Maxd memory on Windows Xp

[Zalewski]

So i recently rebuilt my computer with some new memory, cpu, and mobo.
Here are the current specs
MSI 879-G45
4gb (2x2) Corsair Xms Ddr3
Amd Phenom II X2 555 Black
Nvidia Geforce 7900gtx
430W ThermaltakeTr2

I read on the microsoft website that the maximum Ram usable on Windows Xp is 4gb, but accoring to my dxdiag and other utilities this is not true.
Is the max amount of ram on Windows Xp 3.25gb?
Also, if so is it worth going to Windows Vista or Windows 7 worth it, before i rebuilt i was sitting at 2gb ddr2 and 50% of my Ram usage was spent while being idle with nothing up on Windows 7.

P.S. why isnt my Ram operating at the sale speed of 1333mhz.

Thanks, any comment are suggestions are helpful.




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[muCephei]

You never get access to the full RAM, some of its reserved for things like the OS. Typically 4GB of installed RAM will get you about 3.5GB that you can use in your system. I'd chalk the .25GB less (3.25 vs 3.5) to your video card's RAM being addressed as well.

[nwo]

The maximum supported memory for any 32 bit operating system is 4GB which includes your video card memory as well. I assume you have a 768mb version of the card, which is why you have 3.25GB of system memory.

If you upgrade to a 64 bit operating system, you would have to do a fresh install, but you will not have to worry about reaching the memory cap for a really long time.

[Zalewski]

The video card is a 512mb, installing windows 7 back wont be that bad, the thing i am worrying about is the Ram usage, back when i had a 1.8ghz cpu and 2gb of ddr2 the usage was 50% idle like i said, if i do go back to 7 i dont want to risk the fact that the same or near the same thing will happen.

And if anyone can get back to me on the Ram speed thatd be great.

[nwo]

The video card is a 512mb, installing windows 7 back wont be that bad, the thing i am worrying about is the Ram usage, back when i had a 1.8ghz cpu and 2gb of ddr2 the usage was 50% idle like i said, if i do go back to 7 i dont want to risk the fact that the same or near the same thing will happen.

And if anyone can get back to me on the Ram speed thatd be great.

Well, I guarantee you that your RAM usage will not be 50% at idle since you have 4GB of RAM now. My idle usage is about 1.2GB in windows 7 64 bit home ultimate.
Your DRAM frequency is operating at 800MHz which is what it is supposed to be running at for stock speeds. If you overclock your CPU by increasing your FSB, it will also increase your RAM clock speed in accordance to the FSBRAM ratio which you currently have set to 3:10.

[Deleted]

Also, if so is it worth going to Windows Vista or Windows 7 worth it, before i rebuilt i was sitting at 2gb ddr2 and 50% of my Ram usage was spent while being idle with nothing up on Windows 7.

P.S. why isnt my Ram operating at the sale speed of 1333mhz.

Thanks, any comment are suggestions are helpful.

Windows 7 is absolutely amazing. The way I see it, Vista was the Beta for 7
As for the system using "50% of RAM during idle", I think you could be mistaking how RAM works, although Vista did use up a fair amount of RAM >_>
There will usually be a moderate amount of memory being used at all times, especially if your system has been left on for a while. 50% is too much though (I expect you were exaggerating a bit, right?)
I'm currently using 1.85GB of RAM (8GB total - even with 4GB that amount is fine imo), that's with firefox + addons and 4 tabs, vent, fraps, winamp and a handful of misc stuff (AV, headset app etc).
It's actually better to have programs using the RAM instead of taking ages to load data from a hard disk (esp if it's fragmented) [unless it's an SSD]

Your RAM is actually running at 1600MHz, which will be the XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) that Corsair uses in their RAM. The speed you see in CPU-Z, BIOS etc is the single rate speed and you just need to double it in your mind to work out the actual speed (DDR = double data rate).
So you thought it was running slower, which is wasn't, and now you know that it's actually running faster! taa-daa!

[Zalewski]

Not exxagerating at all on 50% usage, i would cold boot in the morning to see readings of 50% usage in task manager and rainmeter, but like i said that was back at 2gb ddr2ram, 1.8ghz dual core. I guess its safe to say ill be going back to windows 7 ultimate when im not lazy enough to go through all the installs and thank you all for helping, its really nice knowing that my ram is operating at the advertised speeds.

Is it safe to say i should take away the 20% O.C on my cpu ( its stock at 3.2ghz , flip two switches on the mobo, its that easy ) and instead change the FSB multiplier to 18x, dont know if i understood correctly but in the long run seems better?

[Cilraaz]

P.S. why isnt my Ram operating at the sale speed of 1333mhz.

It is. Your RAM multiplier is 3:10. It's effectively a 10/3 (or 3.333) multiplier. Multiplying this by your DRAM Frequency gives you 2666MHz. Divide out the DDR (double data rate) and you get a base value of 1333MHz.

For another example, my RAM is using a 2:8 multiplier (effectively 4x). Multiplying that by my DRAM Frequency of 800MHz gives me 3200MHz. Divide out the DDR and you get 1600MHz, which is its correct operating speed.

[Ashareth]

Not exxagerating at all on 50% usage, i would cold boot in the morning to see readings of 50% usage in task manager and rainmeter, but like i said that was back at 2gb ddr2ram, 1.8ghz dual core. I guess its safe to say ill be going back to windows 7 ultimate when im not lazy enough to go through all the installs and thank you all for helping, its really nice knowing that my ram is operating at the advertised speeds.

Is it safe to say i should take away the 20% O.C on my cpu ( its stock at 3.2ghz , flip two switches on the mobo, its that easy ) and instead change the FSB multiplier to 18x, dont know if i understood correctly but in the long run seems better?

Take into account that Vista (and Seven in a really tweaked/different manner) was using prefetching as default, ie : using all the available memory at all time (or nearly all) so it was available faster when you needed to affect it to programs and such.

The whole "memory consumption" of Vista was pretty tricky, since, most of the time, it was notreal memory consumption.

If you have 4GB of ram and a 64 bit proc, don't even think about it, migrate to a 64 bits OS (Seven is the best one in the Windows familly, XP being a pain driver-wise and with most software, Vista being inferior to Seven).

[Asera]

Migrating to a 64bit OS also gives you the bonus of a much better kernel, since it was rebuilt entirely for Vista, whereas the 32bit versions use a hashed and updated NT5 kernel labeled as 6/6.1.

[Strakha]

Oh yeah, Day Of Defeat source. love the MG42

[Zalewski]

Haha, yea thats my #1 fav game, followed by WoW

[Robespierre]

I would suggest upgrading to Windows 7 x64 and nothing else.

The kernal was migrated and you will find much better performance under Windows 7 x64 then you would Windows XP x64.