{"id":295,"date":"2012-12-14T12:46:18","date_gmt":"2012-12-14T17:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=295"},"modified":"2012-12-14T12:46:18","modified_gmt":"2012-12-14T17:46:18","slug":"why-cant-32-bit-windows-access-4gb-of-ram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2012\/12\/14\/why-cant-32-bit-windows-access-4gb-of-ram\/","title":{"rendered":"Why can&#039;t 32-bit Windows access 4GB of RAM?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2013751\/why-cant-32-bit-windows-access-4gb-of-ram.html\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/nccomputertech.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/111920thum-100012350-orig.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Every byte of RAM requires its own address, and the processor limits the length of those addresses. A 32-bit processor uses addresses that are 32 bits long. There are only 4,294,967,296, or 4GB, possible 32-bit addresses.<br \/>\nThere are workarounds to these limitations, but they don&#8217;t really apply to most PCs. I discuss them briefly below.<br \/>\nOkay, so if the processor, and the operating system designed for that processor, can only handle 4GB, why can&#8217;t Qasim&#8217;s PC (and yours if it&#8217;s 32-bit) see that much?<br \/>\nBecause not all of those addresses are available for RAM. There are other pieces of hardware inside your computer that need addresses, such as the PCI bus and the USB host adapter.<br \/>\nYour graphics card is probably the biggest address hog. Today&#8217;s graphics adapters often contain a gigabyte or more of RAM, and every one of those bytes needs an address. To be fair, I doubt that many of those multi-gigabyte graphics cards are in 32-bit PCs, but even a 512mb video card will take a sizeable bite out of 4GB.<br \/>\nUnfortunately, there&#8217;s not much you can do about it except upgrade to a 64-bit computer and operating system. You&#8217;ll do that eventually, but you may not need to, or can afford to, right now.<br \/>\nI promised above that I would tell you about a workaround to the 4GB limit, even if it won&#8217;t really help you. A technology called Physical Address Extension (PAE) allows a 32-bit processor to access up to 64GB.<br \/>\nThe good news is that your processor almost certainly supports PAE. The bad news: Unless you&#8217;re running a server edition, your copy of Windows does not.<br \/>\nSo much for that idea.<br \/>\nvia <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2013751\/why-cant-32-bit-windows-access-4gb-of-ram.html\" target=\"_blank\">Why can&#8217;t 32-bit Windows access 4GB of RAM? | PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every byte of RAM requires its own address, and the processor limits the length of those addresses. A 32-bit processor [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,10,11],"tags":[672,1214],"class_list":["post-295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hardware","category-technology","category-windows","tag-memory","tag-windows-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-4L","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6692,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/10\/21\/buyer-beware-ram-inside-new-mac-mini-isnt-user-replaceable-techspot\/","url_meta":{"origin":295,"position":0},"title":"Buyer beware: RAM inside new Mac mini isn&#8217;t user replaceable","author":"NCCT","date":"October 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Apple\u2019s recent iPad media gathering also saw the Cupertino-based company unveil a revised Mac mini, the first in roughly two years. The machine now packs a pretty solid punch with its Intel Haswell processor and improved graphics but there\u2019s something to be aware of if you\u2019re planning on making a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Apple&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/apple\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6509,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/10\/02\/history-of-the-microprocessor-and-the-personal-computer-part-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":295,"position":1},"title":"History of the Microprocessor and the Personal Computer, Part 3","author":"NCCT","date":"October 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Datamaster was an all-in-one computer with text-mode CRT display, keyboard, processor, memory, and two 8-inch floppy disk drives all contained in one cabinet. (Photo: Oldcomputers.net) The Model 5150 wasn't IBM's first attempt at building a personal computer, with at least four previous projects being scrapped as the market moved\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hardware&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6754,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/10\/31\/call-capable-samsung-gear-s-smartwatch-launches-nov-7-in-u-s\/","url_meta":{"origin":295,"position":2},"title":"Call-capable Samsung Gear S Smartwatch Launches Nov 7 in U.S.","author":"NCCT","date":"October 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Gear S will land on all four major U.S. wireless carriers Samsung delivered a bit of bad news this morning with its Q3 2014 earnings report, but the company is at least looking forward to making some waves in the wearables market with the official U.S. launch of its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hardware&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7329,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/01\/05\/intel-brings-next-gen-broadwell-processor-tech-to-mainstream-notebooks-desktops\/","url_meta":{"origin":295,"position":3},"title":"Intel brings next-gen &#8216;Broadwell&#8217; processor tech to mainstream notebooks, desktops","author":"NCCT","date":"January 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"LAS VEGAS\u2014Intel\u2019s Core M processor promised a new wave of small-screen tablets. But at CES 2015, Intel hustled in the main event: the launch of the fifth-generation \u201cBroadwell-U\u201d Core processor for mainstream desktops and notebooks. The new Core processors\u2014over 14 of them, including new chips designed for consumer and business\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hardware&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5935,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/07\/10\/debunking-a-myth-ddr3-ram-vs-ecc-memory-performance\/","url_meta":{"origin":295,"position":4},"title":"Debunking a Myth: DDR3 RAM vs. ECC Memory Performance","author":"NCCT","date":"July 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently, a workstation PC was reviewed on a well-known PC hardware site that included a Quadro video card, but no ECC memory. In the comment section of that review, a heated discussion occurred with different readers arguing about whether the lack of ECC RAM was a good or bad thing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hardware&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6660,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/10\/17\/microsoft-rolls-out-surface-2-firmware-updates-promises-wi-fi-update-for-surface-pro-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":295,"position":5},"title":"Microsoft rolls out Surface 2 firmware updates, promises Wi-Fi update for Surface Pro 3","author":"NCCT","date":"October 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Microsoft may well be close to launching a new version of its Windows RT tablet, but it's continuing to roll out improvements to its current one in the meantime. The company has today begun pushing out a bunch of firmware updates for the Surface 2, bringing a range of fixes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hardware&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}