32 bit os with more than 4gb of ram

[emosun]

what operating system runs on 32 bit cpu's but can access more than 4gb of ram?

 

one of my proliant servers is in a dual prestonia setup with 6gb of ram and I'm wondering what os it must have been using.

[PooIs]

If it was dual processor, I think that each one could access 3gb of RAM.

[emosun]

5 minutes ago, PooIs said:

If it was dual processor, I think that each one could access 3gb of RAM.

well it only shows as the typical 3.25 in 32 bit windows and 64 bit windows disks just error out

[PooIs]

Yes, if you go to Ark, you'll see that they only have 32 bit instruction sets. Maybe it was just there for dual channel operation.

[Lurick]

2 minutes ago, emosun said:

well it only shows as the typical 3.25 in 32 bit windows and 64 bit windows disks just error out

Because you would generally install a hypervisor on the system and then load virtual machines on that.

[mariushm]

Any 32 bit operating system can work with more than 4 GB of memory if PAE is enabled (Physical Address Extension).

However, Microsoft is artificially forcing the maximum 4 GB of memory restriction on newer operating systems like Windows 7 in order to push people into using 64 bit Windows and to reduce the number of support calls (why isn't this 64bit application running on my pc with 32bit os? why is this program crashing when it uses more than 3 GB of memory etc)

 

Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 and Windows 2008 are some of the last 32 bit  operating systems that recognize and work with more than 4 GB of memory

 

Windows 2000 Datacenter edition supported up to 32 GB of memory

Windows 2003 (multiple versions) supported up to 64 GB of memory

Windows 2008 Datacenter and Enterprise versions can do 64 GB of memory

 

Windows 2003 is still usable these days and doesn't suffer from bloat (services, updates, activation crap)

 

later edit : oh, and even though it shows 3.25 GB, the memory above 3.25 GB up to 4 GB is still used by drivers and other things in Windows, which otherwise would use memory below the 3.25 GB threshold

The 3.25 GB point is a limitation of 32 bit operating systems and the x86 architecture (motherboards, bioses, everything)

 

[TheKDub]

10 minutes ago, emosun said:

what operating system runs on 32 bit cpu's but can access more than 4gb of ram?

 

one of my proliant servers is in a dual prestonia setup with 6gb of ram and I'm wondering what os it must have been using.

 

Consumer versions of windows 32-bit are limited to 4GB unless you manage to enable PAE in the windows kernel.

 

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/windows-and-office/override-the-4gb-memory-barrier-on-32-bit-windows-81-systems/

[dalekphalm]

1 hour ago, emosun said:

what operating system runs on 32 bit cpu's but can access more than 4gb of ram?

 

one of my proliant servers is in a dual prestonia setup with 6gb of ram and I'm wondering what os it must have been using.

So here's the thing.

 

32-bit Operating Systems (and by extension, 32-bit CPU's, though that's not important here) can "naturally" only assign up to 4GB of RAM (Technically slightly less than 4GB, but I'm rounding for simplicity).

 

However, ages ago, software engineers created a system called Physical Address Extension (PAE). This protocol/system allows a 32-bit Operating System to access and address more than 4GB of RAM. However, there are performance losses, but they are minor enough.

 

Microsoft, in particular, used PAE to allow their Server Operating System's to use more than 4GB of RAM back before 64-bit OS's took off.

 

In particular, Windows Server 2003 uses PAE to varying degrees of success. Win 2k3 Enterprise Edition allows up to 32GB of RAM, and Win2k3 Datacentre Edition allows up to 64GB of RAM.

 

Microsoft basically imposes an "artificial" limitation on maximum RAM for a 32-bit operating system.

 

So in short, I would assume your Proliant server is using Windows Server 2003, or Windows Server 2000.