How to patch windows 7, 8, 10 32-bit to see above 4gb ram (new patch)

townsbg said:

Agreed. I don't trust PAE enough to depend upon it. According to a study not all drivers work with PAE. Physical Address Extension - Wikipedia It was actually enabled on XP until SP 2 and then it was disabled because of driver issues. PAE is forcing the OS to do something that it wasn't originally designed to do and you expect stability from that? Save yourself the headache and install 64-bit.

The OP will probably have to search for a source for the ISO for Windows 7 64-bit. If he asks we can help with that.

I didn't have that problem because I had Windows 7 Home Premium Family Pack and Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade. Both came with both 32-bit and 64-bit DVDs.

BTW, I only bought Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade because that is all they had left. I like others found out that the upgrade version of Windows 7 installed on a new computer without ever asking you to prove the computer was eligible for an upgrade.

Thanks for the feedback guys. Well, there's a few reasons I wanted to give this PAE thing a shot...(1) First, I didn't even think that old motherboard in my computer could handle 64-bit Windows! Do you think it could? I figured it was 32-bit and that was it.(2) Even if it could handle 64 bit Windows... I do trading system backtesting and have so many investment-related programs installed on that old computer that it would be a hateful job to re-install them all on a new installation of Windows. I'm really wanting to avoid that.(3) And regarding 64 bit Windows, I have another older laptop here with Windows 10 64 bit on it and I just find that Win 10 is so bloated with so much stuff running in the background that it's just runs so slow, blech. Seems like a real hog. Anyways, because of all these things I figured I'd give the PAE a try and see what it might do...Thanks! Shawn

Thanks townsbg... my specs are:

- Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit (SP1)- Intel Pentium E2200 2.20Ghz- 6 gigs dual-channel DDR2- ASUStek Benicia Motherboard (CPU 1)

I already have the 6 gigs of RAM installed and even though I can only "use" 4 gigs with my existing 32-bit Win 7, Speccy shows that I do have 6 gigs installed. So I guess then that means I can indeed install Win 7 64bit on this rig eh? I had no idea! Win 10 64 bit seems such a hog and that's tainted my view of 64 bit OS's somewhat... but if Win 7 is more lean and mean, then that is one obstacle out of the way. Still would be a big hassle to re-install all my programs, but knowing Win 7 64 wouldn't suck all the RAM, that could influence my decision.

Thanks!
Shawn

Good to hear that, thank you Townsbg!

Cheers
Shawn

I looked up your computer specs. Based upon what I found you have a 64-bit CPU. Your motherboard supports up to 8GB RAM using 4x2GB RAM sticks.

Based upon the age of your CPU I suspect the computer came out 2008 or 2009. Windows 7 was released in October 2009.

Each new version of Windows is designed for the computers available at the time they are released. They might run on computers that came out before that time but may run slower than current ones.

For example, based upon my experience computers that were designed for Windows 7 will probably run Windows 10. However, with Windows 10 they will run slower. If that is too slow for your linking it might be better to stick with Windows 7.

Going with 32-bits or 64-bits is another matter. The programs will not run any faster on a 64-bit version of Windows. However, with 64-bit Windows you can have more RAM which may be important for some programs.

BTW, 32-bit Windows will only be able to use about 3.2GB RAM no matter how much you have installed. 64-bit Windows will be able to use all your RAM whether you have 4, 6, or 8GB installed.

CPU Specifications
Intel Pentium E2200
Base Frequency 2.20 GHz
Launch date Q4 2007
Architecture Intel 64 (bits)

Motherboard Specifications
Asus IPIBL-LB (Benicia)
Form Factor: Micro-ATX
Chipset: Intel G33

Motherboard processor upgrade
Intel Core 2 Quad (Y) Q9xxxx
Intel Core 2 Duo (W) E8xxx
Intel Core 2 Quad (K) up to Q6600
Core 2 Duo E6x00 (C) up to E6700
Core 2 Duo E4x00 (C) up to E4400

Motherboard memory upgrades
Dual channel memory architecture

• Four 240-pin DDR2 DIMM sockets
• Supported DIMM types:
  
  • PC2-5300 (667 MHz)
  • PC2-6400 (800 MHz)
  
  
• Non-ECC memory only, unbuffered
• Supports 2GB DDR2 DIMMs
• Supports up to 8 GB on 64 bit PCs
• Supports up to 4 GB* on 32 bit PCs

*32-bit operating systems cannot address a full 4.0 GB of memory.

Thank you very much for that MisterEd. Regarding processors - in your opinion, what do you think would be the biggest CPU upgrade I could make to this system without having to shell out additionally for a more powerful power supply (my existing one is just a basic 250W) and/or a new CPU cooling fan?

Thanks!
Shawn