Upgrading Hardware Question

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by michael78, Aug 21, 2007.

  1. michael78

    michael78 Terabyte Poster

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    Guys, I'm wanting to put a Q6600 into my PC (Upgraded from a E6600) and upgrade from 2GB Ram to 4GB Ram using 2X "GB Sticks. My question is will I need to reinstall Windows after upgrading the CPU (Never upgraded a CPU in my PC before :oops: ). Also will the PC see the 4GB Ram on Windows XP Pro using 2X 2GB Ram sticks. I know the limitation of Windows 32bit is 4GB but I've heard people installing 4GB only for the OS to see 3GB.



    Cheers in Advance

    Michael
     
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  2. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    You should be able to see the full 4GB of RAM on XP, but I never went that high on mine, so i cant say for sure. I believe its down to how much your mobo can address (if it can address the full 32 bit then it should read the 4GB no problem - but apparently (previously at least) some manufacturers didnt set their boards to address the full 32bits. maybe!

    As for replacing the CPU, you shouldnt need to reinstall windows. Its the same as with most hardware (Except maybe your HDD). Windows will just update with whatever the BIOS tells it.
     
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  3. noelg24

    noelg24 Terabyte Poster

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    no need to reinstall windows mate, as for windows seeing 4GB with a single 2GB stick, I dont see why it shouldnt...but yes in most cases Windows will only see 3GB but just give it a try and see what happens...its all about trial and error in the end my friend :biggrin
     
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  4. michael78

    michael78 Terabyte Poster

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    Cheers guys for the info. I wasn't sure if I had to reinstall the OS again because of the HAL.
     
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  5. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    nope shouldnt do. HAL is adaptive. Otherwise you would have to reinstall every time you put in another stick of ram/HDD/Graphics card/etc

    EDIT: Actually. Thats exactly what the HAL is for, to stop you having to reinstall:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_abstraction_layer
     
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  6. michael78

    michael78 Terabyte Poster

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    ooh well you learn something new everyday...:biggrin

    Cheers Guys for the info
     
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  7. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    Keep in mind that 4GB is the memory addressing limit for 32-bit Windows... not just your RAM memory, but any virtual memory, driver addressing memory, video card memory, EVERYTHING. So if you've got a 512MB video card, you may just find that you've got less than 3.5GB RAM available.
     
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  8. stuPeas

    stuPeas Megabyte Poster

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    I'm sure that on all the MOBO's ive used it says you need 64 bit windows to address 4Gigs of RAM, I could be wrong!!:blink
     
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  9. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    see michaels post. thats likely why they say that.
     
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  10. grim

    grim Gigabyte Poster

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    tis true and why 64-bit is the way forward, only draw back is/was the driver/software support. although its been what a year and a half since 64-bit xp was released.

    grim
     
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  11. dmarsh
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    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    Mike is right theres lots good articles.

    AnardTech has a series of 4 articles..

    http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=3060

    32 Bit addressing allows addressing 4GB address space.

    Problem is design of windows uses mapped memory. Every bit of memory that gets mapped can be taken off that as mike correctly pointed out.

    Its slightly more complicated because of other ideas like DMA,Window/Overlay ideas. The graphics card may not have all its memory mapped at once, however other devices will also potentially be mapping memory. Theres therefore a pretty good chance that the last 500MB of system memory won't be directly addressable by windows.
     
  12. michael78

    michael78 Terabyte Poster

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    ahh didn't know that included other memory like the GPU. Thats why I was confused about reports of XP seeing only 3GB and not 4GB and now I know.

    The only thing I'm a little worried about is that I know I can get 64x drivers for my motherboard and printers etc but I'm a big gamer and am worried if I go onto a x64 OS that my games won't work or is it backwards compatible with software?

    Anyways cheers for the info guys it's much appreciated...:biggrin
     
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  13. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    What games do you play?

    Im on a x64 OS and not having much trouble. I initially had problems after installing C&C3, but that was due to the copy-protection program running on 32 bit drivers. Patching to the latest version worked without problems.

    I play wow mostly on my machine. Worked without issue. I've also managed to run Uplink and Defcon without issue.

    Basically, as i understand it, a program/game will only not work on a machine if that program requires drivers to be installed onto the machine (assuming that they do not provide a 64 bit version).
     
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  14. ThomasMc

    ThomasMc Gigabyte Poster

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    do you still have to use the /3GB switch in the boot.ini these days?
     
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  15. michael78

    michael78 Terabyte Poster

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    I tend to play Neverwinter Nights, Guild Wars, COD 2, Battlefield 2 etc.
     
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  16. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    NWN seems to have some problems with x64, based on a quick search. Just do a quick search for "<game> x64 windows" and see what comes up.
     
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  17. michael78

    michael78 Terabyte Poster

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    installed Windows XP Pro x64 and tested a few games including NWN and it all seems to work fine. The only thing I'm having problems with is my Antivirus software won't install so I've installed AVG instead.
     
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