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The 2 GB limit refers to a physical memory barrier for a process running on a 32-bit operating system, which can only use a maximum of 2 GB of memory. [1] The problem mainly affects 32-bit versions of operating systems like Microsoft Windows and Linux, although some variants of the latter can overcome this barrier. [2]
Many 32-bit computers have 32 physical address bits and are thus limited to 4 GiB (2 32 words) of memory. [3] [4] x86 processors prior to the Pentium Pro have 32 or fewer physical address bits; however, most x86 processors since the Pentium Pro, which was first sold in 1995, have the Physical Address Extension (PAE) mechanism, [5]: 445 which allows addressing up to 64 GiB (2 36 words) of memory.
Limits on physical memory for 32-bit platforms also depend on the presence and use of Physical Address Extension (PAE), which allows 32-bit systems to use more than 4 GB of physical memory. PAE and 64-bit systems may be able to address up to the full address space of the x86 processor.
The PCI hole or PCI memory hole is a limitation of 32-bit hardware and 32-bit operating systems that causes a computer to appear to have less memory available than is physically installed. [1] This memory addressing limitation and the later workarounds necessary to overcome it are functionally similar to the memory limits of the early 8088 IBM ...
32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows support PAE if booted with the appropriate option. According to Microsoft Technical Fellow Mark Russinovich, some drivers were found to be unstable when encountering physical addresses above 4GB. [16] The following table shows the memory limits for 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows:
Microsoft Windows is the name of several families of computer software operating systems created by Microsoft.Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUIs).
Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for Itanium systems, Version 2002 – Based on Windows XP codebase, was released simultaneously alongside the 32-bit (IA-32) version of Windows XP on October 25, 2001. [37] Windows XP 64-Bit Edition, Version 2003 – Based on Windows Server 2003 code base (which added support for the Itanium 2 processor), was released ...
The first, Windows XP 64-Bit Edition, was intended for IA-64 systems; as IA-64 usage declined on workstations in favor of AMD's x86-64 architecture, the Itanium edition was discontinued in January 2005. [57] A new 64-bit edition supporting the x86-64 architecture, called Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, was released in April 2005. [58]