RAM... what about it?

[RCW!]

So Currently I have Windows XP running on my PC.

Dual Core Athlon x64 (32 bit xp though)
2 gb ram
2 sata 7200 hd's
REAPER
MOTU 828mkIII

My question is:
My motherboard can handle up to 3 gigs of RAM, but before I purchase the extra gig I would like to know if it will really be beneficial to my recording setup. Even though I think that Reaper itself might be able to access the extra gig, will windows allow it? I have heard that windows will only use 2 gigs (unless it has been changed or fixed?). So if that << is true then is there really a point in the upgrade. I don't want the extra RAM if it serves no purpose.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Jedman]

This seems a little strange to me, the 3GB I mean. Most popular Athlon mobos allowed for Dual Channel RAM, for DDR or DDR2 meaning you'd support 2GB, 4GB or 8GB depending on slots available.
So...what kind is the RAM? DDR or DDR2? What socket is your Athlon - 939, 940, AM2? How many physical RAM slots do you have? That will help with the answer.

Short answer is yes, 32 Bit OS will use 3GB. Limit it will see is 4GB...but you don't normally see that much because of the way the system is configured into the upper 1GB of RAM. There is a way to switch that last 1GB to programs, but at the expense of memory for the Kernal, so that's not usually as good of an idea as it sounds.
But, as much as I love shoving lots of RAM in a PC, I'm not sure you'd really notice much of a difference from 2GB to 3GB in XP. Vista? Yes. XP, well, you would if you were trying to run more than one program while recording something...or have background tasks going on. More is always better, of course, and the difference will be there, but unless it's dual channel and you're doubling the RAM, it's hard to say at what point you'd notice it.

Jed