05-18-2008, 05:10 PM
Quote:I almost went with 4 sticks of 2GB RAM for 8GB total, because I could've done that for less than $200. Then I wizened up and remembered that even 4GB is kinda overkill these days. It would've been nice to brag about 8GB of RAM though :(4GB is definitely overkill for how you'll probably be using this machine. Keep in mind that consumer grade 32 bit Windows doesn't make good use of that fourth GB. Supposedly this is because some drivers were prone to BSoD in that situation. 64 bit Windows can use all 4GB (or 8GB), but individual processes will still use quite a bit less. There are surprisingly few real Win64 applications on the market. Most apps that run on Win64 are just Win32 apps using the WOW64 emulation layer that Microsoft provided to keep legacy code running. As such, those apps suffer from most of the same limitations as true Win32 apps.
True Win32 apps can't use more than 2GB of virtual address space in a default boot. Configuration tweaks allow the system to offer a third GB, but iirc, that GB is only used if the program is marked "large address aware". Most aren't. I don't know whether a Win32 app running under WOW64 is given 2GB or 3GB, but I'd guess that it gets 2GB unless the app is marked as "large address aware".