RAM question

[RalphRoberts]

Ok, first off, sorry if there is a better subforum for this, and if there is, please point me towards it.

I have a server for me and my friends running on my computer (Vista Home Premium 64 bit), and was wondering if I could make it run faster. Before, I was running it with 2GB of RAM, because I only have 4GB of RAM on my computer. I decided to use readyboost on a flashdrive that has 16GB, and allocated all of the space as RAM. The problem is, I thought that vista could only use 4GB of RAM, ever.

If I run the server on 4GB, and my Tekkit on 2GB, will that work or will my computer crash and/or catch fire?

[phoenix987]

That version of Vista supports up to 16GB of RAM. The 4GB problem you've heard of is related to 32 bit OSes. With a 64 bit system you could theoretically use 16 exabytes, but Windows and modern hardware limitations get in the way.

That said, you should try to allocate physical RAM only. Readyboost is a fancy form of swap space that, while faster than your hard drive, takes ages to access from the CPU's perspective when compared to RAM. It can help if you're already hitting swap on your hard drive, but otherwise it's not worth it. Also keep in mind that Vista and any background processes will want their own RAM, so you shouldn't use all 4GB for Tekkit.

I'm running a small FTB server on an old laptop with 2GB of RAM with the major bottleneck being my upload speed. With a couple people online it uses around 1GB. You should be fine with 2GB for yours, depending on how many people you play with.

TL;DR Use 2GB for the server and 1-1.5GB for the client.

[NightKev]

Actually, even 32bit OSes can use more than 4GB of RAM if they're able to use... some feature or another (PAE I think?), which goes up to something like 4TB.

[freakachu]

so basically, the answer to your question is yes, it will work. however, it will be very slow and undesirable.

[RalphRoberts]

Thank you for all of your help, now I can put that fire extinguisher back in the garage!