RAM Issue in 32-bit Vista Ultimate

[this_is_gav]

If you have retail Vista Ultimate then you have a licence for 64bit, so go and install. Unlucky if you have oem as you have to choose which version you have on first install

If you have OEM you're licensed for Vista x64, regardless of which version it is. It's not just Ultimate and/or Retail.

You just borrow a x64 DVD or order one from the Microsoft site (for a few quid), entering the serial number you used from the license you ordered when you install. It's all within the terms of the license for standard OEM and Retail.

[b0redom]

One thing I'm not sure about however is the explanations here implying a 512MB card uses 512 System Ram also. ,

No, you're confused. 32 bit Windows can address around 4GB of memory in total. It doesn't matter what sort of memory, RAM, graphics, soundcard etc. If you have a 1GB graphics card windows can then only 'address' 3gb of RAM or soundcard etc RAM.

Think of it like a lift in a building. At any one time, the lift has 2 doors which open on 2 rooms. Doesn't matter how many floors the building has. At any one time the person in the lift can still only see 2 rooms.

[ydrol]

No, you're confused. 32 bit Windows can address around 4GB of memory in total. It doesn't matter what sort of memory, RAM, graphics, soundcard etc. If you have a 1GB graphics card windows can then only 'address' 3gb of RAM or soundcard etc RAM.

Think of it like a lift in a building. At any one time, the lift has 2 doors which open on 2 rooms. Doesn't matter how many floors the building has. At any one time the person in the lift can still only see 2 rooms.

Is this what people have actually seen? It isnt the GPU that addresses this ram rather than the CPU?
Out of interest, Are there any conclusive links you can point me to?

[Abhik262]

wow...I wasn't expecting these many reponses, so thanks. I think i will go with the suggestion to first try a dual boot and then if happy, i can move over to 64 bit. Does anyone know any good guides for this? Ive tried a google and will begin reading up on this, but if anyone knows a good one, feel free to post a URL here, as it would help me immensely. Thanks again.

[b0redom]

Is this what people have actually seen?

Yes

It isnt the GPU that addresses this ram rather than the CPU?

Indirectly yes, but in order to usefully do so it requires an operating system

What happens if a 512MB GPU is put in a XP machine with 512MB ?

512MB GPU RAM + 512 MB System RAM = 1024MB RAM (plus a few extra kb here and there for NICs etc)

1024MB<4096MB

So the system can address it all.

4096MB is the absolute max the operating system can address - well actually it's 2^32 bits - but so close as not to matter.

So if you have 2x1GB GFX cards (say) and 4GB system RAM (say).

you have:

2048+4096 = 6144MB

now

6144>4096

so the operating system can't see 2048MB (6144-4096) of system RAM.

Clearer?

Note that the numbers aren't exact:

2^32 = 4294967296 for example not 4096000000

but it's close enough so you get the idea....

[ydrol]

Edit I found this now so In the words of the Fonz, I was wrr... I was wwwww .. <cough>

http://tinyurl.com/5elfjs

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Yes

Indirectly yes, but in order to usefully do so it requires an operating system

But the OS does NOT have to directly address all the video memory, it just needs to talk to the GPU. (as far as 3d is concerned),

CPU to GPU : "I would like a textured red sphere with anti aliasing over there" (1Kb)
GPU to VRAM: "Make it so"
VRAM to Video Hardware : "There ya go" (30Mb)

For 3d rendering, I understand the CPU sends a sequence of rendering commands that are then actioned by the GPU using its own memory? The commands are sent through a shared buffer but this is not equal to the entire card memory.

http://download.nvidia.com/developer...Gems2_ch30.pdf

Still I'd have to see any empirical evidence that the on-board memory on a graphics card is added to the address space of the CPU before I believe it. It really makes no sense to me.
No analogies please, just hard and fast facts will suffice

512MB GPU RAM + 512 MB System RAM = 1024MB RAM (plus a few extra kb here and there for NICs etc)

Yeah that was a dumb Q on my part. I snipped it hoping you wouldn't see it!

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Edit I found this now so In the words of the Fonz, I was wrr... I was wwwww .. <cough>

http://tinyurl.com/5elfjs

Sorry for being a PITA How to win friends and influence people