Jump to content

OT, Weird RAM question?


Recommended Posts

Posted

I recently acquired a HP M7750N PC from Fry's Electronics because:

1. it was on sale CHEAP

2. it was on sale cheaper than trying to upgrade my old box

 

So far, I'm VERY pleased with it, I formatted the HD to remove

crapware, installed Vista Ultimate 64 bit and all is well but...

 

On the HP site it says:

 

Windows Vista comes in a variety of editions. All versions of Vista

have a minimum memory requirement of 512 MB (1 GB to take advantage of

certain premium features, such as Aero graphics). The maximum amount of

memory depends on the edition used:

 

Edition of Windows Vista Maximum addressable memory

Any 32-bit version of Vista editions Approximately 3.3 GBs

Home Basic 64-bit 8 GBs

Home Premium 64-bit 16 GBs

Business 64-bit 128 GBs

Ultimate 64-bit 128 GBs

 

My particular PC can only support 4 GBs of RAM but is it REALLY

possible to have 128 GBs, assuming that anyone could afford to buy that

much? Does anyone make a motherboard that could support that much RAM?

 

Last question, if anyone did have that much RAM would it really make

any difference at all for most applications? To me it seems like

overkill except for the person that has to have bragging rights....

 

 

 

 

--

XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups

The Usenet Improvement Project: http://blinkynet.net/comp/uip5.html

  • Replies 6
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Posted

Re: OT, Weird RAM question?

 

64-bit versions are limited by the software to 128GB.

I think it is mostly a standardization "thing." There's a lot of room to

grow.

The address bus on most 64-bit machines are 48-bit meaning it could address

2^48 addresses (a lot more.) But, I think there is some other hardware limit

that puts it at about 18 TB.

 

 

"XS11E" <xs11e@NOSPAMyahoo.com> wrote in message

news:Xns99A4741FDB778xs11eyahoocom@127.0.0.1...

>I recently acquired a HP M7750N PC from Fry's Electronics because:

> 1. it was on sale CHEAP

> 2. it was on sale cheaper than trying to upgrade my old box

>

> So far, I'm VERY pleased with it, I formatted the HD to remove

> crapware, installed Vista Ultimate 64 bit and all is well but...

>

> On the HP site it says:

>

> Windows Vista comes in a variety of editions. All versions of Vista

> have a minimum memory requirement of 512 MB (1 GB to take advantage of

> certain premium features, such as Aero graphics). The maximum amount of

> memory depends on the edition used:

>

> Edition of Windows Vista Maximum addressable memory

> Any 32-bit version of Vista editions Approximately 3.3 GBs

> Home Basic 64-bit 8 GBs

> Home Premium 64-bit 16 GBs

> Business 64-bit 128 GBs

> Ultimate 64-bit 128 GBs

>

> My particular PC can only support 4 GBs of RAM but is it REALLY

> possible to have 128 GBs, assuming that anyone could afford to buy that

> much? Does anyone make a motherboard that could support that much RAM?

>

> Last question, if anyone did have that much RAM would it really make

> any difference at all for most applications? To me it seems like

> overkill except for the person that has to have bragging rights....

>

>

>

>

> --

> XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups

> The Usenet Improvement Project: http://blinkynet.net/comp/uip5.html

Posted

Re: OT, Weird RAM question?

 

"Mark" <jmhonzell@nospam.insightbb.com> wrote:

> 64-bit versions are limited by the software to 128GB.

 

Most of us are limited by the budget to much less than that! ;-)

 

None of it makes any sense at all...

 

Why is Home Premium 64 bit limited to 16 GB but Business and Office 64

bit can have 128GB? It doesn't seem logical, why go to the trouble of

restricting one version and not another?

 

In reality, most motherboards won't take more than 16GB and many won't

go over 4 GB so it's a moot point but I'm still trying to see some

logic in it and failing. <sigh>

 

 

--

XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups

The Usenet Improvement Project: http://blinkynet.net/comp/uip5.html

Guest Charlie Russel - MVP
Posted

Re: OT, Weird RAM question?

 

Business editions are limited to 128 GB because that's what XP x64

supported.

 

Can you actually buy a mobo that supports 128 GB of RAM? Probably, though I

don't know of one off the top of my head. Certainly I can buy one that has

dual procs and 64 GB of RAM. (Tyan)

 

Who would use it? Ah, someone running really BIG CAD or other graphics

programs. Someone doing large rendering or emulations. IOW, a legitimate

workstation use where really large amounts of RAM are used and appropriate.

 

Why less on other editions? Marketing and market segmentation. No technical

reason at all.

 

And by the time the next version of Windows comes out, I expect my base

desktop machines to be running 16 GB. And my servers 4x that, at least.

 

--

Charlie.

http://msmvps.com/xperts64

http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/charlie.russel

 

 

"XS11E" <xs11e@NOSPAMyahoo.com> wrote in message

news:Xns99A4B38F71C39xs11eyahoocom@127.0.0.1...

> "Mark" <jmhonzell@nospam.insightbb.com> wrote:

>

>> 64-bit versions are limited by the software to 128GB.

>

> Most of us are limited by the budget to much less than that! ;-)

>

> None of it makes any sense at all...

>

> Why is Home Premium 64 bit limited to 16 GB but Business and Office 64

> bit can have 128GB? It doesn't seem logical, why go to the trouble of

> restricting one version and not another?

