Windows Vista SP1 RAM improvement!

[nes]

Microsoft says that SP1 for Vista will allow select 32-bit versions to properly allocate up to 4GB of RAM.

I can't wait to melt that into my Vista OS!

I'm not to thrilled about how only Microsoft Liscensed Partners are the only ones who can get ahold of it right now. I know that the US Army has a contract but I couldn't get the Member ID to associate my Windows Live ID with any of Microsofts' Tech Websites, sucks!

How long do I gotta wait?

[aneima34]

Well they said "mid-march"..so hopefully in a couple of weeks we should see it.

[PP Mguire]

Lol trying to milk more people to Vista huh.

[Kougar]

Actually, this is misleading.

I've looked into this, and the only fact I've found is that SP1 changes how Vista 32bit reports the RAM, not how it uses it. They did this just to stop the number of user complaints/confusion about why Vista wasn't reporting 4GB installed. 32bit versions of the OS will still be limited to 3.12GB at most, even though Vista reports 4GB available in Vista SP1.

SP1 Can't change the laws of physics (Or rather mathmatics). For those wanting to get technical, please see http://blogs.msdn.com/hiltonl/archive/2007/04/13/the-3gb-not-4gb-ram-problem.aspx

Suffice to say simply having a 64bit OS doesn't even guarantee you are not limited to 4GB. The computer BIOS must support memory remapping (And have it enabled), the CPU must have the 64bit instruction set (Some Pentiums are SOL), and the chipset needs to also support the BIOS memory remapping.

[Methious]

If the remapping feature works correctly, some hardware causes crashes with memory remapping. Or it might just be a bad remapper, one or the other, but I've seen the crashes mostly with legacy hardware.

[PP Mguire]

You guys are making me paranoid of going 4-6gig. (Ill be using x64 Vista)

[Ranzear]

Hmm, two threads same topic, so I'll just say it twice: 32bit Vista is pointless.

Any system worth running Vista on is going to be fully 64bit capable, prove me wrong...

PP, don't sweat it. That little '64' next to Athlon tells you all you need to know. Most of this memory controller screaming and that laughable comment about Pentiums SOL (duh) stems from the Itanium (Intel's exclusively 64bit platform) days.

[PP Mguire]

Well i dont have any problems installing Vista x64 on my X2 5600+ but i get problems trying to install it on this cpu for some reason.

[Goliath182]

Vista is not very friendly to single cores. MS wants you to dump as much money as you have in a new pc and OS.

[Kougar]

Hmm, two threads same topic, so I'll just say it twice: 32bit Vista is pointless.

Any system worth running Vista on is going to be fully 64bit capable, prove me wrong...

PP, don't sweat it. That little '64' next to Athlon tells you all you need to know. Most of this memory controller screaming and that laughable comment about Pentiums SOL (duh) stems from the Itanium (Intel's exclusively 64bit platform) days.

When the first beta of Vista was released I installed it on my Pentium 4 system to play with. It actually ran well enough at the time.

However Northwood based Pentium 4s such as mine are not 64bit capable. Also some Prescotts are not 64bit capable either, it depends on the model in question.

[PP Mguire]

Vista is not very friendly to single cores. MS wants you to dump as much money as you have in a new pc and OS.Vista x86 installs no problem though. Its just x64 that gives me some sort of driver error.