How Much Memory Will XP See?

[Joe_Hicks]

I want to bump my system from 2gb to possibly as much as 8gb of RAM depending on what I find out about XP and memory usage.

I've heard Windows XP Pro will only recognize 4gb of RAM. Does anyone have a definitive answer on this?

Thanks,
Joe

[overnighttolondon]

Our tech guys at work are building a Windows XP system with 16Gb or RAM. We have two dual-core Opteron 64-bit processors, I think we have to be in 64-bit mode to use all 16Gb of the RAM. But I would guess with one single-core 32-bit processor you could use at least 4Gb. I'm not sure on the 8Gb.

[dewman]

XP will only recognize 4gb of memory. There is a 64 bit XP OS out there somewhere (i think it's still in beta, but not sure; could be server OS only); it will recognize more memory; but you will have stability issues mixing 32 bit programs w/ 64 bit OS.

If you do a search on the memory limitations with XP you will get quite a bit of reading material :).

[dewman]

Here you go Joe:

http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:KMDtKa9y2oAJ:download.microsoft.com/download/9/5/c/95ca1da7-a13a-4f19-bb89-1c2efd4ef5e2/Windows%2520XP%2520Professional%2520x64%2520Editio n%2520FS.doc+maximum+xp+memory+limitations&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=6

[Joe_Hicks]

Thanks guys. I was afraid this was the case. I guess I'll max at 4gb for now. I'm really reluctant to go to XP64-- as you said Dewman, I hear there are a lot of stability issues. I'm running dual Opteron 254's (2.8ghz) which are 64bit ready. So down the road, when things stabilize, I'll change over (and get more ram!).

Joe

[Averdahl]

When Microsoft releases Service Pack 3 Windows XP will be able to recognize 8GB RAM. I read that in a computer magazine today.

[Joe_Hicks]

When Microsoft releases Service Pack 3 Windows XP will be able to recognize 8GB RAM. I read that in a computer magazine today.

Wow. Now that's great news! What magazine was this in? Is the article online? If so, can you post a link?

Thx,
Joe

[Averdahl]

Wow. Now that's great news! What magazine was this in? Is the article online? If so, can you post a link?
That article was in a Swedish magazine - Datormagazine #5 2006. This is a paper magazine and is not aviable online. Datormagazin is a big computer magazine in Sweden so i do trust their articles. :)

Translation: Dator=Computer

Their adress is www.datormagazin.se

[Joe_Hicks]

Averdahl-
I was doing a little research on SP3 and they're saying the release won't be before second half of 2007 and will come only after Windows 'Vista' is complete. Looks like we'll be waiting a while.

Thanks for the info.

Joe