Assigning RAM to Video Card

Hi guys,
I couldn't find another thread, and I'm not sure if this is the correct subforum, but anyhoo I've just gotten a new HP DV9500T and it's got 32bit Vista with 4gb of RAM.

As everyone knows, 32bit Vista only recognises 3gb of RAM so I was wondering - if I wanted to share my 4th gb of RAM to my video card will that work with the 32bit Vista or will it reduce the RAM that the computer recognises?

At this stage, I don't have a Vista disc so can't put 64bit on but if I'm able to share the last gig of RAM with the video card I may not need to get one (although it would be good to be able to do a clean install...)

Also, if I wanted to share the last gig would I do it in the BIOS at the start or do I do it with Vista?

Cheers guys,

Peter

 

You cannot use the last 1GB period.

 

i have not seen any setting in the bios what state are u in

 

You can max out shared video on start-up menu unless it's a dedicated video card. Vista x32 can recognize up to 3.6gb RAM.

 

I've got a Nvidia 8600M GS so it doesn't look like I can do it, although I'll look in the BIOS to check.

Cheers guys

 

You cannot use it. A 32bit OS only has 4GB of address space, and some of that has to be used to address all the hardware in the computer (CPU, GPU, HDD, Ethernet, USB, etc). Anything that does not get an address cannot be used, no matter what state you live in or what BIOS settings you try.

You need a 64bit OS to use that last bit of RAM.

 

But you have to also remember that the CPU has it's own built-in "memory" cache. Internal RAM is shared throughout the system but it's in megabytes and if you have a gigabyte, it's only a drop in the bucket. I installed XP MCE with 4gb RAM and it shows 2.6gb + available. If you read Microsoft's web site you can tweak Windows to take advantage of more RAM access such as adding /pae to the boot.ini file. I didn't find the /pae extension improve the performance much.

Adding video RAM in BIOS is the best choice since you're basically assigning reserved RAM. Windows will adjust video RAM requirement for certain programs that require it.

 

PAE was changed after SP2, so that it does not allow more that 4GB of addresses. Too many drivers crashed with PAE, so MS pulled most of the functionality.

 

it seems like no one is reading gregs comments, just to restate that greg said, in caps, it is IMPOSSIBLE for a 32bit OS to address 4gBs of ram, as it has the physical limit of 4 billion address, and there are many other components in a machine that need addresses.
i believe pae is something intel and microsoft worked on to get a 32bit os have 36bit addressing, but as greg said, it caused problem.
just get a 64bit OS

 

If you want to use all 4GB of your RAM go get the 64-bit version of Vista. It has great backwards compatibility with 32-bit programs, and you will only benefit from it. I've been using it for quite some time now and it works great.