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#3588546 - 06/08/12 07:54 PM How do 32-bit games handle memory in 64-bit Windows?  
Joined: Aug 2006
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Dr Meltdown Offline
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Dr Meltdown  Offline
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Texas
I started wondering about this. Am I hurting my game performance with a larger memory video card? How do 32bit games allocate memory in the 64bit windows?
For example, I have a graphics card with 2gb video memory in a pc with 4gb system memory. The 32bit memory limit is 3gb, and I think that's combined video and system. Is that correct? So, 32bit software caps out memory usage at that limit, correct? Does the video card come first, limiting my available system memory to less due to the 2gb video memory?
How does a 32bit game see and use memory in a setup similar to mine?


-Dr Meltdown
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#3588610 - 06/08/12 10:06 PM Re: How do 32-bit games handle memory in 64-bit Windows? [Re: Dr Meltdown]  
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JAMF Offline
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JAMF  Offline
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Well, it's a bit ... if-then-else in such a situation.

If on a 32 bit OS, the 3.5GB addressable memory would be shared between OS, programme and graphics card.

If on a 64 bit OS, the limit is 16GB ram on "Home Premium", but that's just hardware on motherboard... and the OS can still address more memory. Sooo, the 2GB video memory doesn't subtract from the RAM.

In your example, the 64bit OS sees 4GB+2GB=6GB. The complete 4GB is available for windows and programmes. Suppose Windows uses some 700MB of that, you have 3.3GB remaining for programmes.

As you said, a 32bit programme is limited to 2GB... unless it is LargeAddressAware. In that case, a 32bit programme will use up to ~3.5GB of memory. In the example, it would therefor be able to use all the remaining free memory.

Would you have had 8GB of RAM, two 32bit programmes could have taken up ~7gb of memory and there would have been 1gb for the OS to play with.

#3588940 - 06/09/12 05:27 PM Re: How do 32-bit games handle memory in 64-bit Windows? [Re: Dr Meltdown]  
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Dr Meltdown Offline
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Dr Meltdown  Offline
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Texas
Hey JAMF,
That's exactly the type of answer I was looking for: Enough explanation for me to understand without getting overly technical.
Thanks!


-Dr Meltdown
#3589634 - 06/11/12 12:06 AM Re: How do 32-bit games handle memory in 64-bit Windows? [Re: Dr Meltdown]  
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Cajun Offline
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Lafayette, LA
Wouldn't CFF explorer be helpful if the game is 32bit and limited to 2GB memory? The CFF explorer will allow the game to use more memory?

http://www.ntcore.com/products.php

Check out this topic as this is where I learned about CFF explorer.

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3421675/1.html


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