How much memory can a Dell Precision 380 workstation recognize?

I would like to upgrade the memory on my Dell Precision 380 workstation. It now has 2 gig but can hold as much as 8 gig. Is it worth buying up to 8 gig? I heard it's wasted because it won't recognize a full 8 gig? Is this true? If so, how much will it recognize?How much memory can a Dell Precision 380 workstation recognize?first you can run a 64 bit OS, your processor supports 64 bit instructions. If you want to go to 8 gigs then you need to run a 64 bit OS in order for it use all the available ram.



This is how it works. 32 bit OS has a limit of 4 gigs of ram. That's is because 2^32 is roughly 4 billion. that's where that number comes from

a 64 bit OS has a limit of 16 gig or 2^64, which is roughly 16 billion something.



A 32 bit OS only gives you 4 gigs of memory registers. Remember that all ram gets calculated into that number, system ram, video ram, soundcard memory, raid card, swap space, etc..

So you might have a 2 gigs of system ram, but you also have 256 on your video card. (going with the factory spec vid card). so you really have 2.25 gig of ram plus whatever you have for swap space. (virtual ram).





My recommend is this, if you are using the workstation for any kind of engineering, database, or 3d content program. Increase the amount of ram that you can afford, any of those programs typically scale very well to increase in ram.

Once you install the ram, you will need to reinstall your OS for a 64 bit one. You have to do a complete reinstall, there is no way to upgrade a 32 bit install to a 64 bit one.

I'd recommend windows XP 64bit, over vista. It's much quicker, and stable.How much memory can a Dell Precision 380 workstation recognize?Actually, using 64-bit register means you can have 17.2 billion gigabytes of RAM.



2^64 = 18446744073709551616



That's a whole lot of ram.



A little late :)

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How much memory can a Dell Precision 380 workstation recognize?only 64 bit versions of operating system can recognize that much memory, if your processor is 64 bit and you have a 64bit OS, then your PC will recognize even up to 128 GB of memory and more, but if not, then 2GB is the limit...How much memory can a Dell Precision 380 workstation recognize?
If you are running a 32Bit OS System-NO it will only recognize up to 3.5GB.