Can XP work with 4 Gb of RAM???

Question

I found a great laptop, but it has Vista pre-installed and has 4 gigs of RAM. As I know XP can see only 3 or 3,5 gigs of RAM. I want to get rid of Vista and install XP. The problem is that this 4 Gig RAM consists of 2x2048 MB and I think Xp will see only one 2048 MB. But I heard something about 64-bit Xp, can it take 4 GB of RAM?

Answer 1

i think you are talking about windowsxp original, but with windows xp sp2, this is changed.

Answer 2

XP CAN work with it but most of it will be wasted. XP 32-bit can recognize 3gigs but you really only need 2gb max for normal conditions. You can get XP 64 bit to recognize all 4gb but depending on what you use the computer for its probably not necessary.

Answer 3

You can't use all 4 GiB of RAM on any 32 bit OS (you'll only get a bit more than 3 GiB) due to the fact that various bits of hardware use the memory addresses just below 4 GiB.

Some chipsets have the ability to move the RAM that would otherwise be covered by the memory hole above the 4 GiB barrier thereby allowing you to use all 4 GiB, the BIOS should call it memory hoisting and if it's an option turn it on, but it will only work for 64 bit OS's.

Oh and if Vista claims to see 4 GiB of RAM it is probably lying to you (it's programmed to do that), even so 32 bit windows can't offer more than 2 GiB for applications but for now you don't need that.

As for 64 bit windows, it's probably not worth it unless you get it for free (there are compatibility problems and driver issues that you might not want to deal with).

You'll also need to find XP drivers for all the hardware in the laptop which might be a challenge (though you should be able to get the basic essentials working and can try going to the manufacturer of the parts of the computer).

In general you'll have the most success with the OS that came with the laptop (unfortunately in your case the ultra-crappy Vista) with Linux also tending to work pretty well (and 64 bit Linux actually is worth using if you have a 64 bit processor (and good luck finding one that isn't)).

Answer 4

yes you have 2 ports for ram so get 2 giggs of ram per port

Answer 5

Put simply, 32 bit operating systems such as XP and any Vista distro other than Ultimate, will not be able to use more than 3gb of physical RAM. 64 bit operating systems are able fully use huge amounts of physical RAM.

I have 4gb of RAM on a 32bit Vista system, so i can't use some of my RAM, which is a bummer. But if you get windows XP 64 bit or Vista Ultimate, then you're cookin' with gas baby.

Though consider yourself forewarned, XP 64 bit is a rarity, and don't fall for the online installation and trial deal, it's a bit dodgey. Personally, if you've got 4gb of RAM then h**l, why would you want XP? Vista is marvellous if you've got the hardware to work with, and I'd highly recommend it in this case.

Answer 6

if your questions is whether or not it will work it will go ahead and upgrade to xp

Answer 7

Windows XP will see both of them, RAM is installed in pairs all the time, but my suggestion would be to keep Windows Vista, because with 4 GB of RAM Vista should run really well. At least give Vista a chance, it isn't bad like everyone says it is, you just need a high powered PC, if you have a duo core processor it should run good with the 4 gigs of RAM

Answer 8

Windows XP Professional 64-bit edition, on the other hand, supports up to 128GB of physical RAM and 16TB (terabytes) of virtual memory. Currently, I'm unaware of any consumer-focused motherboards that can handle more than 4GB, but they should become available in the near future, most likely after Longhorn is released.

Answer 9

Whether if it can or can't is not the problem, most computer that come with Vista already installed DO NOT have the drivers to support XP. So if you don't want Vista, then you should buy a computer with XP alreayd on it. Go here

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/...

http://www.compusa.com/