Windows XP 8GB RAM not showing up in system properties.

Undaunted1988

New Member
The issue im having is i just bought 8GB (2x4) sticks of DDR2 800mhz PC6400 and i've installed them and it comes up in the motherboard BIOS as 2gb in each slot and a total of 8192MB. Now the issue is that when i right click My Computer - Properties it only shows that i have 3.25GB but when i go into system information it says i have Total Physical Memory of 8,192.00 MB. I go to this website that i use to see if my PC can handle the games or not and its saying i have exactly the same amount of ram i had before i put the 8Gb in saying 3.25gb. I have Windows XP 32 bit SP 3. I did a diagnostic from the motherboard and the RAM passed the test so and its showing it some places but some not. anyone got any tips? Thank you in advance.
 
It is impossible for a 32 bit system to use more than about 3.5gb of RAM. You can only use 8gb if you have 64 bit hardware and a 64 bit op sys.
 
so Having the 8gb in right now isnt doing anything for my PC? i just looked at my pc specs on newegg and its saying it has vista 64 bit, but the thing is i took vista off a few months ago and put Windows XP on instead. if i was to put the Vista back on then would the 8gb work?
 
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Yes that's right - and a 64 bit op sys is the only way you can benefit from the extra ram.
 
Dude! You should have just upgraded Vista to Win-7/64 instead of going back to a 32 bit OS and then wasting your money on the extra ram.
You kind'a shot yourself in the foot, so to speak.
Vista is a pig....please don't reinstall that! Save your pennies till you can afford a 64 bit version of Windows 7.

As a Vista owner, there may be a way you can get Win-7 at a reduced price for the upgrade. Maybe someone here can verify that.

Good Luck,
OT
PS: By the way, I'm also running XP-Pro on a computer with a 64 bit AMD, dual Core CPU and 8 gigs of ram.
The sweet spot for Xp is 2 gigs of ram. Anything more will probably never be used, except maybe for gaming.
 
Aye and dont make the mistake of going with XP 64, the driver support was simply hideous, I'd take vista x64 over it any day as I never personally had any problems with Vista-64 for the 3 years I used it, I only jumped to Windows 7 after about 8months or so of dual booting with various beta builds of 7 while the drivers matured ready for RTM, think of windows 7 as Vista "Tuned and fixed edition" rather than a whole new OS, as its backbone is very much Vista.
 
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You can Use 8 GB of ram on a Windows XP 32bit OS, by enabling PAE (Pysical Address Extension) Mode and that will let you get up-to 64GB in theory by using a 32bit x86 OS. (But then again in theory you can access up-to 4TB Ram in 64bit x64 OSes). In todays age of computers 64 bit is the way to go, more aplications are x64bit and we have great x64bit driver support these days with Windows 7 x64.

Even if your can't find 64 bit drivers for Windows 7 x64, (because your stuff is vista capable only), You can, alot of the time use Vista's 64 bit Drivers on Windows 7 x64

Games and Video/Photo editing, certainly takes advantage of 64bit and Excel Work spreadsheets caculate faster. No matter how you look at it, 64 bit OSes, 4GB or more memory and Quad core processors are mainstream these days. 45% of new Windows 7 Installs are x64bit. At work alone, we are pushing 85% of our Windows 7 Installs and upgrades out in Windows 7 x64bit. Overal Computers are faster alone with Windows x64
 
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Games and Video/Photo editing, certainly takes advantage of 64bit and Excel Work spreadsheets caculate faster. No matter how you look at it, 64 bit OSes, 4GB or more memory and Quad core processors are mainstream these days. 45% of new Windows 7 Installs are x64bit. At work alone, we are pushing 85% of our Windows 7 Installs and upgrades out in Windows 7 x64bit. Overal Computers are faster alone with Windows x64

Good point.




You can Use 8 GB of ram on a Windows XP 32bit OS, by enabling PAE (Pysical Address Extension) Mode and that will let you get up-to 64GB in theory by using a 32bit x86 OS. (But then again in theory you can access up-to 4TB Ram in 64bit x64 OSes). In todays age of computers 64 bit is the way to go, more aplications are x64bit and we have great x64bit driver support these days with Windows 7 x64.


That method is known to cause blue screens of death. The best way to utilize all memory space is to install a 64-bit OS.
 
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