xp memory handling

Does anyone have any experience on how much RAM memory would a box running windows XP accept and actively use for simulations?

For instance, I have a pc with "only" 2Gb of ram to run CST studio 2008. Would an upgrade to 8Gb of ram be worth it? Would the entire memory be used for bigger meshing and more complex structures? Because I often get error messages or crashed simulations due to memory lack...

The ability to use larger amounts of RAM is one reason to go to a 64 bit OS. The fly in the ointment is that 64 bit drivers are not available for many devices.

OK, generally speaking, any application running a 32 bit OS like windows XP can use up to 2 GB of RAM, excluding the RAM used by the OS.

In your case you are probably using about 0.5 GB for XP and the rest for CST.

There is a way around it with the 3 GB switch ( please see the Microsoft website),
but that means you could not use more than 3.5 GB of RAM. Buying 8GB will not help.