Memory for Windows XP

[rocnroll]

I'm curious, I've seen a lot of posts about having more than 4gb of RAM (usually 8-12gb). My understanding is that 32bit Windows XP SP3 only addresses 4gb, anything else is lost. 64bit Windows can address more than 4gb and so can Windows 7 Beta.

Am I missing something about having more than 4gb of ram on a 32bit OS or are a lot of you guys running 64bit OS?

(I wish WoW would run natively on Linux ).

[cybernerv]

you are correct, 32-bit can only address 4GB (sometimes even less then that). people who utilize 4+GB of memory is on a 64-bit Operating sytem

[jak3676]

Keep in mind that video memory counts against that as well, and is counted first. So if you have a 1GB video card then you can only get 3GB out of RAM.

For a lot of people, I'll bet the move from a 32-bit OS to a 64-bit OS is a bigger performace gain than just about anything. I went to 64-bit years ago - back when I still had a single core AMD CPU. But I was trying to use 4GB of RAM and still get good video performance.

In addition to addressing more memory space, 64-bit OSes actually process more data with every CPU cycle as well (assuming your application is written for 64-bit support).

[rocnroll]

Good to know my understanding of operating systems wasn't off. Also, I wasn't aware that the memory in the video card counts against system memory. I thought if you had dedicated video memory, it didn't count against your main ram (but I learn something new every day).

So, for 64-bit, what is the preferred OS? XP, Vista or Windows 7 Beta?

Also, how much software will run on a 64-bit OS?

Any issues with drivers?

I'm tempted to make the jump and hopefully see a performance boost.

[rahven32]

Hands down window's 7. It's a lot leaner than previous versions. As far as software I haven't had to much trouble. Mastercam doesn't like it but thats really only one I've came across so far. There was one more I had trouble with but can't remember it for the life of me.

[jak3676]

Win7 does a good job of running both 64-bit and 32-bit software natively. You even end up with 2x "/program files" directories. 1 for 32-bit apps (like WoW) and 1 for 64-bit stuff.

[rocnroll]

I waited too long to get on the Windows 7 train. You can't download it anymore from M$. Guess the release date should be soon.

I can get XP Pro x64 on Pricewatch.com for ~$64. I might try that. How much memory can Windows 7 handle? Has anyone tried running WoW on 2003/2008 Server?