>

> In reality, most motherboards won't take more than 16GB and many won't

> go over 4 GB so it's a moot point but I'm still trying to see some

> logic in it and failing. <sigh>

>

>

> --

> XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups

> The Usenet Improvement Project: http://blinkynet.net/comp/uip5.html

Posted

Re: OT, Weird RAM question?

 

What would it look like? (Just in case you thought no one would ever use

that much.)

http://onlinearch.blogspot.com/2007/07/ever-wondered-what-128gb-of-ram-looks.html

 

Actual limits for Windows: (It's up to 2TB on some versions)

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx

 

A different article indicates it may be a limitation of NTFS.

http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/2de5c6af-f6a4-4ea0-8b78-df153663f6ed1033.mspx?mfr=true

2MB of NTFS space needed for every 1 million files of Paged Memory:

Limitation of 128 MB Paged Memory addressing (or 64 million files) This

creates a 128GB limitation on Paged Pool Memory for x64 system.

1 MB needed in NTFS for every 10 MB of Virtual Memory: Limitation of 8

TB.

8 MB needed in NTFS for every 1TB of Non-paged Memory: Limitation of 128

GB.

 

 

 

"Mark" <jmhonzell@nospam.insightbb.com> wrote in message

news:CA452289-7F9F-4E2C-8F6D-C9C199C69B63@microsoft.com...

> 64-bit versions are limited by the software to 128GB.

> I think it is mostly a standardization "thing." There's a lot of room to

> grow.

> The address bus on most 64-bit machines are 48-bit meaning it could

> address 2^48 addresses (a lot more.) But, I think there is some other

> hardware limit that puts it at about 18 TB.

>

>

> "XS11E" <xs11e@NOSPAMyahoo.com> wrote in message

> news:Xns99A4741FDB778xs11eyahoocom@127.0.0.1...

>>I recently acquired a HP M7750N PC from Fry's Electronics because:

>> 1. it was on sale CHEAP

>> 2. it was on sale cheaper than trying to upgrade my old box

>>

>> So far, I'm VERY pleased with it, I formatted the HD to remove

>> crapware, installed Vista Ultimate 64 bit and all is well but...

>>

>> On the HP site it says:

>>

>> Windows Vista comes in a variety of editions. All versions of Vista

>> have a minimum memory requirement of 512 MB (1 GB to take advantage of

>> certain premium features, such as Aero graphics). The maximum amount of

>> memory depends on the edition used:

>>

>> Edition of Windows Vista Maximum addressable memory

>> Any 32-bit version of Vista editions Approximately 3.3 GBs

>> Home Basic 64-bit 8 GBs

>> Home Premium 64-bit 16 GBs

>> Business 64-bit 128 GBs

>> Ultimate 64-bit 128 GBs

>>

>> My particular PC can only support 4 GBs of RAM but is it REALLY

>> possible to have 128 GBs, assuming that anyone could afford to buy that

>> much? Does anyone make a motherboard that could support that much RAM?

>>

>> Last question, if anyone did have that much RAM would it really make

>> any difference at all for most applications? To me it seems like

>> overkill except for the person that has to have bragging rights....

>>

>>

>>

>>

>> --

>> XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups

>> The Usenet Improvement Project: http://blinkynet.net/comp/uip5.html

>

  • 3 weeks later...
Guest Kristian Johansson
Posted

Re: OT, Weird RAM question?

 

Slightly OT perhaps, just to clarify something most people doesnt seem

to understand:

 

32-bit OS supports a total memory address range of 4096k memory. This is

by no way limited to RAM but is the whole address range for memory

"overall". This means you have to include graphics memory (512MB

usually), disk caches, all controllers for ports etc etc.

 

In the end, this usually means you are left with approx. 3GB addressable

memory after the addressing of the rest - on a high-end gaming machine

this could be way less, the effect of a 1024MB video card takes a huge

chunk out of this.

 

So usually, many people end up sticking 4GB of RAM into their high-end

32-bit rig and 2-3GB of that memory can be used - the rest is wasted.

 

(there are ways to software extend the address range, it works ...

sometimes ..)

 

/ Kristian

 

XS11E wrote:

> I recently acquired a HP M7750N PC from Fry's Electronics because:

> 1. it was on sale CHEAP

> 2. it was on sale cheaper than trying to upgrade my old box

>

> So far, I'm VERY pleased with it, I formatted the HD to remove

> crapware, installed Vista Ultimate 64 bit and all is well but...

>

> On the HP site it says:

>

> Windows Vista comes in a variety of editions. All versions of Vista

> have a minimum memory requirement of 512 MB (1 GB to take advantage of

> certain premium features, such as Aero graphics). The maximum amount of

> memory depends on the edition used:

>

> Edition of Windows Vista Maximum addressable memory

> Any 32-bit version of Vista editions Approximately 3.3 GBs

> Home Basic 64-bit 8 GBs

> Home Premium 64-bit 16 GBs

> Business 64-bit 128 GBs

> Ultimate 64-bit 128 GBs

>

> My particular PC can only support 4 GBs of RAM but is it REALLY

> possible to have 128 GBs, assuming that anyone could afford to buy that

> much? Does anyone make a motherboard that could support that much RAM?

>

> Last question, if anyone did have that much RAM would it really make

> any difference at all for most applications? To me it seems like

> overkill except for the person that has to have bragging rights....

>

>

>

>

Posted

Re: OT, Weird RAM question?

 

Kristian Johansson <kristian.johansson@gmail.com> wrote:

> Slightly OT perhaps

 

And completely unrelated to the post to which you replied.

 

 

--

XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups

The Usenet Improvement Project:

http://improve-usenet.org


×
×
  • Create New...