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From: John Callaway on 17 Nov 2009 04:54
How much memory can XP 32 bit OS handle? I want to have Dell build a
dual boot Laptop with both Windows 7 OS & XP 32 bit OS on it. I would
like to have 8 Gig of ram if it XP 32 will handle it.

JPC
From: John John - MVP on 17 Nov 2009 06:30
Windows XP 32-bit supports a maximum of 4GB of RAM but due to address
space requirement for hardware addressing you will not be able to use
the full 4GB, depending on the hardware installed in the machine the
available RAM could be anywheres between 2.75 to 3.5GB.

John

John Callaway wrote:
> How much memory can XP 32 bit OS handle? I want to have Dell build a
> dual boot Laptop with both Windows 7 OS & XP 32 bit OS on it. I would
> like to have 8 Gig of ram if it XP 32 will handle it.
>
> JPC
From: Ken Blake, MVP on 17 Nov 2009 09:34
On Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:54:18 -0500, John Callaway <jcalla(a)erols.com>
wrote:

> How much memory can XP 32 bit OS handle? I want to have Dell build a
> dual boot Laptop with both Windows 7 OS & XP 32 bit OS on it. I would
> like to have 8 Gig of ram if it XP 32 will handle it.



It will not handle it. Neither will Windows 7 (unless it's 64-bit
Windows 7). Moreover, it's very likely considerably more than you can
make effective use of in either operating system.

Here's the scoop:

All 32-bit client versions of Windows (not just Vista/XP/7) have a 4GB
address space (64-bit versions can use much more). That's the
theoretical upper limit beyond which you can not go.

But you can't use the entire 4GB of address space. Even though you
have a 4GB address space, you can only use *around* 3.1GB of RAM.
That's because some of that space is used by hardware and is not
available to the operating system and applications. The amount you can
use varies, depending on what hardware you have installed, but can
range from as little as 2GB to as much as 3.5GB. It's usually around
3.1GB.

Note that the hardware is using the address *space*, not the actual
RAM itself. If you have a greater amount of RAM, the rest of the RAM
goes unused because there is no address space to map it to.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
From: Roy Smith on 17 Nov 2009 10:03
John Callaway wrote:
> How much memory can XP 32 bit OS handle? I want to have Dell build a
> dual boot Laptop with both Windows 7 OS & XP 32 bit OS on it. I would
> like to have 8 Gig of ram if it XP 32 will handle it.


The most a 32 bit version of Windows can have is 4 GB. That said it is
unlikely that you'll ever see more that 3.2 GB of free memory. This is
because all of your devices attached to your PC take up memory address
spaces for things they need to work (i.e. drivers, etc).


--

Roy Smith
Windows XP Pro SP3
From: John Callaway on 18 Nov 2009 20:26
On Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:03:02 -0600, Roy Smith <rasmith1959(a)gmail.com>
wrote:

>John Callaway wrote:
>> How much memory can XP 32 bit OS handle? I want to have Dell build a
>> dual boot Laptop with both Windows 7 OS & XP 32 bit OS on it. I would
>> like to have 8 Gig of ram if it XP 32 will handle it.
>
>
>The most a 32 bit version of Windows can have is 4 GB. That said it is
>unlikely that you'll ever see more that 3.2 GB of free memory. This is
>because all of your devices attached to your PC take up memory address
>spaces for things they need to work (i.e. drivers, etc).

OK. I get it. I'll only get 3 gig for ram.
Now what do you think of the idea of a dual boot for XP 32 and windows
7 on the same laptop? Having XP 32 the default OS and using windows 7
when I choose, using a 64 bit processor around 3 gHrtz? I'm wondering
about driver compatibility etc and using XP 32 bit OS with a 64 bit
processor.

JPC

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