sizes of RAM, of virtual memory and of swap for 32-bit OS

Posted by Tim on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Tim
Published on 2011-01-02T02:26:04Z Indexed on 2011/01/02 2:55 UTC
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If I understand correctly, a 32-bit OS (Ubuntu) can only address 4GiB memory, so RAM with size larger than 4Gib will only be used 4Gib of itself and the rest is a waste.

I am now confused about this situation for RAM with similar one for virtual memory and for swap.

  1. with virtual memory being swap + RAM, if the size of the virtual memory exceeds 4Gib, will the exceeding part be a waste for the 32-bit OS?
  2. if I now have to choose the size for my swap partition, is it a factor to consider that the 32-bit OS can only address 4GiB memory? Does the size of swap have to be chosen with respect to the 4Gib addressible limitation? Will the swap exceeding 4GiB always be a waste?

  3. is virtual memory equal to RAM and swap? or can virtual memory use space on the hard drive outside the swap partition?

Thanks and regards!

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