Chetzar Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 I'm building a new gaming rig, and looking at using Vista Ultimate 32 bit (due to compatability and drivers) and was wondering, will Ultimate 32 bit support 8 gigs of ram? I've looked around on the internet and ready all kinds of things saying it will and saying it wont. Everything that says it will says you have to install the PAE (Physical Address Entension) and that is a pita. So I figured I'd ask in a place where i'm sure someone will know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollcage Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 If you really want to be able to use all the RAM, the most you can go with 32-bit is 3 GB. Otherwise, you're better off going with 64-bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apowerr Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 If you really want to be able to use all the RAM, the most you can go with 32-bit is 3 GB. Otherwise, you're better off going with 64-bit. QFE. Why not just use Vista Ultimate x64? There are no compatibility issues unless you're trying to use legacy apps. From my experiences, it works just as good as the 32bit version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chetzar Posted March 9, 2008 Author Share Posted March 9, 2008 QFE. Why not just use Vista Ultimate x64? There are no compatibility issues unless you're trying to use legacy apps. From my experiences, it works just as good as the 32bit version. Well, lets just say when I bought vista ultimate at my school for $100 they only offered 32 bit version =( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbetts Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Using PAE's 32-bit Vista or XP can go past the 3.2 gb mark, but problems would be caused from doing so. Not worth it on a 32-bit system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj_stick Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Well, lets just say when I bought vista ultimate at my school for $100 they only offered 32 bit version =( if you can get your hands on a copy of any x64 edition of vista (all are the same, it's the cd key that defines what version ins installed) you'll be able to use your ultimate cd key to install vista x64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj_stick Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Well, lets just say when I bought vista ultimate at my school for $100 they only offered 32 bit version =( if you can get your hands on a copy of any x64 edition of vista (all are the same, it's the cd key that defines what version ins installed) you'll be able to use your ultimate cd key to install vista x64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forceman Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 What the hell do you need 8Gb of ram for?, for gaming no way, just get premium because ultimate is a complete rip off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuietOC Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I'm building a new gaming rig, and looking at using Vista Ultimate 32 bit (due to compatability and drivers) and was wondering, will Ultimate 32 bit support 8 gigs of ram? I've looked around on the internet and ready all kinds of things saying it will and saying it wont. Everything that says it will says you have to install the PAE (Physical Address Entension) and that is a pita. So I figured I'd ask in a place where i'm sure someone will know. No. There is no difference between Ultimate and Home Premium. PAE is generally installed by default on Windows XP and Vista if you have a NX capable processor. The real problem is some drivers aren't PAE aware, so after XP SP2 all 32-bit editions of Windows are limited to some amount below 4GB even with PAE enabled (If you want the most useable RAM you will need to find a video card with a small frame buffer.) FWIW: OSX86 has the same PAE driver problem. BTW: You can install a 30-day trial of any version of Vista from the version you have. Though my DVD 32-bit only. Ultimate basically consists of a couple of games and a few add-ons that are hardly worth $10, IMHO. PS: 8GB is very nice to have for OSX (Photoshop), but there is little difference between 2GB and 4GB for me in 32-bit Vista. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbetts Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 No. There is no difference between Ultimate and Home Premium. Ultimate has more network options( Not to many), and windows Ultimate extras which is mainly just dreamscene, but you can get dreamscene for home premium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chetzar Posted March 14, 2008 Author Share Posted March 14, 2008 Well, I got myself a copy of Ultimate x64 (via a direct link from microsoft for free) and used my CD key, and its actually really nice, I haven't tried my mic yet (it seems to be the only real problem people have with Vista 64 is line in not working correctly) but all 8 gigs of ram is there and holy {censored}, does vista load fast. As for ultimate vs home premium, my school offered ultimate for $100, thats it, Leopard for $89 and because i'm an IT major, I can get XP and Vista Business for free (but they are supposed to be those copies that you can register on 3 machines at a time). As for why I need 8 gigs of ram - I probably don't, but now I have bragging rights, and I can run multiple applications (like sound booth, Photoshop, ect at once if I so desire). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rohizzle121 Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 I'm building a new gaming rig, and looking at using Vista Ultimate 32 bit (due to compatability and drivers) and was wondering, will Ultimate 32 bit support 8 gigs of ram? I've looked around on the internet and ready all kinds of things saying it will and saying it wont. Everything that says it will says you have to install the PAE (Physical Address Entension) and that is a pita. So I figured I'd ask in a place where i'm sure someone will know. i have been having the same problem first thing you have to know is 32bit OS (linux,osx, and windows) (with the execption of PAE which is ment for servers) can only handle up 3.25 gigs of ram. now 64bit Vista ult will go up to 16gb of ram. the thing is x64 vista SUCKS!!! horribly,very unstable and poor driver support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chetzar Posted March 15, 2008 Author Share Posted March 15, 2008 i have been having the same problem first thing you have to know is 32bit OS (linux,osx, and windows) (with the execption of PAE which is ment for servers) can only handle up 3.25 gigs of ram. now 64bit Vista ult will go up to 16gb of ram. the thing is x64 vista SUCKS!!! horribly,very unstable and poor driver support. I'm actually using Vista x64 atm, and its really not bad, I was using it some on my old computer (single core 2 gigs ram and it wasnt even that bad) I think it may depend on your hardware and the updates you have done ( i did them all) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superhai Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 Vista 64 suck less than vista 32 in my opinion. All my devices and peripherals work perfect. Both on my laptop and desktop. The OS have never crashed yet. PAE works fine even on non server machines and the XD should be set, and works just fine for all applications who calls the OS for memory, which is almost all apps (if you have apps that don't work with DEP they will most likely crash under PAE). Problem is mostly due to some poor drivers (hw?) that overwrites the wrong pysical addresses. But I would anyways recommend going for x64 then you don't need to worry... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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