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220-801 · Question #822

Which of the following operating system types will allow a user to utilize 16GB of RAM if installed on a PC workstation?

The correct answer is D. 64-bit. A 32-bit operating system can address at most 2^32 bytes of memory, which equals 4GB. In practice, usable RAM is typically limited to around 3.2–3.5GB due to memory-mapped I/O reservations. A 64-bit OS can theoretically address up to 2^64 bytes (16 exabytes), making 16GB of RAM…

Hardware

Question

Which of the following operating system types will allow a user to utilize 16GB of RAM if installed on a PC workstation?

Options

  • A8-bit
  • B16-bit
  • C32-bit
  • D64-bit

How the community answered

(50 responses)
  • A
    2% (1)
  • B
    2% (1)
  • C
    6% (3)
  • D
    90% (45)

Explanation

A 32-bit operating system can address at most 2^32 bytes of memory, which equals 4GB. In practice, usable RAM is typically limited to around 3.2–3.5GB due to memory-mapped I/O reservations. A 64-bit OS can theoretically address up to 2^64 bytes (16 exabytes), making 16GB of RAM fully accessible. 8-bit and 16-bit operating systems are legacy architectures with far smaller addressable memory limits. Any system needing more than 4GB of RAM must run a 64-bit operating system.

Topics

#64-bit OS#RAM addressing#memory limits#operating system

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