Maximum RAM with PAE enabled quantity?

[Solitario]

Hello.
I plan to buy more RAM to your PC. I have Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit, I wonder how much RAM recognizes win7 with PAE enabled.

Thank you in advance.

Best regards. :wave:

 

[Xer]

Hi Solitario,

It's dependent on the processor, but theoretically it can do up to 128GB of RAM (you'd likely be looking at a cap of 64GB). Bare in mind that PAE patching will not increase the virtual address spacing for individual processes past 4GB, so depending on what you're looking to do, it might not be that helpful. There are also known stability issues with using PAE, so it may be more advisable to upgrade to a 64-bit variant of Windows first, and then upgrade the RAM (either simultaneously, or later if it's a budget constraint).

 

[Solitario]

Hello.
Thank you very much for your response. I will install Windows 64-bit and then I'll buy more RAM.
The theme can be as resolved.
Thank you very much again.
Best regards.

 

[Digerati]

I will install Windows 64-bit and then I'll buy more RAM.

FWIW, I think this is a much wiser solution. As Xer noted, PAE still has potentially severe 4GB limitations so you still cannot take full advantage of your installed >4GB RAM with the 32-bit OS. And in some case studies, the overhead involved in managing PAE adversely impacted performance with some tasks. There's just no substitute for going with a 64-bit OS.

Do note that many older motherboards did not support more than 4GB so do your homework before plunking down your $$$.

 

[Solitario]

Thanks a lot! :smile9:
Best regards. :wave: