4 gigs of ram

Joao Sapiro

hey everyone i recently purchased 4 gigs of ram for my alienware M9750 laptop , i opened, putted it in etc and everything is fine , windows recognizes 3 gigs of ram etc. Still i almost find no boosting in speed and stuff in max , maybe the program is shit or maybe windows isnt using all the power it can ?

i heard some stuff about tweaks made on windows XP to use full power of memory, i realy am bad with computers :S

thanks in advance everyone

Kraftwerk

Its a restriction in Windows XP it can only use up to 3Gb of ram. If you want to use all 4GB you going to need the x64 version of XP.

fogmann

I had the same problem so I know how unfair it feels =\
One thing you want to do is to enable 3GB switch, since apps won't be able to use more than 2GB otherwise. For instance, I had mental ray run out of memory and crash even though there was more than 1gb available, according to task manager, but then after that 3gb switch mental ray was able to use up all that was available (not all 4, unfortunately, but at least more than just 2).

hawken

one more reason to love my mac

Joao Sapiro

foggman , i kinda dont understand that 3G switch , where should i write it etc im lousy with computers agh :S

Hawken : thanks for the really usefull reply !

Joseph Silverman

Windows xp 32bit can't recognize more than two gigs of ram, to my understanding. You need 64 bit or vista, I think, for it to help.

Joao Sapiro

yeah i heard that , but i also read somewhere ( god i should remember where ) that there are tweaks to enable them :S dunno i might be out of my mind....i dont want vista

j_bradford

Yeah just echoing what others have said in here. If your processor is 64-bit I'd recommend switching over to a 64-bit OS (XP 64 would be the best choice in my opinion). For performance gain don't expect viewport framerate increase, but just being able to load in tons of geometry in a scene at a time. That helped a lot for me. Max 64-bit runs much less clunky when I load in Mudbox data.

Or yeah, get a Mac since it runs Mudbox, Softimage and Max.

Rick Stirling

My mac runs Softimage and Max. Not tried Mudbox yet.

The 3Gig switch does work on 32bit windows for Max, we use it at work. You add it to the boot.ini

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="????" /3GB

Joao Sapiro

this is my boot.ini :

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

adam

Windows will recognize 3.25GB of ram. I have 4gb's in my machine and it's showing 3.25gb active. I did not do this 3GB Switch malarkey.

diminished_Self

[ QUOTE ]
Windows will recognize 3.25GB of ram. I have 4gb's in my machine and it's showing 3.25gb active. I did not do this 3GB Switch malarkey.

[/ QUOTE ]

it will see the ram, but it cant use actually take advantage of it until you enable the 3gb switch.

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>Setting up Windows XP sp2 3GB switch :

1.Right-click on “My Computer” icon found on your desktop and select “Properties”.
2.Go to the “Advanced” tab , and click the” Settings” button in the “Startup and Recovery” section.
3.Click the “Edit” button under the “System Startup” section.
4.Copy the last line of the boot.ini file and paste it on the next line.
Change the string “Microsoft Windows XP professional” of the first line (the one you just copied) to something like
“Microsoft Windows XP professional with 3GB switch”, the next time you boot , you’ll have 2 option like a dual boot,
if nothing is picked within 30 secs , the first line is chosen. At the end of that line add /3GB like example below :
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows XP Professional with 3GB switch” /fastdetect /3GB
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /fastdetect

If the OS does not boot correctly, restart your machine and select the second OS when prompted (the one without the switch).

Please note: The 3gb switch only works with Windows XP service pack 2. Make sure to copy the windows 32bit line, not windows XP 64 for example (if it’s installed). </pre><hr />

Joao Sapiro

damn this two partitions is a bit weird, isnt there any way that someone could edit the code i posted to make it work with 3gb switch ? and im not trying to literally make someone else do my dirty work, is because im REALLY bad with this stuff and last time i tried something like it went without pc for a week

Emil Mujanovic

Johny, if you've tried the commands that diminished_Self has posted and you were able to successfully load XP using the 3GB switch boot then all you'd really need is to add "/3GB" to the end of your command list

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /3GB

-caseyjones

adam

If mine says this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

What would I edit it to? I have 2 partitions, and one OS (Windows XP SP2, 32bit)

rollin

i made the 1 gig - 3 gig jump and the "only" thing i recognize is, that photoshop loads big immages a lot faster .. in max changed bit of nothing.. mostly using the cpu

Rick Stirling

You don't get two partitions - all you get is a choice of bootup options - start windows with or without the 3GB switch.

