can I set PAE and 3GB/Switch at the same BOOT.ini file?

You can and need to enable both /3GB and /PAE switches at the end of boot.ini for your 32 bit machine to access more than or equal to 4 GB of memory in your machine..
And hope this helps in setting it out:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291988

Read this article below:

http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/per/awe_memory_sql2000_p1.aspx

When using /PAE, you also need to set AWE in SQL Server to use the additional memory. All depends on how much RAM you have.

Expert,

Our server physical memory is 24 GB, if we want to set up 3GB/switch,  the physical memory RAM should be less than 16 GB from below link, is that correct?  should we have to take 8GB out or just leave 24GB in the server, then set up 3GB/switch? can you make clear?

From this link  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/283037/en-us

The preceding information is valid for programs that run when the /3GB switch is used. A
program that requests 3 GB of memory is more likely to be able to have more of its memory remain in physical memory rather than be paged out. This increases the performance of programs that are capable of using the /3GB switch. The exception is when the /3GB switch is used in conjunction with the /PAE switch. In this case, the operating system does not use any memory in excess of 16 GB. This behavior is caused by kernel virtual memory space considerations. Thus, if the system restarts with the /3GB entry in the Boot.ini file, and the system has more than 16 GB of physical memory, the additional physical random access memory (RAM) is not used by the operating system. Restarting the computer without the /3GB switch enables the use of all the physical memory.

If you have 24GB, set the /PAE switch and enable AWE in SQL Server. To enable AWE:

Right-click on server, "Properties", select "Memory" and check "Use AWE to allocate memory". When viewing SQL Server in task-manager, you'll notice the sqlserver.exe process will not be using much RAM but the overall physical system RAM will go up. This is because of how AWE works with system RAM.

blandyuk,

Your opinion is just 24GB to add PAE and enable AWE, do not use 3GB/switch?
Is that correct?  Thank you.

AWE memory technology is used only for the RAM that exceeds the base 4GB of RAM, that's why the /3GB switch is needed to use as much of the RAM in your server as possible. If your server has 16GB or less of RAM, then using the /3GB switch is important. But if your server has more than 16GB of RAM, then you must not use the /3GB switch. The reason for this is because the 1GB of additional RAM provided by adding the /3GB switch is needed by the operating system in order to take advantage of all of the extra AWE memory. In other words, the operating system needs 2GB of RAM itself to mange the AWE memory if your server has more than 16GB of RAM. If 16GB or less of RAM is in a server, then the operating system only needs 1GB of RAM, allowing the other 1GB of RAM for use by SQL Server.

So if Windows 2003 R2 64bits, it is compitable with SQL server 2000 EE 32bit?
why? why not?

So if 24GB ram for AWE, it will take more than 1GB memory from OS memory. So I just use AWE only without 3GB/swith.  I thought 3GB can increase application memory from 2GB to 3GB. That will be good for SP and queries for performance.

I also wonder if my physical memory is 24GB, how much memory I should map to AWE for data cache memory?  ( 8GB, 16GB or 12GB or 20GB)
 
Thanks

blandyuk,

you said: 'If you have 24GB, set the /PAE switch and enable AWE in SQL Server. To enable AWE:

Right-click on server, "Properties", select "Memory" and check "Use AWE to allocate memory". When viewing SQL Server in task-manager, you'll notice the sqlserver.exe process will not be using much RAM but the overall physical system RAM will go up. This is because of how AWE works with system RAM.Accept Multiple Solutions Accept as Solution '
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you mean it is SQL server or windows server. I opened SQL server property but there is no AWE can check. My SQL SERVER IS 2k EE 32bit in windows 2k3 EE 32bit.