Hi guys I have a ASUS P5B mobo and I wanted to upgrade the ram from 2GB to 4GB but someone told me that WinXP might not support such a high memory only 64bit XP. Now I just wanted to know if this is true or is it just a myth? Any feedback will be greaty appreciated.

Thank You

It's true, XP 32 bit supports up to 3.5 or 4 in most cases. Any more than 4 needs 64bit version. FOr 4gb though, it should be fine, with the possiblilty of only being able to use 3.5gb.

Hope this helps

PS. It should work with the mobo, but if it wont boot with 4, then you may need to put them in alternately (1,3,2,4) or update your BIOS, but I'll go into more depth if you find it had problems

Dude, Where's My 4 Gigabytes of RAM?

Coding Horror: Dude, Where's My 4 Gigabytes of RAM?

Yeah 32bit operating systems can't fully utilize all 4 Gigs. I did quite a lot of reading a short time ago. Maximum they utilize is about 3.5 and sometimes even only 3gigs. There are some tweaks to ensure that a minimum of 3GB is used but apparently they may cause your pc to be unstable.

Hey thanks guys for the info, now I don't know if I wanna dish out 100.00 bucks on new ram if all I get is 3 gigs. I will be happy with 3.5 gig but I guess its a chance I gotta take huh? Is there any way I can upgrade my 32 bit to 64 what do I need for that? probally a new MOBO and CPU right?

That board and your CPU (most likely) are 64 bit compatible. Anything made in the last few years is.

Memory 4 x DIMM, max. 8GB, DDR2 800 / 667 / 533 MHz, non-ECC, un-buffered memory
Dual channel memory architecture
* Refer to ASUSTeK Computer or user manual for Memory QVL (Qualify Vendor List)
**When installing total memory of 4GB capacity or more, Windows 32-bit operation system may only recognize less than 3GB. Hence, a total installed memory of less than 3GB is recommended

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.


Going to 64 bit requires a new operating system.

Some versions of Vista offer the choice giving you both options (separate DVDs).

The only 64 bit XP is Server 2003. As named it was intended for servers.

Going over 2 or even 3 GB of board RAM was and still is only seen as an issue for servers. A PC simply does not need that much board RAM.

If you are into gaming the Graphics Card is much more important. The current high end graphics cards run 1 GB of graphics RAM on the card.

Originally Posted by jephree

That board and your CPU (most likely) are 64 bit compatible. Anything made in the last few years is.



ASUSTeK Computer Inc.


Going to 64 bit requires a new operating system.

Some versions of Vista offer the choice giving you both options (separate DVDs).

The only 64 bit XP is Server 2003. As named it was intended for servers.

Going over 2 or even 3 GB of board RAM was and still is only seen as an issue for servers. A PC simply does not need that much board RAM.

If you are into gaming the Graphics Card is much more important. The current high end graphics cards run 1 GB of graphics RAM on the card.

So you mean all I need is 64bit OS to make my system 64bit? My PC sometime is a little slow but you saying its not nessary to upgrade to 4gigs? What if I'm a gamer?

Yes all you need is a 64 bit OS. Your motherboard is 64 bit compatible and I'm assuming your CPU is. Do you know what CPU you have?

My point is over 2GB of RAM on a PC is probably never used.

If you are gaming put the RAM into the graphics card: 2GB on the motherboard plus 1GB on the graphics card. That is about the "state of art" for current gamers.

Originally Posted by jephree

If you are gaming put the RAM into the graphics card: 2GB on the motherboard plus 1GB on the graphics card. That is about the "state of art" for current gamers.

How do I add more ram to my graphics card? is there a tutorio anywhere?