The reason the options were posted is that if windows fucks up, you can easily get back tot he non fucked up version.


all you are doing is adding /3gb to the startup options.

adam

K, so for what mine currently says what do I add?

hawken

[ QUOTE ]
Or yeah, get a Mac since it runs Mudbox, Softimage and Max.

[/ QUOTE ]

mine does. do you live under a rock?

In any case, my mac comment was just to highlight this retarded windows limitation. Of course running winxp on the mac won't give you all the ram on the system, but I can seemingly allocate as much as I like using parallels. Bootcamp probably limits you to the same 3gb cap.

In fact the mac I am using here at work can go up to 16GB of memory. I guess 3d software is still stuck on the pc environment because of the savings that games companies make by getting cheap boxes, but if 3d software were to make the mac os switch they could enjoy all the benefits that video & graphics producing teams have.

Just sayin'

j_bradford

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Or yeah, get a Mac since it runs Mudbox, Softimage and Max.

[/ QUOTE ]

mine does. do you live under a rock?


[/ QUOTE ]

No disrespect to Mac users, it was just a small jab. Though having to purchase and install a seperate bootable OS (XP) in order to use these programs isn't exactly what I meant. Does OS X run them?

hawken

OSX runs windows applications in two ways, either through bootcamp (which is windows running on a partition) which cannot interact with OSX. And through parallels, which runs inside OSX. The added bonus with parallels is that you can just launch windows-applications from the dock and not see windows XP it's self. They just sit with all the other windows and can be alt-tabbed around etc, as if they were part of OSX. Parallels makes these shortcut icons any time you run a windows application and then you are free to put them in the dock and forget about win XP.

Before recently parallels couldn't run anything too graphically intensive but now it's been updated to make full use of the graphics card, so running HL2 etc is no problem.

Joao Sapiro

ok i did the 3gb switch , but yeah no diference i havent played bioshock yet to see increase in perfomance but will do when i go home. Something weird is that windows sometimes seems to "freeze" for some seconds ( rom 3 to6 ) when i do basic stuff such as creating folders etc.

spacemonkey

works for me
I'll have to test this on my home machine and see how it handles really high poly tools

Marine

osx is just a 64bit os, xp and vista can use huge amounts of ram if you choose to go with their 64bit versions, most people just don't realise they have a choice.

Joao Sapiro

per please halp me ! no really i really want to use the full power of this ram

Also whats up with the annoying mac-jeohvah-witness preaching in this thread ?

hawken

[ QUOTE ]


Also whats up with the annoying mac-jeohvah-witness preaching in this thread ?

[/ QUOTE ]

1st 64bit os init

bearkub

Informative links:

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/77909774/m/119002205831

and the follow up

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/12009443/m/324001375831/r/522008575831

TomDunne

[ QUOTE ]
Also whats up with the annoying mac-jeohvah-witness preaching in this thread ?

[/ QUOTE ]

There are three types of OS people:

1) the Mac zealots, who really care about their platform.

2) the *nix zealots, who really care about their platform.

3) the rest of us, who really just don't give a fuck.

Hawken resides in group 1.

Emil Mujanovic

HAHAHAHAHA, verm!

-caseyjones

hawken

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Also whats up with the annoying mac-jeohvah-witness preaching in this thread ?

[/ QUOTE ]

There are three types of OS people:

1) the Mac zealots, who really care about their platform.

2) the *nix zealots, who really care about their platform.

3) the rest of us, who really just don't give a fuck.

Hawken resides in group 1.

[/ QUOTE ]

mac haters are worse than mac fan boys

Games companies are the last bastion for mac infiltration... we have already taken over the domain of print, music, movies and tv production. you'll be next!

leilei

I know mac had a good hold of gaming in 1987-1995 at least

wouldn't hurt for bungie to make more marathons

Mishra

i dunno hawken, old people and hipsters dont really play pc games much.

sonic

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9045478

Macs have a 6.55% market share...

