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Old 08-27-2010, 10:12 AM   #32
Rathji
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanni View Post
I think you misunderstood, I think the general statement was that a 32bit system can only recognize 4gb of memory. You're right that a 32bit application will only utilize 2gb of memory, the rest is set aside for system processes.

That being said, my point remains, 32bit applications in a 64bit environment will not utilize what you have. I have 6gb of ram on a 64bit system, when running SC2 under heavy load the highest my memory usage has every gone is 3.6gb. With 2gb being used by SC2 and 1.6 used by the rest of the system. I could achieve this performance with a 32bit system, whereas if SC2 was a 64bit application the performance would be much higher.
I think you are confused.

The maximum addressable memory space for any 32 bit operating system (that doesn't use messed up workarounds) is 4GB. That 4 GB space is where (in Windows XP at least) all your IO devices, BIOS, internal/external devices etc have their addresses allocated.

In Windows XP, this leaves about 3 GB of RAM left (I think it is a bit less actually) so your computer cannot physically use any more than that because it won't be addressed.
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