I know this question has been overdone and covered quite a bit so i must
apologize. I have an xp pro machine a gigabyte GA-8IPE1000L motherboard and a
3.2G P4 with hyperthreading. I already have 2GB and I'm about to get 2 more
GB of memory same exact type that I have in there. I've read quite a bit
about the 3GB switch and the PAE switch in the boot.ini but what I wanted to
know is that know matter what it sees or shows whehter its 3GB or 3.5Gb.all I
want is the best performance possible from my machine. Do i have to use those
switches or does it work much better if i put in the memory and not add any
switches. Also are there any more "tweaks" to make the most of what i'm
getting.
--
Always Thanks
The amount of memory available to user programs varies from 2.5 to 3.5
depending on the devices and the BIOS. x86 Windows can address 4GB but the
BIOS will reserve some for hardware buffering (memory-mapped IO). You don't
need PAE. You can make some adjustments in the BIOS for the memory mapped
IO but I wouldn't bother. Even if 4GB was reported on the system properties
page like it now is in Vista x86 SP1 the amount available to user programs
would not change since it is only a matter of what is being reported.
"CTS" <CTS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B656EAE5-31D2-4FB5-9223-7FEEADEEB5B8@microsoft.com...
>I know this question has been overdone and covered quite a bit so i must
> apologize. I have an xp pro machine a gigabyte GA-8IPE1000L motherboard
> and a
> 3.2G P4 with hyperthreading. I already have 2GB and I'm about to get 2
> more
> GB of memory same exact type that I have in there. I've read quite a bit
> about the 3GB switch and the PAE switch in the boot.ini but what I wanted
> to
> know is that know matter what it sees or shows whehter its 3GB or
> 3.5Gb.all I
> want is the best performance possible from my machine. Do i have to use
> those
> switches or does it work much better if i put in the memory and not add
> any
> switches. Also are there any more "tweaks" to make the most of what i'm
> getting.
> --
> Always Thanks
CTS wrote:
> I've read quite a bit
> about the 3GB switch and the PAE switch in the boot.ini
With proper hardware support, PAE is normally the way to go in 32-bit
OSes. But the PAE kernel in XP/SP2 doesn't allow more than 4GB to be
addressed in total, so when it comes to memory support, it doesn't
matter if you enable PAE or not.
Google DEP, if you want to know why there is a PAE kernel
Thank you both for the quick reply. It sounds as if i should leave it
settings alone and see what that does for my machine. I have yet another
(probably stupid) question, My motherboard supports dual channel DDR, If all
four sticks are matched then even if all the memory doesn't show, will
whatever does show run in dual channel mode?
--
Always Thanks
"jorgen" wrote:
> CTS wrote:
> > I've read quite a bit
> > about the 3GB switch and the PAE switch in the boot.ini
>
> With proper hardware support, PAE is normally the way to go in 32-bit
> OSes. But the PAE kernel in XP/SP2 doesn't allow more than 4GB to be
> addressed in total, so when it comes to memory support, it doesn't
> matter if you enable PAE or not.
>
> Google DEP, if you want to know why there is a PAE kernel
>
>Thank you both for the quick reply. It sounds as if i should leave it
>settings alone and see what that does for my machine. I have yet another
>(probably stupid) question, My motherboard supports dual channel DDR, If all
>four sticks are matched then even if all the memory doesn't show, will
>whatever does show run in dual channel mode?
You could always try both PAE and none and see if either one has any
benefit one your particular setup and let the group know how it went.
We'd all be interested to hear your results.
Yes. The same amount of memory shows regardless of the mode.
PAE is normally not useful on XP with only 4GB of ram. It is not designed
to resolve the issue you are addressing. Here is an article on PAE: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms791485.aspx
As you can see PAE addresses specific needs involving NUMA and DEP and is
automatically enabled or disabled as required. The needs concern certain
driver bugs. Even with PAE switched in you won't see 4GB but would see
slightly different numbers from what you do now. See: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid&ID=888137
I doubt that you can twiddle enough in the BIOS to recover any significant
ram for user programs. Remember, there are two of you using the computer;
you and the computer.
"CTS" <CTS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6BE43118-717F-443D-A032-D02454FD9AA8@microsoft.com...
> Thank you both for the quick reply. It sounds as if i should leave it
> settings alone and see what that does for my machine. I have yet another
> (probably stupid) question, My motherboard supports dual channel DDR, If
> all
> four sticks are matched then even if all the memory doesn't show, will
> whatever does show run in dual channel mode?
> --
> Always Thanks
>
>
> "jorgen" wrote:
>
>> CTS wrote:
>> > I've read quite a bit
>> > about the 3GB switch and the PAE switch in the boot.ini
>>
>> With proper hardware support, PAE is normally the way to go in 32-bit
>> OSes. But the PAE kernel in XP/SP2 doesn't allow more than 4GB to be
>> addressed in total, so when it comes to memory support, it doesn't
>> matter if you enable PAE or not.
