Access more memory, even on a 32-bit system

[Broni]

According to this: HERE, yes.

[macdad-]

Thanks Broni, but crap i cant upgrade my memory past 512MB, from what Crucial says of my system(here).

but oh well... my rig probably wont need more than 512MB RAM anyways, Win 2K RAM requirement(64MB) - 384MB = 320MB plenty of space

[patio]

Win2K runs nicely on 512...sweeter on 768 but you should have no issues.

[macdad-]

*Adding another 128MB*
 

thanks for the tip Patio

[patio]

Win2K IMHO is the stablest OS Microsoft ever released...
I need to re-boot that machine about every 3 weeks ...other than that it runs 24/7.

[macdad-]

thats good, you probably added another fan or even watercooling if it runs everyday.

[michaewlewis]

If you need more memory and require a 32 bit os, just switch to ms server 2003 enterprise edition. It supports up to 64gb on x86.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb430827.aspx

Otherwise, just use 64bit.

[macdad-]

i dont think you would need 64GB of ram for personal use, so you could just probably get XP, and do the mod that Patio posted for upgrading the max amount of memory.

[michaewlewis]

I'm just saying ya could....... 

[BC_Programmer]

If you need more memory and require a 32 bit os, just switch to ms server 2003 enterprise edition. It supports up to 64gb on x86.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb430827.aspx

Otherwise, just use 64bit.

we're forgetting something though.

how do programs access memory? Pointers. what size are pointers? 32 bits.


A program would need to be specially constructed to use more then 4GB of memory if it is written for a 32-bit OS. (special API constructs aside)

[michaewlewis]

What programs ever need 4gb of memory for itself? The only programs I've seen that use anywhere near 4gb of memory are sql servers and sql server 2005 can handle as much memory as the os can throw at it..... If any other program is using that much memory, it was probably written specifically to crash the os.

[BC_Programmer]

Some pointers are absolute, and don't point to memory locations in the process address space. Mostly drivers, which could easily be constructed to prevent problems.

[macdad-]

but micheal, that is a good tip though

[BC_Programmer]

that's true, I know if I ever need to reformat my machine, I'm going to put 2003 on it.

[Calum]

Server 2003 is a great OS, my second favourite after XP X64.
Expensive, though.