Currently running XP on 2GB of RAM but I’d like to bump it upto 4GB. Am I correct in thinking XP 32bit can only support 2GB of ram? Is it worth upgrading to XP 64bit to use 4GB? Will the CPU become a bottleneck in the system, its and AMDx2 64 4800+ ?
and before you say it no I do not want Vista, having used it on a couple of PCs I really do not get along with it, I know one day I will have to take the plunge but for now I will stick to XP 
Mmm… I’ve got 3gb of ram on my system Gareth… do you think I should just stick with 2gb instead??.. I’ll watch for the replies with interest…
It all depends on how much you want 4gig of ram. Il2 wont benefit that much from the increase, it’ll run just as well on 2gig. Your CPU is not current enough to be comfortable with 4 gig, but do you really need it bearing in mind all is well on 2 gig and XP32bit.
having said that Brigs… I have four slots for ram… three of them currently have a 1gig stick in them… If I switch back to two, how do I arrange them in those slots for maximum efficiency please?
Thanks Brigs, well if it will not add much if anything in the way of performance I doubt I will bother. How would it affect windows though? I have the 64 bit processor so would a 64bit OS work better?
edit:
Trooper, do you have the manual for your mobo? if not check the manufacturers website where you can probably find a PDF manual, if not then if its anything like my setup (4 slots) I think you need to use 1 + 3. I may be wrong though so check with the manual or a more reliable techy around here somewhere, Brigstock
Ahh, ok… It seems from some booklet I’ve found on the A8V motherboard that I should only have three types of configeration for my ram slots…
1. single strip… socket 3
2. Dual strips… sockets 1 and 3
3. Four strips… sockets 1 to 4
Guess I’ll ditch that third strip of ram now…lol!
There you go Troop answered your own question.
By using 1 and 3 it makes the RAM dual channel. Adding the third makes it single channel and slower than having a pair.
Newer boards now have triple channel option for 3 sticks.
@Classic Slight grammer mistake in my reply “Your CPU is not current enough” should read “Your CPU is current enough”. You can run with 4 gig if you like. My point being do you really want to upgrade when you’ll see no significant change.
Despite you CPU being 64bit it will just as happily run at 32bit, You can run it in a 64bit OS, but most if not all your programs will still be running in 32bit.
It would be 4 gig for the sake of having 4 gig.
I’ve got two 500mb strips spare… if I put them into the other two slots, would that be better than another single 1gb stick?..
Or isn’t it worth it overall?
as far as i know ram runs faster in dual channel mode, it can only run in dual channel mode if 2 or 4 sticks are the same, as soon as you put 3 sticks in there it returns to single channel mode.
i have tried single channel mode with 3gb, dual channel mode with 2gb, and in benchmarks the 2gb dual channel wins.
When put in the correct slots like the manual says. Is the MB automatically putting the RAM in Dualchannel-mode, or do I have to change something in the Bios? (I didnt find any entry about dualchannel there or on the manual which is abit imprecise on that matter)
it does it automatic, just put them in the right slots and the motherboard puts them into dual channel mode
i think in bios it says whether or not its running in dual channel, or even on the POST screen
Win Xp 32bit supports at maximum 3,5 giga ram…
I got 3 giga in dual channel …
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/pae_os.mspx
XP supports 4 Gig (4096mb) of total system ram. That will include your video card.
If you have a 4 gig of ram and a 128mb vid card then XP will use 3968 of your Ram. If you have a 512 Video card then 3584 of your ram will be used.
@Troops, rule of thumb is not to mix RAM. It may work it may not. What you could do is install 4 x 1gig sticks of the same stuff and let XP work it out as above.
Mixing sizes can make your system unstable. Then again it may work.
For example you can have 2 sticks of Corsair dogs bollox low latency stuff and a pair of Tescos own brand 
Windows will start and IL2 plays lovely, but then you start up COD and the first explosion you lock up. It’s pretty random.
Okey doke… I may just leave it at 2gb’s then…
Ah thanks. Then eveything is ok. I just wondered, because I couldnt find any sign, if its running DualChannel or not.