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October 6th, 2006 15:00
xps 700 ram maximum supported?
so i was researching the forums and i came across this (see below) saying that our xps 700 with 32 bit OS will only support up to 2 gb of ram. if this is true, then why is dell selling new and refurbished systems with 4 gb ram using the 32 bit OS???
i wanted to upgrade to 4 gb of ram, but am afraid that i won't see any benefit from it. anyone have any info on this???
thank you,
jmf_tracy
Maximum amounts of RAM (system memory) for XPS PCs [ Edited ] Options
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Maximum amounts of RAM (system memory) for XPS PCs .
The XPS 600 & XPS 700 with the Nvidia nForce4 SLI motherboard chipset will show the 4GB of ram in the bios and memory count. The 32-bit OS will only see 2GB of ram. The 64-bit OS will see up to 8GB of ram.
The XPS 400 with the Intel 945P motherboard chipset will show the 4GB of ram in the bios and memory count. The 32-bit OS will see 4GB of ram. The 64-bit OS will see up to 4GB of ram.
The XPS 200 with the Intel 945G Express motherboard chipset will show the 4GB of ram in the bios and memory count. The 32-bit OS will see 4GB of ram. The 64-bit OS will see up to 8GB of ram.
So, there must be an issue with the Nvidia nForce4 SLI motherboard chipset and the Dell 32-bit OS. Unless you guys can think of another reason.
Dell maximums -
XPS 700 2GB for 32-bit OS, 8GB for 64-bit OS
XPS 600 2GB for 32-bit OS, 8GB for 64-bit OS
XPS 400 4GB for 32-bit OS, 4GB for 64-bit OS
XPS 200 4GB for 32-bit OS, 8GB for 64-bit OS
XPS Gen 5 4GB for 32-bit OS, 8GB for 64-bit OS
XPS Gen 4 4GB for 32-bit OS, 4GB for 64-bit OS
XPS Gen 3, Gen 2, and Gen 1 4GB for 32-bit OS, 4GB for 64-bit OS
Message Edited by DELL-ChrisM on 05-09-200608:47 PM
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DELL-Chris M
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October 7th, 2006 02:00
"why is dell selling new and refurbished systems with 4 gb ram using the 32 bit OS???"
The PC itself can see the 4GBs as shown in the bios setup. The operating system is the limiting factor. The 32 bit version of Windows XP does not support 4GB of memory. 3.xxGB is all it can use. Basically what it means is, while you can install 4gb of memory in the system, the reason it’s not recognized is mainly due to 32-bit processors & 32-bit applications on memory address limitations. 64-bit processors & operating systems like Windows XP 64 will recognize beyond the 32-bit limitation.
JAPPO312
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October 7th, 2006 02:00
Kracker420
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October 8th, 2006 05:00
Any process (e.g. application executable) running under 32 bit Windows versions gets a set of virtual memory addresses (a Virtual Address Space) going from 0 to 4,294,967,295 (2*32-1 = 4 GB), no matter how much RAM is actually installed on the computer. Actually, this is essentially the same for all operating systems running on 32 bit hardware that implement Virtual Memory.
In the normal, default Windows OS configuration, 2 GB of this virtual address space are allocated to the process’ private use and the other 2 GB are allocated to shared and operating system use.
Only that portion of the address space that is actually referenced (used) by a process or the system is associated with a page frame in real memory, or in the pagefile.
The only way to actually increase the size of the virtual address space beyond 4 GB is by using 64 bit hardware with an operating system and application built for that hardware.
RAM is a limited resource, whereas virtual memory is, to a large extent, unlimited in that there can be a large number of processes each with its own 4 GB virtual address space, of which 2 GB is private to the process. When the memory in use (that is, has been reference) by all the existing processes exceeds the amount of RAM available, the operating system will move pages (4 KB pieces) of one or more virtual address spaces to the computer’s hard disk, thus freeing some RAM for other uses. In Windows systems, these “paged out” pages are stored in one or more files with the name pagefile.sys. There can be one such file in each disk partition.
With operating systems like Windows XP it is not uncommon for power users to have many windows open (and thus processes running) and to exhaust the available RAM. In this situation, the goal is provide sufficient pagefile space to avoid running out of available virtual memory, which could cause application failures or at least, significant inconvenience.
PAE is a feature of later Intel processors (Pentium Pro or later and others that implement the Intel architecture, such as those from AMD) to address physical memory (RAM) above 4 GB. To support this, the processor, supporting chip sets and mother boards provide up to 36 physical address bits. Using the processor architecture defined registers and tables, 32 bit virtual addresses can be mapped into RAM pages above the 4 GB boundary. This hardware feature is supported by Windows NT, 2000, XP and later. This feature is activated by using the /PAE switch in the boot.ini.
Using this feature does not change the size of the virtual address space used by processes, but does allow the virtual memory for more processes to be resident in RAM, thus reducing paging in large system environments.
For a more detailed explaination go here.
Hope that helps, I gotta go lay down now!
Geed
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October 14th, 2006 17:00
I tried using the /PAE switch and also changed the various DEP settings (optin, optout, etc.) which did not make any difference. I went as far as performing a fresh format and reload using my own personal copy of Win XP Pro - no difference.
Any clues to as why I can't even get to 2GB???
The only thing I have not tried is using a different brand of memory because I don't have any laying around.
Scott