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Heya, well we just got a new render pc at the office, a lovely quad core core2duo system with 4 gb of ram. Unfortunately Dell supplied a 32 bit version of Windows XP with it, and now we can only use 3 of the 4 available gb's of ram...
Afaik, the only solution is to switch to Xp64 (we might try and see if Dell wants to swap, since they basically sell a working, but lacking system).. if we switch, are the 32 bit applications still able to work? If so, will they only use 3 gb of memory?

I recommend Vista 64.

Well, to me Vista seems like a waste since it's such a resource eating OS..

It's fast and stable. The bells and whistles can be turned off. And I see you will have 4 Gigs Ram. That will be plenty. XP64 was just the testbed for Vista 64. The only problem I have ran into is no driver available for one of my printers. If it's a render pc, Vista 64 and Maxwell 64 is a great combo.

32bit software will work, but still be using only ~1.6 - 1.8gb per program running. the os will use the 4gb, as 64bit software will do either.

Thanks guys, I was kind of getting a bad feeling because during the configuration it also gave us the option to go with Vista.. but it didn't say it would be Vista 64 bit... so I guess we'd be in the same boat with that.

I would make the switch as soon as possible. I bought my 64-bit machine and it came with 32-bit XP and I waited a little over a year to put 64-bit XP on it. When installing Windows rewrote the entire Windows directory. Maybe I clicked the wrong install option, but by doing that the new version of Windows was installed, but it didn't see ANY of the programs that were already on there. They were still on the hard drive, but since Windows had over written it's system registry it no longer knew they were there.

Just a little bit of caution from someone who went through it. But yeah, go with XP64, Vista is a load of...

misterasset wrote:Vista is a load of...

... useful tools and upgrades from an antiquated XP.

Windows is load of ... in general. No matter the version

microsoft rocks

All you have to do is complain.... and say that you are not happy with the situation.. you are considering returning the sysytem blah blah blah tell them that 64 or vista is vital for your business... and they should be able to hook you up.....


this is how it works in the US anyway.. if you are a happy customer you will buy from them again...

good luck

Had to replace a mobo this week and took the opportunity to upgrade the box to Vista64......just a toe in the water..........once you turn off all the eye candy it's pretty neat.

zoppo wrote:32bit software will work, but still be using only ~1.6 - 1.8gb per program running. the os will use the 4gb, as 64bit software will do either.

The OS will not "use the 4gb". It can't. The most it uses is 3. I won't argue this; there are too many explanations available from a simple Google search. All components in the system have to be considered. This must especially be considered when using video cards with lots of memory. The video memory is mapped into the same space as the local RAM. If you have 1Gb on the video this leaves only 2 for the OS (regardless of how much you have in the "system").

The ONLY way to break this limit is to switch to a 64 bit system. In that case you can have up to 8 terabytes...

Heh, we called Dell and they don't supply XP 64 except to big clients like banks.. I didn't make the call so I didn't get all the details, but it looks like we'll just snag an OEM copy from some webshop instead.. only about 130 euros and a lot quicker than dealing with Dell.