Using more than 3.25GB RAM on a 32-bit operating system!

[Robert-The-Bruce]

I just tripped over this on Tomshardware and thought I'd share.


Up To 16 GB Of RAM On A 32-Bit System! : Memory Upgrade: Is It Time To Add More RAM?

[Raufbold]

Just get a 64 bit OS, geez.

[SnipingCoward]

Nice find, thanks for sharing!


Short summary how it works:
What this basically does is create a new drive on the spare memory (RAM disk), then relocate windows' page file (called "swap file" in the article) to that RAM disk.

I imagine Windows would still show only 3.25GB RAM but the page file would be the size of the RAM disk and not located on the RAM.

(I think in the article the temporary files part only adds unneccessary confusion - it does not increasing the available RAM and is an optional step for which I recommend skipping)

You still need to look up instructions on how to move the page file, this depends on your operating system, google it .

Stickied.

PS: If you are using this please share your experiences.

[LITOralis.nMd]

I had in the past used this system.
It works.
On a daily level it is complicated if you don't find a pirated copy or pay for a version that automounts the RAMDISK on windows boot.

If PR was just slightly smaller it would be possible to create a RAMDISK of just under (12 GB RAM - GPU Memory - 3.25GB RAM) GB and put a stripped down installation of BF2 and the PR mod on a RAMDISK, meaning you would have the entire game and the OS working on 12GB of RAM, maps would load in a few seconds and there would be almost no warping at the horizon line. (caveat, if your GPU CPU and mobo bottlenecks can handle the data throughput)

Also, Gavotte has been updated past 1.04 by Chinese/Japanese developers and renamed, though still available as "gavotte 1.1" on some websites. !!!! BEWARE THERE ARE LOTS OF SEARCHENGINE HITS FOR GAVOTTE THAT LEAD TO MALWARE SITES !!!!
but I forgot the new fork name, the main developer is "lyh728" and the support forum is all Mandarin.
http://www.techsnack.net/gavotte-ramdis ... al-hardisk
"Gavotte 1.1" with lyh728 's GUI and updates for stability, works for winNT through WinVista, no RAM size limitation:
http://www.techsnack.net/wp-content/upl ... amdisk.zip
http://www.mediafire.com/?c91q1xwegmz

THe other option is to buy RAMDISK by DataRam, which has some cool automation tools in the paid version, the coolest being: you set up a RAMDisk, give it a volume letter, install your game to the new volume,, then the DataRAM program will save the volume as a ISO type file and can automount it with 3 clicks of a mouse. THis way you can build seperate ramdisks for each of your games or software suites.Dataram RAMDisk is freeware (up to 4 GB disk size). Disks larger than 4 GB require registration and a license which can be purchased for $14.99 USD. http://memory.dataram.com/products-and- ... re/ramdisk

THis is ALOT of work for a end of life OS solution (the 32bit OSes)

A FREE solution for students: I would suggest anyone who is a student to instead download a free copy of Microsoft Server 2008 r2 standard edition x64 from https://www.dreamspark.com/Products/Pro ... oductId=17
Another cheap option for students is to join the academic section of ACM, which comes with free access to MSDN Academic Alliance, and free copies of Server 2008, Vista x64 Pro, and even WinXP x64 Pro.
http://www.acm.org/membership/student/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/academic/bb250591

In either program with a valid student ID you will receive a valid MS Windows Server 2008 product license key.
THe only downside is that crossfire/SLI support, bluetooth support, windows media center for Server 2008 is pretty shoddy. If you don't use Bluetooth on your PC, and use any of the alternatives to MCE it's not a concern. If you are using crossfire/SLI on a 32bit OS currently, well, I can't help you.

Then use this guide to turn your server OS into a Win7 x64 workstation without MS DRM and all the bells and whistles of Win7 can be added or removed as desired.
Convert your Windows Server 2008 R2 to a Workstation! -


Didn't mean to get so verbose.... regards,

[PatrickLA_CA]

I have 3 GB of ram and 32-bit OS, Win 7, but PR crashes when it reaches 2GBs (doesn't go over 2GB), do you have any fix for that?

[illidur]

if you were to install pr on your ram you would have to reinstall it every time you rebooted.

[karambaitos]

win7 32bit (except for basic) can go up to 4gb says so on the microsoft here Memory Limits for Windows Releases (Windows) anyway

I have 3 GB of ram and 32-bit OS, Win 7, but PR crashes when it reaches 2GBs (doesn't go over 2GB), do you have any fix for that?

i did this
For Win7 vista ED Forums - View Single Post - Crash in MP
XP ED Forums - View Single Post - Crash in MP
helped me out in some games at least for A10C

[PLODDITHANLEY]

Should be able to put it up to 4 like that too?

[PatrickLA_CA]

Thanks karambiatos, that worked for me (the win7 version)

[TheComedian]

Won't work for me.

The boot configuration data store could not be opened.
The system cannot find the file specified.

[TommyGunn]

Comedian, it was same for me, but then run as administrator, then worked...