Windows 7 will take the maximum amount of supported system memory well beyond the limits of Windows Vista.
In this regard, the high-end edition of the upcoming Windows client will play nice with just a tad short of 200 GB of Random Access Memory. At the same time, Windows 7 has been designed to work under normal parameters starting with as little as 1 GB of RAM, in order to fit onto cheap and resource-constrained netbooks. However, given proper hardware, namely if the mainboard can handle increased amounts of system memory, Windows 7 Ultimate is ready to swallow no less than 192 GB of RAM.
This is of course valid for 64-bit versions of the next iteration of Windows, running on top of x64 CPUs, according to WinSuperSite. As far as the 32-bit editions of Windows 7 are concerned, the limit continues to be 4 GB of RAM. However, even if Windows 7 correctly reports all 4 GB of RAM installed on a machine, the 32-bit versions of the platform will not be able to address all of it.
x86 architectures have a limited address space, just 4 GB in total, and they have to fit all hardware components, leaving at maximum just 3.5 GB, but more in the vicinity of 3.3 GB for RAM. As you can see in the screenshot accompanying this article, my 32-bit Windows 7 Build 7100 Ultimate is only able to address and use 3.37 GB of RAM out of the total 3.5 GB installed. This limitation is valid for all editions of Windows 7 32-bit.
Source: Softpedia
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