4gb Ram, boot.ini, & Win XP question

[GPUCommando]

If I enable the 3gb switch in the boot.ini file to read like so:

[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" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /3gb

Will this force the system kernal into 1gb, and 3gb for other non-related system apps?

System properties still shows total recognized RAM as 3.00 gigs, but under "commit charge" the total amount has increased from 5xxx to 6015. Does this indicate success in more RAM recognition?

 

[ambientZ]

That switch doesnt increase ram recognition.

On normal 32-bit apps you have 4gb of virtual address space. This is split 2gb to the app, 2gb to the kernel. This is all virtual address space, it has nothing to do with how much ram you have.

The /3gb switch is designed to change the Virtual Address space scheme to 3gb to the app, 1gb to the kernel. However the application has to be compiled with the right options for this to work. Most apps are not configured for this.

Virtual Address space is not ram.

 

[GPUCommando]

Alright, makes sense. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[nessus]

The /3gb switch is designed to change the Virtual Address space scheme to 3gb to the app, 1gb to the kernel. However the application has to be compiled with the right options for this to work. Most apps are not configured for this.

And in the process of removing address space from the OS, several critical limited memory pools are made even smaller..

Memory table responsible for tracking which piece of memory is used by what application (PTFEs, reduced to 1/4 quarter its normal entries, reduced in size by 1/2 and records double in size!)
Kernel Paged Pool (on a 4 GB machine reduced from 350 MB to 243 MB)
Kernel Non-paged pool

If you deal with SQL, Exchange, Oracle DBs on 32-bit OSs, you get to know these things very well. Non-paged pool and PTFEs can be tweaked by adjustments with the /userva switch, but not the kernel paged pool...