Vista Premium & RAM

[beachbumfromoz]

Have had my new computer for just over a week now and been just been familiarising myself with all it does. Have been very happy to date.

One thing I checked out was making sure RAM is all working. I have 4 gig of RAM but the Vista Welcome Center says my computer has 3 gig.....Task Manager says I have 3.069gig......Dell Support Centre says I have Total memory of 3 gig with available memory of 2 gig.

Everest Home Edition says: 3.069 gig, Crucial Scan says I have the 4 sticks of 1.024 gig.

So I rang Dell who says I have the 4 gig and Vista just doesnt show it all, so he directed me through the BIOS which shows 4 gig.

After further reasearch the Crucial Scan site advises that "32bit Windows versions (Premium and lower) will see and utilize only 3 or 3.5gig. To utilize more memory, install a 64bit version of your OS". (Ultimate).

I also discovered that to run Vista Ultimate you also need a 64bit processor and the microsoft windows site guided me to a page that said my Intel Core 2Duo E4400 was only 32bit......An Intel data sheet talks about all Core 2 Duos as "64bit computing".

My Dell purchase was advertised as 2gig of RAM with a free upgrade to 3gig and I decided to go 1 step further with 4gig at extra cost which their sales people were well aware of after a lengthy discussion.

If all this info is true and that I am not getting utilization of 4gig I feel duped by Dell. And will also have to look at upgrading to Ultimate (if my processor allows).

Any comments are much appreciated.
Col

[Archdoom]

Hey, I had this problem too. (I now use a 64-bit OS, but only as my CPU was comaptible)

You can let it sit with the amount of RAM it is currently allowing, as you may not even need the full 4 gigs.

I felt sort of duped too, it should bemore widely advertised, but that would cut sales, so don't expect to see any changes in that respect.

[beachbumfromoz]

Thanks for your reply.....my system is very quick but it's the principle....and I may have even opted for Ultimate if was given the opportunity.

Was the upgrade expensive? and was it easy to install?

Col

[Archdoom]

I managed to get an OEM version of 64-it with a floppy disk drive for about $180 but being able to do this is uncommon, as you normally must buy a whole new system, or get a non-oem version for about $400
INstallation was easy, the only problem was that I didn't get rid of the old 32 bit vista, so now that is 20GB of space, but I plan to deal with that later. (this is only because I have 2 Hard Drives, each has a different vista)
You can make it format the HDD when installing vista, which I accidentally forgot to do, and have been too busy to format the HDD with 32 bit vista recently.

The most expensive part for you would likely be the need to obtain a new processor.
(I know how you feel about teh principle, that was my reason for getting 64-bit)
Another problem with 64-bit Vista can be compatability, mainly I have had trouble finding a good free firewall that will work, so am using a 90 day trial of Norton Internet security 2007 that came with my motherboard (It is a resource hog, but it works).

To be simple:
It wasn't very expensive for me, but may be for you, and it was easy to install.
I myself don't see too much difference between home premium and ultimate, not that I need anyway, although the backgrounds that ultimate comes with look a bit cooler.

Here we go, you will probably need a new processor, but as you live in perth if you do want to get 64 bit, the store I went to should be ok for you too. You will need to buy a piece of hardware (Just buy a floppy disk drive for $17, or if you need a processor, it would be expensive, but that would work too). Here's the web address: http://www.foxcomp.com.au
But don't forget, you probably need a new processor, I am unable to check that, as the required flash for intel's site wont work on the 64-bit IE7 I am using, and the 32 bit IE and firefox are currently not working.

[photolady]

I don't know where you found the info about your Core 2 Duo only being 32bit but whoever wrote that info was off by a mile. All Core 2 Duo's are 64bit. As are all CPU's now.

[beachbumfromoz]

Yeah I have since found out from Intel that same thing, that all Core 2 Duos are 64bit.......a microsoft site I was led to advised I needed to upgrade processor to 64bit, but I now know thats not necessary.

My machine is only a week old so all the installed hardware should be 64bit Vista ready.

So installing the upgrade to Ultimate would require a "Clean-install"? is that right? not over-writing existing Premium version. This should mean backing up my files etc. Will I lose everything or is it precautionary?

I am slowly getting handle on the OS side of things....have never really understood it in the past.

Many thanks for your input guys.
Col :happy:

[Archdoom]

Well that makes it easier, just go to the site I said, and do as I did.
It'll cost you about 170 - 180 dollars (AUD), and compatability can be an issue, but I'll let you weigh up the pro's and cons.

www.start64.com
Can be some help
http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_RTM_Software_Compatibility_List
Should give you some idea of what will and won't work.
ALSO make sure your Anti Virus and Anti malware are 64 bit, not 32 bit, as they will not be able to scan everything unless the are 64 bit. (Sorry about the bad wording there)

[Archdoom]

Methinks you may lose everything, and have to reinstall it all form discs, as some stuff will not work,
To upgrade to ultimate should be fine, if it is 32 bit, just buy an upgrade, or use the anytime upgrade thingy included in vista. it would be expensive
If you were to get 64-bit utimate, I dont know about the price, but you will probably have to overwrite and format everything. *(not too sure on this)
-Archdoom

[rwt325]

Before you spend money I would suggest you install a little side bar multimeter which tells you the % usage on each core and RAM memory. This will tell you if you are running close to your 3 GB capacity. On my 2 GB RAM I have never exceeded 55% memory use. Even playing card games.

[beachbumfromoz]

Thanks again for everyone's inpout, much appreciated.

I did have a sidebar installed but found the CPU part of either didnt work or was wrong reading. It sat most of the time on zero whilst the reading on Task Manager had been as high as 80%. So got rid of sidebar.

At the end of the day I am very happy with how my system is running. The RAM and CPU are doing a great job. It's the fact I was sold something (extra Gig of RAM) that's pretty much not doing anything and Dell's after sales service has been pretty ordinary as well. Maybe thats why they can sell their systems much cheaper.

So at the moment I am just weighing up spending the money on upgrading to Ultimate to be able to utilize extra gig of RAM or just leave as is, as it aint broke, so no real need to fix it....maybe I should ask for a refund on the 1gig LOL

Cheers
Col