Question about RAM on new computer.

Ok..I just bought me a new computer here are the specs before i get down to my question

Systemax Venture model SYX-DQ965GF

Processor:Intel Core 2 Duo 4300 @1.80 Ghz 1.80 Ghz
32 bit OS Windows Vista Home Basic

When I bought the computer I also bought two 1 GB DDR2 memory chips to up it to 2.5 GB of memory. That registered fine. Today, I just bought me another memory stick. This one was a 2 GB DDR2 memory. When i put it in my computer it should have registered 4.5 GB, cause my computer can handle up to 8 GB of memory, or so the thing where I bought it advertized. however it says i have 3326 MB of memory. What's wrong? WHy is it not at 4.5 GB of memory?

 

You have a 32 Bit OS and the most it can handle is about 3.5Gb if you want to use more than 4Gb you must have a 64Bit OS. Do a google on 4gb in XP and you will find all the answers.

 

Ok thanks on that. Now..if I were to upgrade to Vista Premium, is that enough? Hope so. lol. But thanks for the information.

 

It depends on whether it is a 64Bit OS! Any 64Bit OS will be able to utilise that amount of RAM but not the standard OS (32Bit).

I just did a google on "4Gb RAM and OS" and:

http://blogs.msdn.com/hiltonl/archive/2007/04/13/the-3gb-not-4gb-ram-problem.aspx

is the first hit! It wont matter whether it's XP or Vista if you dont have a 64Bit OS you wont be able to use the RAM!

 

Yeah. Im gonna look into getting vista premium 64 in a week or two. Gotta have that big amount of RAM. lol. I want my games running fast. Got me a nice card that can run Oblivion at HIGH settings with the ram I've got, so Now to get more ram and ZOOM. lol. Not to mention a bigger hard drive. Now one more question. I have a Hard drive, that loads slow on my old XP computer, which i have a thread about here too. If I were to transfer it over to my new computer, will it hurt it in any way? Or would the hard drive run faster and normally? Just curious. I had trouble loading the DMI pool on it at first, then i redid windows XP on it, though that did not help the computers problem as I have to keep it in safe mode. Do a search on that for my other topic if you need more info on that, but, I'm hoping I can just transfter the drive with no problems.