# how much RAM does windows XP support?



## Mez

Im thinking of building me a portable Lanbox/M-ATX box that can go with me for on-the-go gaming, like going to my friends house, or vacation, stuff like that. But, I don't want to spend alot on the OS/RAM So im thinking of going with XP on this one. 

well I was just wondering, how much RAM does windows XP support. I'm getting answers from 512MB to 6GB, but im guessing it supports up to 4GB.

And is it also true that it can run on 1GB of RAM good?

Oh and the XP Im talking about is Windows XP Home Edition SP3


----------



## shenry

XP Home and Pro have a limit of 4GB, however your never going to get that much and would only get around 3.25 because of other things taking up '_addresses_'

XP 64 bit edition can use up to 128 but again your not going to get that much.

For what your doing 2 GB of RAM would be great however you could do it with 1GB if there is some issue.



MMezna said:


> And is it also true that it can run on 1GB of RAM good?



1GB runs XP very smoothly you only want 2 for gaming really.


----------



## voyagerfan99

shenry said:


> 1GB runs XP very smoothly you only want 2 for gaming really.



I ran XP on my Dimension 2100 with 128MB of RAM


----------



## scooter

voyagerfan99 said:


> I ran XP on my Dimension 2100 with 128MB of RAM



I remember buying a computer years ago that had 128mb and I was so excited at how fast it was gonna be..


----------



## Vizy

a couple years ago (like 10) we bought a computer with 64 MB or RAM that was upgradeable to 256. Watch out now.


----------



## Intel_man

I have XP Professional SP3 and it can only recognize around 3.5GB of RAM but I have 4 sticks of 1 GB in their.


----------



## StrangleHold

Well it supports up to 4gbs. but it allocates some to hardware addresses if you have 4gbs. So you end up with less usable memory. Somewhere between 3 and 3.75 depending on your hardware setup.


----------



## voyagerfan99

StrangleHold said:


> Well it supports up to 4gbs. but it allocates some to hardware addresses if you have 4gbs. So you end up with less usable memory. Somewhere between 3 and 3.75 depending on your hardware setup.



I have 3GB on XP Home and it only sees 2.75


----------



## cangrejero

I have a Dell Dimension 4700.  The BIOS recognizes 4 sticks of 1Gb.  However, XP SP3 only recognizes 2.75Gb.  I could live with XP recognizing 3.75 Gb, but why only 2.75 Gb?  Any guidance appreciated.  Thanks!!


----------



## dug987654

MMezna said:


> And is it also true that it can run on 1GB of RAM good?



My first (and current) XP computer (SP1, must be four years old now I reckon) had 512mb RAM, and worked fine with all the games of the time. In actual fact I only put another 512mb in about a year ago. 

I know you said in your original post that you want it specifically for gaming, so your gonna want more but I just thought I'd add my 2 cents! 

Doug


----------



## smoothjk

cangrejero said:


> I have a Dell Dimension 4700.  The BIOS recognizes 4 sticks of 1Gb.  However, XP SP3 only recognizes 2.75Gb.  I could live with XP recognizing 3.75 Gb, but why only 2.75 Gb?  Any guidance appreciated.  Thanks!!



Do you have a video card and a TV tuner or some other peripheral using that memory?

BTW, XP runs perfectly on 2 GB. There's no difference I can see going from 2 to 4 (well, 3.25 on my system) doing daily tasks and heavy gaming.


----------



## Irishwhistle

scooter said:


> I remember buying a computer years ago that had 128mb and I was so excited at how fast it was gonna be..



My old rig with 256MB RAM ran XP slow. lol


----------



## AlienMenace

Are you running a on board video, that is taking away ram. If you were to run Window xp x64 bit. Make sure you find all the drivers for your machine and printers, scanner and web cams.


----------

