XP 32bit 4GB memory question

[coelenterate]

actually, i have 2 questions.
First one is:

i have a Gigabyte GA-8KNXP (rev2) motherboard. i replaced 4 sticks of OCZ 512mb perf series 3200 with 4 sticks of Gskill 1gb (2 sets of F1-3200PHU2-2GBNS)
Since XP doesn't recognise the full 4GB of memory, am i better off just using 2 of the 1GB Gskill and 2 of the OCZ 512mb (for total 3GB), versus the 4 sticks of Gskill which XP only says totals 3.34GB? Not sure if the 'extra' unused memory slows the system down.


Second question.
A friend has an old Compaq Presario SR1610NX. Near as i can tell, it has 256MB mem (PC3200)... one stick.
Motherboard is a MSI-7184 (amethyst M-GL6E in HP lingo) with 4 slots. i think processor is a sempron 3200 1.8GHz. Anyways, she wants to upgrade her memory (obviously!) Would the Gskill F1-3200PHU1-1GBNT (2 sticks) work in her machine?

thanks for any help!

[G.SKILL]

the unused memory would not slow the system, it just can't be all allocated

and F1-3200PHU1-1GBNT is compatible with this motherboard
Thanks


G.S

[Wildman95gst]

I would stick with the 2 sets of F1-3200PHU2-2GBNS, mixing module sizes / manufactures and you are asking for problems.

[Tradesman]

Stick with the 4GB, the unallocated won't hurt anything and 3.34 is better than 3.0. If/when you move to a 64bit OS, it'll use it all

[GSKILL TECH]

actually, i have 2 questions.
First one is:

i have a Gigabyte GA-8KNXP (rev2) motherboard. i replaced 4 sticks of OCZ 512mb perf series 3200 with 4 sticks of Gskill 1gb (2 sets of F1-3200PHU2-2GBNS)
Since XP doesn't recognise the full 4GB of memory, am i better off just using 2 of the 1GB Gskill and 2 of the OCZ 512mb (for total 3GB), versus the 4 sticks of Gskill which XP only says totals 3.34GB? Not sure if the 'extra' unused memory slows the system down.


Second question.
A friend has an old Compaq Presario SR1610NX. Near as i can tell, it has 256MB mem (PC3200)... one stick.
Motherboard is a MSI-7184 (amethyst M-GL6E in HP lingo) with 4 slots. i think processor is a sempron 3200 1.8GHz. Anyways, she wants to upgrade her memory (obviously!) Would the Gskill F1-3200PHU1-1GBNT (2 sticks) work in her machine?

thanks for any help!

32bits Windows XP and Vista can only read 3.5 to 2.5GB of memory if you have 4GB of memory install. only 64bits OS can read over 3.5GB.

[Tradesman]

Sorry, missed your 2nd question the other day, Yes the F1-3200PHU1-1GBNT should work fine. Unlike most boards, MSI doesn't go 1-3, 2-4 with the installation of RAM, you'll want to put them in slots 1,2.
The manual for the mobo can be found here:

http://217.110.237.67/Manuals/7184-engl%20v1.x.pdf