Win 2008 32 bit max memory?

[jftuga]

I am thinking about trying out Win 2008 Standard 32 bit on my Dell Vostro 220s desktop that also has a 256 MB ATI graphics card. Will this OS be able to see all 4 GB of RAM? Or do I need to go with Win 2008 64 bit?

The reason I ask is that I my Dell Optiplex 755 desktop which has 4 GB and runs XP 32 bit, winver.exe only reports 3,143,208 KB available.

Is anyone running 2008 Server Standard 32 bit with 4 GB? How much total memory does the OS report?

Thanks,

-John

Edited April 30, 2009 by jftuga

[Kelsenellenelvian]

Its not the operating system. It is the 32bits that is your problem.

32 bit OS's can only see and make use of 3-3.5 gigs of ram.

To use the rest you would need to upgrade to 64bit.

[Tripredacus]

Server 2008 x86 will display 4GB RAM if you have PAE enabled, but it will still make use of about 3.2GB.

[nmX.Memnoch]

In his case since he has a 256MB video card it will see and make use of 3.75GB (4096MB - 256MB). This is something the hardware (chipset specifically) does, not the OS.

[jftuga]

I decided on Win 2008 EE 32-bit. It uses all 4 GB of RAM (from task manager). It looks like you can evaluate it for up to 240 days. Hopefully by then, Windows 7 (or a release candidate) will be in usable shape.

-John

Edited May 4, 2009 by jftuga

[cluberti]

Any particular reason you're not using an x64 version of Server 2008? According to Dell, the Vostro 220s came with a choice of a Pentium Dual-Core E2200, E5200, or E5300, or a Core2Duo E7400, E8500, or E8600. All of those CPUs should have 64bit support, according to Intel.

[zolee001]

Hi!

Minimum: 1 GHz (x86 processor) or 1.4 GHz (x64 processor)

Note: An Intel Itanium 2 processor is required for Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems

Memory

Minimum: 512 MB RAM

Maximum (32-bit systems): 4 GB (Standard) or 64 GB (Enterprise and Datacenter)

Maximum (64-bit systems): 8 GB (Foundation) or 32 GB (Standard) or 2 TB (Enterprise, Datacenter, and Itanium-Based Systems)

Disk Space Requirements

Minimum (32-bit systems): 20 GB or greater

Minimum (64-bit systems): 32 GB or greater

Foundation: 10 GB or greater

Note: Computers with more than 16 GB of RAM will require more disk space for paging, hibernation, and dump files

Display

Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher resolution monitor

Other

Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device