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windows 2003 server standard 32bit - 4gb of memory limit?
can windows 2003 standard SP2 32bit handle 4gb of memory? i have 4gb installed per 1gb per slot (4 slots total) yet dell diagnostics software(this is a dell server) reads:
Location System Board or Motherboard
Use System Memory
Installed Capacity 4096 MB
Maximum Capacity 4096 MB
Slots Available 4
Slots Used 4
ECC Type Single Bit ECC
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Total of Memory Array(s)
Attributes Value
Total Installed Capacity 4096 MB
Total Installed Capacity Available to the OS 3584 MB
Total Maximum Capacity 4096 MB
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Details of Memory Array 1
Click the connector name of Memory Array 1 to view its memory device details.
Status Connector Name Type Size
DIMM1_A DDR 1024 MB
DIMM1_B DDR 1024 MB
DIMM2_A DDR 1024 MB
DIMM2_B DDR 1024 MB
does that mean what it says? 4gb of memory installed, but because of windows 2003 server standard 32bit limitation, operating system can only see up to 3.5gb? should i take 512mb out as its not getting allocated? or is something else?
also i should note that My Computer > Properties reads 3.49gb of ram as well, not 4gb
System: dell poweredge 800 server
Location System Board or Motherboard
Use System Memory
Installed Capacity 4096 MB
Maximum Capacity 4096 MB
Slots Available 4
Slots Used 4
ECC Type Single Bit ECC
[Back to top]
Total of Memory Array(s)
Attributes Value
Total Installed Capacity 4096 MB
Total Installed Capacity Available to the OS 3584 MB
Total Maximum Capacity 4096 MB
[Back to top]
Details of Memory Array 1
Click the connector name of Memory Array 1 to view its memory device details.
Status Connector Name Type Size
DIMM1_A DDR 1024 MB
DIMM1_B DDR 1024 MB
DIMM2_A DDR 1024 MB
DIMM2_B DDR 1024 MB
does that mean what it says? 4gb of memory installed, but because of windows 2003 server standard 32bit limitation, operating system can only see up to 3.5gb? should i take 512mb out as its not getting allocated? or is something else?
also i should note that My Computer > Properties reads 3.49gb of ram as well, not 4gb
System: dell poweredge 800 server
Last Comment
Alan Hardisty
3.5gb is about the most a 32-bit system can see and use, despite there being a 4gb limit. What you are seeing is perfectly normal.
A previous EE question on the same subject:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/22713589/Windows-2003-R2-server-more-than-4-GB-RAM-memory-problem.html
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/22713589/Windows-2003-R2-server-more-than-4-GB-RAM-memory-problem.html
that is normal. although some of it could be used by the video adapter.
ASKER
thanks @alanhardisty
ive actually enabled /PAE switch for boot.init and have rebooted the system
and my computer > properties now reads Physical Address Extension underneath the cpu/ram
yet ram still reads 3.49gb with PAE
ive actually enabled /PAE switch for boot.init and have rebooted the system
and my computer > properties now reads Physical Address Extension underneath the cpu/ram
yet ram still reads 3.49gb with PAE
Everything is fine. Your OS supports a 4GB address space; but some of those addresses are required for PCI addressing, BIOS shadowing, video aperture, etc. Whatever's left is available for RAM ... thus the 3.49GB
You do NOT want to remove any of the RAM. It's installed in 2 sets of 2 x 1GB pairs, which results in dual-channel operation for the memory. If you didn't have matched pairs, the memory subsystem would run in a less-than-optimum configuration at a reduced bandwidth.
Note that PAE is used by the Enterprise and DataCenter editions of Server 2003 to allow addressing of > 4GB of RAM within a 32-bit architecture. But standard edition does NOT support this.
You do NOT want to remove any of the RAM. It's installed in 2 sets of 2 x 1GB pairs, which results in dual-channel operation for the memory. If you didn't have matched pairs, the memory subsystem would run in a less-than-optimum configuration at a reduced bandwidth.
Note that PAE is used by the Enterprise and DataCenter editions of Server 2003 to allow addressing of > 4GB of RAM within a 32-bit architecture. But standard edition does NOT support this.
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Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 was based on Windows XP and was released in four editions: Web, Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter. It also had derivative versions for clusters, storage and Microsoft’s Small Business Server. Important upgrades included integrating Internet Information Services (IIS), improvements to Active Directory (AD) and Group Policy (GP), and the migration to Automated System Recovery (ASR).
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