another ram question

[greeney]

I have two sticks of pc800 1 gig ram and have just installed a new stick of 2gig pc800 ram so my ram is as follows

1gig pc800 ---------------
1gig pc800 ---------------
2gig pc800 ------------------------------

Thus i have 4 gig of ram in theory

but my computer only says i have 3GB of ram


can anyone shed any light on this???
Im using the Abit fata1ty motherboard and xp service pack 2


The ram only cost me £27 which is a right bargain if u ask me! lol

[MrTom]

XP only supports up to 3GB.....the 32 bit version anyway, not sure about the 64 bit version.

Use the /3GB switch in the boot.ini file to make sure XP actually does use 3GB.

Plenty of info on the net about it.

Regards.

[Jelmer]

Yeah, 32 bit doesn't go further than 3gb with the switch, I'm upgrading my pc right now so will need to have a look at that as well.

[greeney]

i guess ill just upgrade to vista lol probbably simpler and its much prettyer lol

[Christf]

or switch to windows 2000 i think it supports 4GB ;o

[MrTom]

From what I've read (which isn't much I admit), the 64bit version of XP is by far being prefered to Vista. It'll handle 16GB ram and a potential 16TB of Virtual.....so plenty then....for now.

I also admit that I don't really get on with Vista......far to vain for my liking and doesn't seem to want to get it's hands dirty.....unlike the tried and tested stable XP.....but that's just my opinion......It's a real minefield out there, and by the time you make a decision it'll be obsolete anyway...LOL.

Regards.

[CU441ES]

Yea, XP 32bit only likes 3 gig. As for me im sticking with xp, for a bit longer, becuase its much more stable than vista, and with the next service pack xp's speed will increase by 10% while vistas update improves it speed by a whopping 2% maximum!

And if you like the look of vista, shove a theme on, there you go, vista on xp... ish...

[denire]

I agree with you guys, XP 32 bit only supports up to 3 gig of ram. With Vista and XP comparison, I would definitely choose XP for now. I agree with CU441ES, Vista isn't stable yet.

[geldslaw]

vista is a nitghtmare, came free on my laptop, I downloaded black xp which has all the xp bug fixes sorted out, and replaced xp which didn't want to let any of my legacy apps run on it

[AppleShrapnel]

I upgraded my computer right at a month ago and opted for Vista. My new mobo and video card have Nvidia architecture, and my new processor is Intel, and it seems that particular combo works best with Vista... something to consider if you plan on upgrading (or if you did what I did above plus 8g of ram, "overhaul" may be a better term ) in the near future.

First problem I've run into was this morning when Vista more or less locked down, saying it needs a product key to continue operation (I'm at work, currently). I'm hoping I can get that taken care of this evening... but in any case, I haven't had any problems save for that little obstacle.