windows 32 bit memory question

[retiredfromlife]

I am currently running windows XP 32 bit SP3, and are in the process of installing a hot swap bay so I can swap boot disks as I want to try Windows 7 64 bit.

Currently I have two gig system memory and a 2 gig video card total 4 gig memory that I believe is the maximum for XP 32 bit.
Recently I saw an article stat stated the with PCIe graphics the video memory is not included in the 4 gig limit.
Can anyone one confirm if this is true.

Since I want to try windows 7 64 bit I want to add 8 gig system memory plus my 2 gig video card.
If my current understanding is correct and the video and system memory can only be 4 gig max, what will happen when XP 32 bit boots up? What memory will it use, and is there any setting that can force it to just use 2 gig of system memory?

Any help will be appreciated.

Regards MarkL

[absic]

Hi Mark,

System Memory is usually counted independently from Graphics Card Memory so your current system only counts the 2 gig of RAM on the motherboard as being available to the OS, Windows XP 32 bit.

If you upgrade the RAM to 8 Gig then XP 32 bit will only access the maximum for itself which is 4 gig, of which you would find about 3.75 Gig is actually used. The other 4 gig that you have on board should not cause a problem with XP32 bit. If/when you run a 64 bit OS then, of course, all 8 gigs of RAM would be used and be available to you.

[MisterEd]

I know this does not apply to your case but if you ever get a computer that has integrated graphics that will change. Integrated graphics do not have their own memory and must use a part of the system memory instead.

If you take a 32-bit system with 4GB of RAM and integrated graphics you will see a lot less. How much less depends upon how much system RAM is dedicated to the integrated graphics. For example if 1GB RAM is dedicated to the integrated graphics then you would only have about 2.5GB of system RAM available for Windows. If 2GB RAM is dedicated to the integrated graphics then you would only have about 1.5GB of system RAM available for Windows.

If you take the same system and disable the integrated graphics and use a dedicated graphics card instead you might see about 3.5GB available system RAM for Windows. How much memory the dedicated graphics card has does not affect how much memory is available for Windows. It is the same whether the dedicated graphics card has 512MB or 2GB.

[geekyadz]

I would like to see integrated graphics that can use 2GB of RAM; the most Ive came across is 256mb, maybe 512MB