They sure have dominated every domain!

hawken

actually I wasn't a fan boy when bungie switched halo from mac to xbox. Then, to me, mac was obscure.

I'm still no fanboy - only the haters call us mac users that

I'm sure out of that 6% at least 4% are used to make 95% of the music you listen to, the movies you watch and the magazines you read. PC's are games company workplace staple, but out here in the rest of the media world, macs are dominant. And rightly so, who would want to edit a 1080p movie on a machine with 32bit processors and a 3gb ram cap?

I'm aware that it seems stylish to use a mac at university, where mac do appear to have a dominant market share among students. But these people are just using it for the same stuff as windows users; word, excel and browsing the web. Who can blame them? /fanboy/ macs are made to look good and work well /fanboy/

j_bradford

I don't hate Macs, I just find it amusing a lot of Mac users are of this feeling that PC's are inferior. Maybe because they are of the minority and they think it's in their contract of purchasing a Mac to put down PC's publicly as much as possible? Why all the hating?

Just to be clear, I think Macs are a tool, like a PC. They do the same shit. Both use the same hardware and both OS's basically just keep copying eachother. You could give me a Mac tommorow and I will go out and create the same shit I would on a PC. Bearing in mind I have to add Windows back in to run all the software OS X doesn't. It does not make a difference in the long run.

My PC is 64-bit with 8 gigs of lovely RAM. It runs so smooth and trouble free. But I don't go around preaching how awesome it is because no one gives a shit. Feels like some Mac users haven't reached that point yet.

Use a Mac, use a PC. Does not matter.

sonic

At both Universities that I have attended, I would say that 90-95% of people still have x86 windows-os laptops. And I'm sure that you know that there is a 64bit xp and vista which have no 3GB cap.

Snowfly

What makes me happiest about my Macbook Pro is that I can run Windows on it. What makes me saddest is that I can't use the entire hard drive for WinXP.

Joao Sapiro

create a new thread if you guys have nothing usefull to say please.

anyway i think im going to get XP64bits, but the thing is....drivers....will they work ?

leilei

Yes

if they're 64-bit that is. Good 64-bit software firewalls are tough to find though.

Most onboard LAN cards don't come with 64-bit support out of the box, so make sure you search for your ethernet driver first for 64-bit. This is IMPORTANT

Oh, and in XP64 some stuff will refuse to run like Gametap and StarForce-protected games, and plus all your Win16 apps and games will no longer function (this goes for 90s setup routines for LucasArts Win95/98 games as well)

TomDunne

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Also whats up with the annoying mac-jeohvah-witness preaching in this thread ?

[/ QUOTE ]

There are three types of OS people:

1) the Mac zealots, who really care about their platform.

2) the *nix zealots, who really care about their platform.

3) the rest of us, who really just don't give a fuck.

Hawken resides in group 1.

[/ QUOTE ]

mac haters are worse than mac fan boys

Games companies are the last bastion for mac infiltration... we have already taken over the domain of print, music, movies and tv production. you'll be next!

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm typing this post an a 17" MacBook Pro, which I use at work and for gaming, seven days a week. The only hate I have is when I realize I'm trying to Ctrl-Z in OSX or Cmd-Z in Windows. Otherwise, yeah, doesn't matter much to me what OS I'm running.

EarthQuake

both suck equally, except for hawken, he sucks way more than both macs and pc's combined.

hawken

[ QUOTE ]
both suck equally, except for hawken, he sucks way more than both macs and pc's combined.

[/ QUOTE ]

its true

but less than EQ

he still uses an atari 2600

LLamaStar

you need a 64 bit operating system.

leilei

[ QUOTE ]
you need a 64 bit operating system.

[/ QUOTE ]

isn't that mentioned quite enough already in this thread? lol

LLamaStar

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
you need a 64 bit operating system.

[/ QUOTE ]

isn't that mentioned quite enough already in this thread? lol

[/ QUOTE ]

yep

Vailias

XP64 is alright. I liked it for a bit, till I had trouble installing half the things I wanted to, and maya's viewport kept not updating no matter what video driver I changed to.
Switched down to x86 xp and the problems are gone.. cept for being able to use all 4 gb of ram. bastage windaz.