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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.
The maximum amount of RAM that Windows XP can support varies depending on the product edition and the processor architecture. All 32-bit editions of XP support up to 4 GB, except the Windows XP Starter edition, which supports up to 512 MB of RAM. [103] The 64-bit editions support up to 128 GB. [104]
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]
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:
Windows XP and newer - Works best with the latest version of Edge, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and AOL Desktop Gold. Mac OS X and newer - Works best with the latest ...
Windows XP x64 can support much more memory; although the theoretical memory limit a 64-bit computer can address is about 16 exabytes, Windows XP x64 is limited to 128 GB of physical memory and 8 terabytes of virtual memory per process while the practical limit is usually the size of the pagefile.
Windows XP 64-Bit Edition: 700 MHz Itanium ... (800x600), 32-bit color Windows Server 2016: ... Maximum limits on physical memory ...
"The primary benefit of moving to 64-bit is the increase in the maximum allocatable system memory (RAM). Windows XP 32-bit is limited to a total of 4 GB, which is, by default, equally divided between Kernel and application usage.