I Have A Question Regarding Memory Upgrades In Win7 32&64-Bit.

montecarlo1987 · 09 Oct 2010

Hello. I have a serious question that needs to be answered regarding memory upgrades and Windows 7.

I have the ASUS P5Q motherboard with the Core 2 Quad Professor (Q9550). I also have Windows 7 Professional, 2 licensed copies. Now, on one hard drive partition I have Windows 7 Professional 32-Bit. On the same system on another hard drive partition, I just installed Windows 7 64-Bit. Now, right now I have a total of 4 GB of the CorsairXMS2 memory installed [DIMM-RWIN2x4096-6400C5 -or- Corsair 4 GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 (PC2-6400) Dual Channel Memory, 240-Pin, Non-ECC, Unbuffered] on this system. No issues so far with 32-Bit & 64-Bit versions of Windows 7 with the 4 GB of RAM. Now I plan to buy another 4 GB of the same memory modules to have a total of 8 GB. I know the 8 GB is rated great for the Windows 7 64-Bit. Now, what about the 8GB for the Windows 7 32-Bit??? Any issues having that much memory (8 GB) for the Windows 7 32-Bit??? I mean I am not about to take out EACH TIME the extra 4 GB from the motherboard when I boot into Windows 7 32-Bit.

Please reply.

Thank you!

Brink · 09 Oct 2010

Hello Montecarlo,

The 32-bit Windows 7 will only recognize up to 4 GB no matter how much you have installed, so you will not need to remove any RAM when you boot into the 32-bit Windows 7. The extra 4 GB will just not be available.

Of course when you boot into the 64-bit Windows 7, all 8 GB will be available.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

montecarlo1987 · 09 Oct 2010

Thank you for your reply.

Brink · 09 Oct 2010

You're most welcome. :)

Night Hawk · 09 Oct 2010

Hello montecarlo1987 Welcome to SF!

On the present system here I have the 32bit Vista Home Premium on at times with the 64bit 7 Ultimate host without any problems besides the 3.571gb available as seen on the previous build with only 4gb there. The main drawback with the 32bit kernel is the mapping of memory addresses out to hardwares once that amount has been reached.

I boosted the memory up on this build to see 8gb since 4gb was running out of resources for things like virtual machines, work with video, and even some CAD programming at times. The one thing not to expect with the increase from 4gb to 8gb of ram however is any performance leap.

Sorry! 4gb stll works well for the typical user while the memory intense apps or multiple VMs love to chew ram up fast! Plus 7 isn't a resource grabber to begin with!

montecarlo1987 · 14 Oct 2010

@Night Hawk & all others:

Thank you!

So the benefits for Windows 7 x64 over x86 (32-bit), is "mapping of memory addresses out to hardwares" and "running out of resources for things like virtual machines, work with video, and even some CAD programming at times" per Night Hawk. That is it? All my programs are 32-bit I believe, unless I have a x64 version of some software on some CD or DVD.

Please reply.

Thank you!

Brink · 14 Oct 2010

The articles in this thread can give you more details on the differences between a 32-bit and 64-bit OS to help out.

64-bit: More than just the RAM - Vista Forums

Lordbob75 · 14 Oct 2010

https://www.sevenforums.com/general-d...omparison.html

~Lordbob

Night Hawk · 15 Oct 2010

Brink has that right! And there are even more to find as well now that the next version of Windows is already here.

As far as 32bit programs, apps and games alike, they run on the 64bit Windows by way of the 32bit emulation and placement of the program folders by software installers into the Program Files(x86) folder seen on the 64bit Windows. So far with only a few exceptions I presently have the 64bit 7 loaded up with 32bit apps, some games, and utilities with very few 64bit versions as seen with some programs.

As for the mapping out of memory addresses to hardwares once you reach a certain amount of physical memory that's seen with the 32bit OS there. That's the drawback of the 32bit kernel and why those who have the need for large amounts of ram will turn to the 64bit. The older references pointed to there for Vista still apply to 7 as well as any other OS in most ways.