Window 7 Usable RAM question

[SE14man]

Have just upgraded my RAM on my desktop another 2 GB. It was already 2 GB so i added another 2 GB stick in there.
Was a bit concerned to see that on the computer properties only 3.25 GB of it was usable.
Whats the reaosn for this?

Thanks guys.

[rhegedus]

32 bit OS limited to 4GB RAM

[lowellriggsiam]

Agreed that the reason for your issue is that a 32 bit operating system can only handle up to 3.5GBs of RAM, if you intend to use more than that you'll need a 64 bit operating system. Before you may choose to do that you'd need to also make sure that your processor is 64 bit compatible, which I believe it is.

[edDV]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/en-us

[edDV]

Agreed that the reason for your issue is that a 32bit operating system cad handle up to 3.5GBs of RAM, if you intend to use more than that you'll need a 64 bit operating system. Before you may choose to do that you'd need to also make sure that your processor is 64 bit compatible, which I believe it is.

Processor probably is. Drivers and apps maybe not.

[SE14man]

Hi fellas,

Thats fantastic!

Gr8 answers!

Thank u very much

[SE14man]

Wouldi need a certain graphics card for 64bit or wouldi just need to buy a 64 bit edition of either windows xp or windows 7 and that would be it?
How can you tell if a computer will work with 64Bit, is it how fast it is in ghz?

Thanks guys

[jman98]

Wouldi need a certain graphics card for 64bit or wouldi just need to buy a 64 bit edition of either windows xp or windows 7 and that would be it?
How can you tell if a computer will work with 64Bit, is it how fast it is in ghz?

Thanks guys

You don't need a special graphics card. You just need a 64 bit version of Windows.

You have to look up your CPU to see what it's capable of. In your case your processor can do 64 bits. Honestly, I don't know if Intel and AMD even make 32 bit only processors any more. If they make them at all, I would guess that they are only for laptops.

[SE14man]

Fantastic,

Thanks for your helpful info.