Max amount of RAM that Win ME uses

[AdamP]

I have a question for you guys. I just installed 512MB RAM in my system with Windows ME. I was told that Win ME doesn't use more than 256MB RAM. Is this true? If not, what is the max amount it can handle?

Thanks!

[tazman]

I've read an article somewhere awhile ago that claimed that also. It stated that ME maxed out at 256 and 2000 at 512.

I'm running both o/s's as a dual boot on a 1/3 AMD, w/ 640 MB SDRAM which is probably alot of overkill - 'cuz I can, I guess

[Bsdboy]

It can use 512 check out here:
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/Forum9/HTML/004334.html

Bsdboy

[Sixpac]

Depends on your Motherboard Chipset.

Most VX will only use 64 megs and the rest (newer) will use more.

If you have a new computer (post 1998) then go nuts.

Sixpac>>>>

[DemonKnight]

the older windows 9x versions (95-98) didnt use more than 256 effciently, ME probably has had this issue fixed, windows 2000 will use up to 4 gigs of RAM (it has to hold up to most of its claims its microsofts bussiness OS)

[jad1097]

tazman, could you provide a link?

[This message has been edited by jad1097 (edited 07-28-2001).]

[RobRich]

Microsoft officially states 1 Gigabyte for Win9x/ME and 4 Gigabytes for WinNT/2K. Check the MS Knowlegde Base for more information at http://support.microsoft.com

Win9x/ME will work with upto 4 GB of memory installed, but the memory is not mapped in a linear manner, thus only 1 GB of memory will ever be used at one instance. Some have also complained of severe performance degredation with more than 1 GB installed, but I have yet to witness this side effect personally.

From the performance standpoint, WinME offers little benefit with more than 512 MB installed unless you tend to multitask twenty or more applications at a single time. If that is the case, you should be using Win2K in the first place. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

If you are using WinNT/2K and seeking the best performance, then max out your motherboard with as much memory as possible. Considering the cheap prices of 256 MB modules, I would recommend 512 MB as a good starting point. For those needing serious multitasking support, then go for 1.5 GB or more if possible since the prices are boarding on ridiculously cheap. 3 x 512mb = 1.5 GB of high-density (check your m/b for support!) can be found for less than $150 at http://www.pricewatch.com

Robert Richmond

[RobRich]

Read my above post, those are the officially documented numbers. These are references directly from MS tech docs, not some third party source.

I trust shows like those on TechTV about as far as I can actually throw my 50" TV. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

Robert Richmond

[DemonKnight]

I learned almost every thing I know about computers from the screen savers and call for help, both of which are on tech tv. I admit they may not be 100% right about every thing but they are good shows and they are live, trying to help people who call in. (Though it go to a point were it was the same type of question all the time and I watch them once a week or so now.) Every thing else I know about computers came from the internet and here.

[bill1971]

I've heard from some reliable TV sources that Windows98/ME can't "see" or actually use
any more than 512MB ; I believe 2GB can be used by WinNT or 2000.
I understand that in normal applications,you will not see much performance increase going from 256 to 512MB,(maybe 5% or so),but you
will see better performance from graphics-
intensive apps,e.g.,video-editing.

[This message has been edited by bill1971 (edited 06-26-2001).]

[hesher289]

I have tried running 1024mb with ME/A7V, blue screen error everytime. Switched back to 512, flawless. Its been about 3-4 mos. since my last attempt, maybe nows my big chance. I use 2000 advanced server(dual-boot) also, which has no problem with the added ram, the ME has been the limiting factor w/adding add'l ram previously.Using an addl mem. man. utility probably would hurt either.

[Ballastboss]

Appears 512mb is the sweet spot. http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q253/9/12.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0


[This message has been edited by Ballastboss (edited 06-27-2001).]

[daveleau]

WinME can use up to 512, but it effectively uses up to 128. What I mean by that, is you will notice general speed increases in system performance up to 128. Anything after that has to do with heavy operations. If you are a graphic designer or love to do heavy multitasking, then you can benefit from more than 128.

Dave

[Crajy B]

I've read all these posting but I'm still confused. I have 392Mb of SDRAM and I want to run Windows 98 SE. Will there be any problems with using this much RAM? Some say 256 is the max... others say 512... I'm really confused.

[Fingers]

Crajy, whether the limit is 512GB or 1GB, you'll DEFINITELY be OK at 392MB.

I'm running 384MB right now on Win98SE... only because Windows gives vdx errors at 512MB.

[Brangwen]

Crajy B:

I attempted to use 768MB SDRAM on Win98se system: NO GO. Has to do with <u>vcache</u>, if I recall accurately, and I really wasn't interested in playing with so-called "work-around."

See THIS ARTICLE (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q253/9/12.ASP) in Windows Forum / Support.

I'm pleasantly running 512MB PC133 Micron/Crucial SDRAM under Win98se.

Good luck.

Brangwen http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[Fingers]

&lt;Update to above post&gt;

I found the culprit, and I'm now running 512MB on two Win98 machines.

[Richard_Cranium72]

To use the MaxPhysPage entry to specify the amount of RAM that is available to Windows, add the following line in the [386Enh] section of the System.ini file


MaxPhysPage=&lt;nnn&gt;

where &lt;nnn&gt; is a hexidecimal number that determines the number of memory pages available to Windows. A page is 4096 bytes of RAM for 486 and Pentium processors.

When the MaxPhysPage entry is used, the following formula is used to determine the amount of RAM available to Windows:

4096 X MaxPhysPage (decimal) = Amount of RAM available to Windows in bytes

Therefore, to limit Windows to 32 MB of memory, use the following formula to determine the MaxPhysPage entry:

(32 * 1048576) / 4096 = 8192 (decimal) or 02000 (hexadecimal)

NOTE: One megabyte is 1,048,576 bytes.

