Should I or Shouldn't I?

Hoody123 said:

But wouldn't installing 64-bit allow me 4gb?

In most cases, yes. In the case of your laptop, from what I can find about its specs,

UKT Support - Advent Roma 3001 Laptop

it only supports up to 4 GB of ram. That in and of itself isn't the problem as far as 64 bit and 4 GB of ram. The problem comes up if the 4 GB max is a chipset limit as well, which when that occurs causes this to happen,

The system memory that is reported in the System Information dialog box in Windows Vista is less than you expect if 4 GB of RAM is installed

Note When the physical RAM that is installed on a computer equals the address space that is supported by the chipset, the total system memory that is available to the operating system is always less than the physical RAM that is installed. For example, consider a computer that has an Intel 975X chipset that supports 8 GB of address space. If you install 8 GB of RAM, the system memory that is available to the operating system will be reduced by the PCI configuration requirements. In this scenario, PCI configuration requirements reduce the memory that is available to the operating system by an amount that is between approximately 200 MB and approximately 1 GB. The reduction depends on the configuration.

Unless there is an option in the bios for memory remapping (required to push the virtual addressing space above the 4 GB limit), even with 64 bit Windows you will still see similar for available memory.

Wishmaster said:

Krispy1 said:

no wishmaster you are incorrect

the maximum 32 bits could possibly use including the total addressable memory is 4gb, so if u had a 512mb portion going to video the most ram thats possible is 3.5gb not 4.5gb. and in pretty much every case the most ram 32bit windows will ever recognize is 3.25gb

I think you misunderstand.

In order for the system to show complete use of 4GB of installed physical RAM, + a 512 graphics card for example:

It must address them, for a total of 4.5GB of space.
4GB physical RAM + 512 for the video card= 4.5GB
(or whatever size the video card has)
Of course, there may also be other things that need to be addresed.

32bit can only address (by default settings) 4GB of space.
Physical RAM gets addressed last. Under 32bit, Amount of RAM available will be 4GB minus everything else that gets addressed first.


64bit is capable of addressing all of this, and still have full use of installed RAM.

Granted, there are ways to increase a 32bit systems addressing space, but thats a different subject entirely.

But, if the system must borrow video RAM from the systems physical system memory, (integrated graphics) it will always show less than installed,
as addressing space can not solve that. Even under 64bit.

Or perhaps I am completely misunderstanding it all..

you are still incorrect.

the total addressable ram for 32bit is 4gb this includes peripherals like the video memory.

u can read this for some more info 3 GB barrier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Do you have the DVD and enough HD space to install a Dual Boot to test 64 bit?