>>
>> Google DEP, if you want to know why there is a PAE kernel
>>
> PAE is normally not useful on XP with only 4GB of ram. It is not
> designed to resolve the issue you are addressing. Here is an article on
It is true that it is not useful on XP, because Microsoft has limited
it. But Intel actually invented PAE to address more than 4GB, and that
is exactly was is needed here to make use of all the 4GB RAM
Yes, it is for addressing more than 4GB of ram. Not for using all of 4GB
but for accessing the addresses above 4GB that are not normally addressable
with a 32bit OS. It is also used to circumvent certain driver bugs.
"jorgen" <na@invalid> wrote in message
news:u4LflBObIHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Colin Barnhorst wrote:
>
>> PAE is normally not useful on XP with only 4GB of ram. It is not
>> designed to resolve the issue you are addressing. Here is an article on
>
> It is true that it is not useful on XP, because Microsoft has limited it.
> But Intel actually invented PAE to address more than 4GB, and that is
> exactly was is needed here to make use of all the 4GB RAM
At this point I don't think i'm going to mess with PAE or 3GB switches. I
just want to know that whatever memory windows or my apps can use will still
make use of the dual channel and hyperthreading capabilities. I want it all
to run the best that it can
--
Always Thanks
"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
> Yes. The same amount of memory shows regardless of the mode.
>
> PAE is normally not useful on XP with only 4GB of ram. It is not designed
> to resolve the issue you are addressing. Here is an article on PAE:
> http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms791485.aspx
> As you can see PAE addresses specific needs involving NUMA and DEP and is
> automatically enabled or disabled as required. The needs concern certain
> driver bugs. Even with PAE switched in you won't see 4GB but would see
> slightly different numbers from what you do now. See:
> http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid&ID=888137
>
> I doubt that you can twiddle enough in the BIOS to recover any significant
> ram for user programs. Remember, there are two of you using the computer;
> you and the computer.
>
>
> "CTS" <CTS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:6BE43118-717F-443D-A032-D02454FD9AA8@microsoft.com...
> > Thank you both for the quick reply. It sounds as if i should leave it
> > settings alone and see what that does for my machine. I have yet another
> > (probably stupid) question, My motherboard supports dual channel DDR, If
> > all
> > four sticks are matched then even if all the memory doesn't show, will
> > whatever does show run in dual channel mode?
> > --
> > Always Thanks
> >
> >
> > "jorgen" wrote:
> >
> >> CTS wrote:
> >> > I've read quite a bit
> >> > about the 3GB switch and the PAE switch in the boot.ini
> >>
> >> With proper hardware support, PAE is normally the way to go in 32-bit
> >> OSes. But the PAE kernel in XP/SP2 doesn't allow more than 4GB to be
> >> addressed in total, so when it comes to memory support, it doesn't
> >> matter if you enable PAE or not.
> >>
> >> Google DEP, if you want to know why there is a PAE kernel
> >>
>
You are good to go. The memory controller handles everything and the mode
is transparent to your apps. Hyperthreading is not really a matter of
memory modes. That is handled by the scheduler.
"CTS" <CTS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CD53238A-90D9-4AD7-BE2C-1D4D98661F59@microsoft.com...
> At this point I don't think i'm going to mess with PAE or 3GB switches. I
> just want to know that whatever memory windows or my apps can use will
> still
> make use of the dual channel and hyperthreading capabilities. I want it
> all
> to run the best that it can
> --
> Always Thanks
>
>
> "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
>
>> Yes. The same amount of memory shows regardless of the mode.
>>
>> PAE is normally not useful on XP with only 4GB of ram. It is not
>> designed
>> to resolve the issue you are addressing. Here is an article on PAE:
>> http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms791485.aspx
>> As you can see PAE addresses specific needs involving NUMA and DEP and is
>> automatically enabled or disabled as required. The needs concern certain
>> driver bugs. Even with PAE switched in you won't see 4GB but would see
>> slightly different numbers from what you do now. See:
>> http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid&ID=888137
>>
>> I doubt that you can twiddle enough in the BIOS to recover any
>> significant
>> ram for user programs. Remember, there are two of you using the
>> computer;
>> you and the computer.
>>
>>
>> "CTS" <CTS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:6BE43118-717F-443D-A032-D02454FD9AA8@microsoft.com...
>> > Thank you both for the quick reply. It sounds as if i should leave it
>> > settings alone and see what that does for my machine. I have yet
>> > another
>> > (probably stupid) question, My motherboard supports dual channel DDR,
>> > If
>> > all
>> > four sticks are matched then even if all the memory doesn't show, will
>> > whatever does show run in dual channel mode?
>> > --
>> > Always Thanks
>> >
>> >
>> > "jorgen" wrote:
>> >
>> >> CTS wrote:
>> >> > I've read quite a bit
>> >> > about the 3GB switch and the PAE switch in the boot.ini
>> >>
>> >> With proper hardware support, PAE is normally the way to go in 32-bit
>> >> OSes. But the PAE kernel in XP/SP2 doesn't allow more than 4GB to be
>> >> addressed in total, so when it comes to memory support, it doesn't
>> >> matter if you enable PAE or not.
>> >>
>> >> Google DEP, if you want to know why there is a PAE kernel
>> >>
>>
4GB in windows xp pro 
Linear Mode