The following table list some common RAM amounts and the corresponding MaxPhysPage entry:

Amount of RAM
available to Windows (MB) (Bytes) MaxPhysPage entry
--------------------------------------------------------------
960 1,006,632,960 MaxPhysPage=3C000
896 939,524,096 MaxPhysPage=38000
832 872,415,323 MaxPhysPage=34000
768 805,306,368 MaxPhysPage=30000
704 738,197,504 MaxPhysPage=2C000
640 671,088,640 MaxPhysPage=28000
576 603,979,776 MaxPhysPage=24000
512 536,870,912 MaxPhysPage=20000
448 469,762,048 MaxPhysPage=1C000
384 402,653,184 MaxPhysPage=18000
320 335,544,320 MaxPhysPage=14000
256 268,435,456 MaxPhysPage=10000
224 234,881,024 MaxPhysPage=0E000
192 201,326,592 MaxPhysPage=0C000
160 167,772,160 MaxPhysPage=0A000
128 134,217,728 MaxPhysPage=08000
96 100,663,296 MaxPhysPage=06000
88 92,274,688 MaxPhysPage=05800
80 83,886,080 MaxPhysPage=05000
72 75,497,472 MaxPhysPage=04800
64 67,108,864 MaxPhysPage=04000
56 58,720,256 MaxPhysPage=03800
48 50,331,648 MaxPhysPage=03000
40 41,943,040 MaxPhysPage=02800
32 33,554,432 MaxPhysPage=02000
24 25,165,824 MaxPhysPage=01800
16 16,777,216 MaxPhysPage=01000
12 12,582,912 MaxPhysPage=00C00
08 8,388,608 MaxPhysPage=00800


http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q181/8/62.ASP

[DellGuru]

Here is some info you'll find most interesting:
WinME can't handle more than 512 megs of memory
By: Andrew Thomas
Posted: 24/11/2000 at 09:51 GMT


Like world+dog, we were obviously looking for something to beat up on Intel with following the launch of the P4. Unlike most of the planet, we reckoned that an old BIOS shipped with a couple of old mobos wasn't much of a story.

We much preferred a glitch we'd discovered a couple of weeks ago that appeared to be a rerun of the Caminogate RDRAM cockup. And, unlike some folk, we actually did some research before loosing the hounds on Chipzilla.

Our sample P4 and D850GB mobo, supplied with Windows ME installed, ran perfectly happily with the 256MB of RDRAM shipped to us. It also ran perfectly happily with the 512MB of RDRAM that Kingston sent us. Only when we tried to run both together did we hit problems.

No matter which configurations we tried, the system would not run with 768MB of memory, returning the error message: "There is not enough memory available to run this program. Quit one or more programs, and then try again."

768MB "not enough"? Blimey.

At first we considered the obvious options - unsupported RIMMs, mixing ECC and non-ECC memory, phases of the moon and so forth. This was tantalisingly familiar territory: an Intel RDRAM mobo that didn't work properly with fully-populated RIMM slots.

But the answer turned out to be far more mundane: Windows ME simply can't cope with more than 512MB of memory.

And neither can any other Win9x variant.

And it's a 'feature'. It transpires that Win ME, Win98 and Win95 cannot deal with main memory sizes in excess of 512MB. The Microsoft Knowledgebase entries on the subject (dating back a few short weeks) contain the following fascinating facts:

"The Windows 32-bit protected-mode cache driver (Vcache) determines the maximum cache size based on the amount of RAM that is present when Windows starts. Vcache then reserves enough memory addresses to permit it to access a cache of the maximum size so that it can increase the cache to that size if needed. These addresses are allocated in a range of virtual addresses from 0xC0000000 through 0xFFFFFFFF (3 to 4 gigabytes) known as the system arena.

"On computers with large amounts of RAM, the maximum cache size can be large enough that Vcache consumes all of the addresses in the system arena, leaving no virtual memory addresses available for other functions such as opening an MS-DOS prompt (creating a new virtual machine).

"This problem may occur more readily with Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) video adapters because the AGP aperture is also mapped to addresses in the system arena. For example, if Vcache is using a maximum cache size of 800MB and an AGP video adapter has a 128MB aperture mapped, there is very little address space remaining for the other system code and data that must occupy this range of virtual addresses."

And here are the three suggested workarounds:

"1. Physically remove any memory in excess of 512MB [!]

"2. Use the System Configuration utility to limit the amount of memory that Windows uses to 512MB or less.

"3. Use the MaxFileCache setting in the System.ini file to reduce the maximum amount of memory that Vcache uses to 512MB (524,288 KB) or less."

And the unspoken fourth solution: upgrade to Windows 2000.

Knowledgebase also admits that the addressing restriction has been identified as a failing in Windows. Installing Win2K obviated the problem. All 768MB ran faultlessly.

So if you think that adding extra memory will make your Win 9x system run faster, the answer is: it will, provided you don't exceed 512MB. With today's systems more than capable of exceeding this size, and with wallets capacious enough to purchase more than 512MB of RDRAM, Win 9X/ME suddenly appears rather passé.

Scary thought: how much memory will Office 2001 require? ®

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here is the link from www.wmeworld.com, (http://www.wmeworld.com,) http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/14967.html cheers : )

[manwhore]

Me does have issues with mapping ram more than 512mb correctly due to ovelapping addresses of the upper limit of your ram and virtual address space.

all you have to do is boot into safe mode and use the advanced option in msconfig to set max ram size to whatever you have in the machine.
this forces windoze to map virtual addresses out of the meory range