanded RAM address space.

Windows General

About Setting PAE ( Physical Address Extension ) in VISTA ULTIMATE 32-bit

Was this post helpful?