Would 64-Bit Windows Help Memory?

I had a need for a large amount of memory and installed 4GB when the price was good. Microsoft Windows XP recognized 3GB, and Vista (at least 32-bit RC1) appears to do the same. Would going to the 64-bit version ­allow me full use of the memory?

Carl Hafner

The short answer is yes. The 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista can't "see" an entire 4GB of RAM. Windows XP (and Vista) can address up to 4GB of physical memory, but some of this space is reserved for hardware drivers and I/O addresses. Under a 64-bit OS, Windows has access to a much larger physical address space—up to 128GB of physical memory—so this address-space quirk isn't an issue.

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