Good day all... just to let everyone know... the 3Gb limit with Vista 32 bit is no longer a problem. SP1 allows the system to see and use up to the full 4Gb it was designed to use. I upgraded earlier today on my laptop and have access to all four lovely Gigs of RAM on the system... Desktop will be next!!!!

I dediced to update now because I upgraded the laptop's HD and figured while I was at it I would re-install everything instead of just transfer the data stright across. Figured since I was doing that, why not go all the way and do everything. Figured if nothing else should save me the update hassle after a reformat... it definately did that... was so nice!

They do suggest waiting until Windows Update tells you to update... but you can do it now if you want to. I didn't keep the link I am afraid... but can search microsoft easy enough.

It's a good day for 4 Gb systems everywhere... hehehehe!

Don't mean to burst your bubble but vista only sees the 4 gigs you have installed. you still will only have 3-3.5 gigs available to use. Check task manager under the performance tab and i bet you will only see 3000-3500MBs to use

If they can get it to run with 8gigs... then i may switch back to a 32bit OS.

LOL. It's funny to see how many people MS' is fool'n with the 4GB on display.

hehe the good old 4gb windows 32bit fiasco...

Windows Vista SP1 will report 4 GB of system memory (RAM) on systems that have 4 GB of memory installed

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946003

This is a Display Change ONLY

The 32 bit limit still exists.

They changed Vista to display the full amount of RAM you have plugged in, instead of the amount of RAM that is actually available for use. It's one of Microsoft's little changes that keeps people who don't understand what they are doing from emailing and calling tech support for a "problem" that they don't have.

You know I've been wondering...

MS changed it because people were whining and complaining about not seeing the full four gig in windows...

I wonder how much more of a whinefest it will be once folks realize they still aren't using 4 gigs.

yea when i installed SP1 i was excited for a total of 3 minutes... then i checked task manager and realized that it was just a trick... jerks

Quoted for Truth

The answer to this is 'Pi' {Irrational and Infinite}

when it rains in hell, thats when they realize.

Agreed.

It's just a display change .... MS does a lotta things to make you feel better about it..... the proverbial smoke and mirrors.....it now correctly reports what you have but still doesn't actually use it.

Also watch out for lost nVidia drivers...One Vista blog user wrote:

“In retrospect, not my finest decision,” said SeppDietrich. “What a disaster! It exiled all of my Nvidia drivers to the Bermuda Triangle... they're simply all GONE.”

Also lot of hardware / software specific issues for which Vista SP1 won't install:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=948343

Including presence of products by:

Realtek AC'97
SigmaTel
SigmaTel
Creative Audigy
AuthenTec Fingerprint Sensor
UPEK Fingerprint Sensor
Intel Display Drivers
Texas Instruments Smart Card Controller
Sierra Wireless AirCard 580
Symantec software driver for Symantec Endpoint Protection and for Symantec Network Access Control clients
Bit Defender
Zone Labs

The questions of 3 vs 4 Gigs Ram in a 32 bit operating system is well documented as to the reason only 3.2 +/- 0.4 is available for program use ( 3.12, or less for Vista 32) on this forum and looking at Microsoft explanation. A real good insight can be gained by reading Dan’s Data www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm

However; I still have a question. This relates to the OLD days when 640K was normal and some had a whopping 1 Meg of memory (16 Bit OP). The 384 K above the 640 was called Upper memory. In my case I used a Program called QEMM to access this area.. This added 384K allowed a big performance boost to DOS as the memory mapping could be addressed from faster memory verses a call to BIOS.

Now for the real question that should be asked/addressed IS – where does this memory mapping reside in a system with less than 4 gigs. Is it still a BIOS call, or does XP/Vista 32 bit place this memory Map in virtual memory and if so is there a small performance boast by having it in “Real” main memory.

Note even with 3 Gigs of RAM there is still 536K reserved for DOS.
(3 Gigs equal 3,145,738 vs 3,145,192 available)

If someone has gone from 3 -> 4 Gigs, and compared the performance using a CPU/Memory benchmark, please elaborate.

for people who don't already know about the difference between USING and DISPLAYING 4GB of ram, that's fine with me. if by seeing 4GB displayed in windows makes them happy, than so be it.

maybe this will stop all those complaint threads about "how come windows isn't seeing all 4gb of my ram?" which i'm soooo sick of seeing everyday...

ignorance is bliss....

pinaplex
I agree about the main question - loss of some memory do to memory mapping of MMIO.

BUT; the real question, IS this of any performance benifit by mapping this to RAM. I do not know, and in none of the comments has this been mention, only the explaination of WHY the memory has is decreased.

Before and After vista sp1, the 64 bit version has had virtually no compatibility issues. What are people doing that can't be done in 64 bit? Using the same key you should be able to install 64 bit or 32 bit on your system. (can't say for sure thats the same with OEM supplier copies, but it works with Retail and MSDN Volume keys of ultimate, business, home premium and enterprise)

Some I can quickly think of:

Quickbooks
iPhone
Adobe CS2 anything
AutoCAD 2007 and older

http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei= [...] AAAA%40%40

here's a list of things that work....it tells you if it's 32 or both 32 / 64 compatible.....lotta stuff is 32 bit only.
http://vistacompatible.blogspot.co [...] tware.html

Also the HCL has 192 pages of stuff but a good % is unknown or other comments on 64 bit

http://winqual.microsoft.com/HCL/P [...] cid=&f=86p