Planning to migrate to XP Pro 64 bit from XP 32 bit

[Castout]

The Vista 64 bit is just too expensive(can't afford it right now) so now I have 8 Gb of memory with 4.5 Gb of it being undetectable by my XP 32 bit. Yea that was dumb of me to buy the memory first.


Got a couple of questions. I have 4 2Gb memory slotted into my MB but windows is only detecting 3.5Gb instead of 4Gb. I thought XP 32 bit would allow 4Gb memory?

3 of my memory chips are made in China while the other one is made in Malaysia. Other than that they are of the same chip. Same manufacturer(brand), same speed, same chip, same type. In my BIOS I have an extended memory report of only 6Gb instead of 8Gb. Should I be worry? Damn it I should have checked but the boxes were all the same.

[SUBMAN1]

The memory range you reference is only available to the kernel / system (The 4th GB). It can see it, though it is unlikely to ever use it. A 32-bit OS can't see beyond 4GB (Well, this is not true, but for XP / Vista it is).

Add the /3gb switch to your boot.ini profile. You can make apps built in Visual Studio 6 or later able to access a full 3GB instead of only 2GB.

This can break older apps however that crash upon seeing anything more than 2GB available - a just FYI thing here. The point being, you probably don't have any anymore apps this old.

-S

[Thomen]

The memory range you reference is only available to the kernel / system (The 4th GB). It can see it, though it is unlikely to ever use it. A 32-bit OS can't see beyond 4GB (Well, this is not true, but for XP / Vista it is).

Add the /3gb switch to your boot.ini profile. You can make apps built in Visual Studio 6 or later able to access a full 3GB instead of only 2GB.

This can break older apps however that crash upon seeing anything more than 2GB available - a just FYI thing here. The point being, you probably don't have any anymore apps this old.

-S

The switch does not help if you have one more video card(s) with a lot of VRAM on it. You should not forget to mention that the 3GB means addressable memory, which includes VRAM, and not just system RAM. ;)

[SUBMAN1]

The switch does not help if you have one more video card(s) with a lot of VRAM on it. You should not forget to mention that the 3GB means addressable memory, which includes VRAM, and not just system RAM. ;)

Sounds like you are running some sort of integrated graphics GPU. Get rid of that already.

-S

[Thomen]

The switch does not help if you have one more video card(s) with a lot of VRAM on it. You should not forget to mention that the 3GB means addressable memory, which includes VRAM, and not just system RAM. ;)
Sounds like you are running some sort of integrated graphics GPU. Get rid of that already.

-S
Nope.. I had 2 video cards with 512 MB each and with 4 GB RAM installed it only used 2.3GB RAM. The memory that is located on your video cards is counted as addressable and therefore deducted from the RAM you might 'win' with the 3gb switch.

Oh and your CPU cache counts into that also.

[Castout]

Hey thanks for all the replies.

My BIOS is now detecting 8.1Gb of memory being installed. It was detecting 6.1 Gb before and turned out that one of the memory card was improperly installed.


In Jakarta there's strong tendency to use pirated OS and softwares. It has become somewhat a culture because genuine softwares cost quite substantial for the average Indonesians here. And it has become a culture because even when many could afford genuine softwares they would most likley still buy
the pirated copy.

I'm considering to buy genuine XP 64 bit though my sister advised me to get the pirated copy instead because nobody knows when this crisis is going to end or subside and I would be better off by the savings.

Thinking to use Open office with the genuine XP 64 bit as well. Genuine MS office was sold at more than US$400.00 which is so darn costly for the majority of home users here.

Have been downloading these to be burnt into CD as preparation to migrate to 64 bit OS.

Avast 64 bit compatible anti spyware, antiroot kit anti virus software
64 bit Firefox. Yes somebody modified 32 bit firefox and made the 64 bit version.
64 bit Thunderbird.
64 bit Internet security suite

I've been reading that flash won't work in 64 bit firefox or any 64 bit based browser. I mean I really like to check out youtube from time to time and watching gamespot game review. However I noticed that there's the new Adobe flash 10 that already came out since December 08. So does flash finally work in 64 bit browser?

I know I can use 32 bit browser but feel I'd best just use the 64 bit firefox instead sticking to 32 bit browser.

Anybody can suggest what software that I should download to prepare my migration to 64 bit system?

[CaptainHaplo]

I am not touching the question of pirate vs genuine.

I will say this though - avoid 64 bit xp. Its not fully 64 bit - its more like 32 bit with the ability to run 64 bit extensions. It was a fine first step for MS - but you want to look at 64 bit Vista.

One note - since your concerned about cost - download the beta of Windows 7 - the 64 bit version - and use that. Its good till August - so you have time to save up and purchase it if you like it. That way - your running legal and there is no money out of your pocket.