Anybody have 4 GB (ram) in their system ?

"Tom Lake" wrote in message
...
I have an MSI GNB Max with P4 3.06GHz and 4GB dual channel DDR RAM.

Do you get the full 4GB in Windows?

In my experience, there's no motherboard out there today designed for
non-workstation chips (i.e. non-Xeon / Opteron) that works 100% - and I
mean 100% - stable with more than 2GB of memory.

Windows reports 3.5GB RAM and the GNB Max *IS* 100% stable.
The chipset is the Intel E7205 server chipset with a 533MHz FSB and can
only use up to DDR 2100 but with the dual channel configuration, that
gives
the CPU all the bandwidth it can use anyway. Using faster RAM wouldn't
speed up the processor at all. I've run it 24/7 for about two years now,
only rebooting after new software installs or updates

Tom Lake
If you ran with XP server, given that yours is a 'server' chipset, you
ought to see 4GB reported, rather than 3.5GB. This is because of the
memory limitations I mentioned, where the motherboard devices need some
memory area. There is an address extension mode, that gets round this, is
supported on the SLI, ought to be supported on your board, but requires XP
server, or 'better' to use. On the SLI, how much memory you see in
standard XP, depends on what video cards you have fitted. It can drop to
only about 3.2GB, if you have two cards using SLI.

Best Wishes

On Sun, 04 Dec 2005 21:14:38 GMT, "Roger Hamlett"
wrote:


"Tom Lake" wrote in message
.. .
I have an MSI GNB Max with P4 3.06GHz and 4GB dual channel DDR RAM.

Do you get the full 4GB in Windows?

In my experience, there's no motherboard out there today designed for
non-workstation chips (i.e. non-Xeon / Opteron) that works 100% - and I
mean 100% - stable with more than 2GB of memory.

Windows reports 3.5GB RAM and the GNB Max *IS* 100% stable.
The chipset is the Intel E7205 server chipset with a 533MHz FSB and can
only use up to DDR 2100 but with the dual channel configuration, that
gives
the CPU all the bandwidth it can use anyway. Using faster RAM wouldn't
speed up the processor at all. I've run it 24/7 for about two years now,
only rebooting after new software installs or updates

Tom Lake
If you ran with XP server, given that yours is a 'server' chipset, you
ought to see 4GB reported, rather than 3.5GB. This is because of the
memory limitations I mentioned, where the motherboard devices need some
memory area. There is an address extension mode, that gets round this, is
supported on the SLI, ought to be supported on your board, but requires XP
server, or 'better' to use. On the SLI, how much memory you see in
standard XP, depends on what video cards you have fitted. It can drop to
only about 3.2GB, if you have two cards using SLI.

Best Wishes

I'm running 4 gigs of DDR 3200 on a P4C800-E Deluxe, W2K Pro, and the
machine is showing 3,797,740 KB of Ram.

"justindavid" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 04 Dec 2005 21:14:38 GMT, "Roger Hamlett"
wrote:


"Tom Lake" wrote in message
. ..
I have an MSI GNB Max with P4 3.06GHz and 4GB dual channel DDR RAM.

Do you get the full 4GB in Windows?

In my experience, there's no motherboard out there today designed for
non-workstation chips (i.e. non-Xeon / Opteron) that works 100% - and
I
mean 100% - stable with more than 2GB of memory.

Windows reports 3.5GB RAM and the GNB Max *IS* 100% stable.
The chipset is the Intel E7205 server chipset with a 533MHz FSB and
can
only use up to DDR 2100 but with the dual channel configuration, that
gives
the CPU all the bandwidth it can use anyway. Using faster RAM
wouldn't
speed up the processor at all. I've run it 24/7 for about two years
now,
only rebooting after new software installs or updates

Tom Lake
If you ran with XP server, given that yours is a 'server' chipset, you
ought to see 4GB reported, rather than 3.5GB. This is because of the
memory limitations I mentioned, where the motherboard devices need some
memory area. There is an address extension mode, that gets round this,
is
supported on the SLI, ought to be supported on your board, but requires
XP
server, or 'better' to use. On the SLI, how much memory you see in
standard XP, depends on what video cards you have fitted. It can drop to
only about 3.2GB, if you have two cards using SLI.

Best Wishes

I'm running 4 gigs of DDR 3200 on a P4C800-E Deluxe, W2K Pro, and the
machine is showing 3,797,740 KB of Ram.
Yes. The loss is dependant on how many areas are mapped into the area
below 4GB (and how large they are). Your figure would drop if (for
instance), you added a typical SCSI adapter, or some video cards. Two SLI
cards, create _large_ holes in this area...

Best Wishes

I'm running 4 gigs of DDR 3200 on a P4C800-E Deluxe, W2K Pro, and the
machine is showing 3,797,740 KB of Ram.
Yes. The loss is dependant on how many areas are mapped into the area
below 4GB (and how large they are). Your figure would drop if (for
instance), you added a typical SCSI adapter, or some video cards. Two SLI
cards, create _large_ holes in this area...

Best Wishes


I am running an Adaptec 2940 U2/U2W scsi card with a scsi hard
drive...

"justindavid" wrote in message
...


I'm running 4 gigs of DDR 3200 on a P4C800-E Deluxe, W2K Pro, and the
machine is showing 3,797,740 KB of Ram.
Yes. The loss is dependant on how many areas are mapped into the area
below 4GB (and how large they are). Your figure would drop if (for
instance), you added a typical SCSI adapter, or some video cards. Two
SLI
cards, create _large_ holes in this area...

Best Wishes


I am running an Adaptec 2940 U2/U2W scsi card with a scsi hard
drive...
Your figure sounds just a fraction lower than I'd have expected, with a
modern AGP video card, and a SCSI card, but it is still a possible level.
However the memory 'holes' vary so much from card to card, that it is very
difficult to be sure. For example, a Radeon, 9800GT, with 128MB fitted,
normally creates a 128MB hole on it's own. Two 256MB GeForce cards running
in SLI, make a 512MB hole, just for their main memory (and a few others as
well...). Conversely, a standard Matrox AGP card, with just 64MB of RAM,
only creates a 64MB hole, and the Adaptec, normally creates a small hole
for a buffer, and another for it's BIOS (if the BIOS isn't enabled, the
space drops a little).
This is why I say 'some video cards'. Also some makes of older SCSI card
are a little 'naughty', and despite only having a small BIOS, reserve a
hole, that is far larger than the memory that is fitted.
If you run a couple of large video cards, some network cards (many older
designs only reserve ports, not parts of the main PCI memory map), with a
BIOS present, etc. etc., it is suprisingly 'easy' to find 3/4GB, having
disappeared!...

Best Wishes