Cant install any distro on my PC

Michael_S · 06-21-2006, 09:57 PM

Quote:

I don't understand why my learned colleague says you can't use 4G of RAM with a 32-bit OS? My Linux kernel says:

Code:

4GB (HIGHMEM4G)

Select this if you have a 32-bit processor and between 1 and 4
gigabytes of physical RAM.

Perhaps Electro could explain that for us...

I believe I read somewhere that the x86 Linux kernel had to perform extra operations to handle RAM beyond 1 GB, so while you have the 4 GB of space at your disposal, you get more mileage out of the 1st GB. In a 64 bit Linux kernel, you could use Terabytes of RAM without having to work any special magic to get at the bigger volume of data.

But I could be totally mistaken about that. [EDIT] However, that would explain why HIGHMEM4G is an option for 32 bit kernels and not enabled by default. If there were no performance hits/extra work to be done to support 4 GB of memory, it would probably be standard behavior instead of an option. [/EDIT]

dreakon · 06-22-2006, 08:18 AM

Well, its okay for me regardless, Im stuck with 3GB for a while now. One of my sticks was defective, so it will be a little while before I can replace it. The reason I have so much RAM is because I mostly use my PC for graphic design and video editing and stuff. And playing Quake 4 on Ultra Quality is nice too.

Electro · 06-22-2006, 05:51 PM

About PAE for x86 processors
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerwork...mod/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension

You can use 4 GB of memory with a 32-bit OS, but you waste money using this capacity. The amount of userspace memory you can use is 3.7 GB for Windows or 3 GB for Linux. Though if you use a 64-bit OS, it does not have this flaw. Blame Intel for PAE.

Also I suggest reading http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=7966

dreakon, I recommend using even number of modules when using dual-channel chipsets. Using odd number of memory modules in a dual-channel setup will reduce the performance. I recommend using ECC memory, but DDR2 memory does not have ECC modules for 800 Mhz. It is required to use at least ECC memory for multiple processor computers because each processor does not known where the other processor has stored the data, so each processor will assume the other processor has stored the data in the correct location or else data corrcuption occurs and this sometimes comes up as segmentation faults.

BTW, memory modules has a lifetime warrenty, but hard drives have a limited warrenty. People go though the RMA service for bad hard drives, but bad memory modules gets thrown to the trash bin. Try going through the RMA service for the memory.