As of Aug 19, 2008, there are 17 machines, owned by 12 members, running Win 9x/ME with more than 1 GiB RAM.
This list is sorted by amount of onboard RAM, then by member username in alphabetic order. A number in parenthesis beside the member username indicates machine number, for members having more than one machine in the list.

=====
4 GiB
=====

MatureTech
=========
OS: Windows 98SE (among others) MultiBoot
Memory: 4 GiB DDR PC-3200 (4 X 1 GiB Corsair Value Select)
Motherboard: MSI 865PE Neo3-F
CPU: Pentium 4 540 3.2 GHz (Prescott)
Video card: eVGA GeForce 6800 GT (256 MiB; AGP 8x)
AGP aperture: 256 MiB
config.sys: DEVICE=C:\HIMEMX.EXE
autoexec.bat: empty
system.ini:
MaxPhysPage=40000 ; (1 GiB)
MaxFileCache=131072 ; (128 MiB)
vmm32.vxd: plain vanilla (with 4.10.0.2222 vcache.vxd and vmm.vxd inside)

RLoew (1)
=======
OS: Windows 98SE
Memory: 4 GiB RAM (3.56 GiB Available) (IO Space Bottom 31:24 set to E4)
Motherboard: ECS GeForce 6100SM-M
CPU: AMD Sempron 3400+
Video card: Radeon HD 2600 Pro (No Win9x Driver - Used Standard VGA) 512 MiB
Frame Buffer: 64 MiB
config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS
autoexec.bat and system.ini: no relevant entries
vmm32.vxd (real mode), vcache.vxd, vmm.vxd: 4.10.0.2222 with RAM Limitation Patch 5.0
motherboard drivers not available for Win9X

=====
3 GiB
=====

RLoew (2)
=======
OS: Windows 98SE
Memory: 3 GiB RAM (A-Byte)
Motherboard: GigaByte K8NNXP
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Video card: ATI RADEON 9600
config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS
autoexec.bat and system.ini: no relevant entries
vmm32.vxd (real mode), vcache.vxd, vmm.vxd: 4.10.0.2222 with RAM Limitation Patch 5.0

StarRiver
=======
OS: Win98 SE & WinXP MultiBoot
Memory: 3 GiB (PC3200 2x 512 MiB and 2x 1 GiB)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE 8IPE1000-G
CPU: Intel Pentium4 Prescott 3.5 GHz
Video card: Gainward Nvidia 6800Ultra (256 MiB; AGP 8x)
AGP aperture: 256 MB
config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEMX.EXE
autoexec.bat: no relevant entries
system.ini:
ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1
MaxPhysPage=48000 ; 1152 GiB (Windows sees 1150 GiB)
MaxFileCache=65535
ChunkSize=1024
vmm32.vxd: plain vanilla (with 4.10.0.2222 vcache.vxd and vmm.vxd inside)

=====
2 GiB
=====

Multibooter
========
OS: Windows 98SE
Memory: 2 GiB RAM (PC3200 2x 1 GiB)
Motherboard: ASUS P5PE-VM
CPU: Intel core 2 duo E4500 @ 2200 MHz (core 2 duo E2200 also worked Ok)
Video card: nVIDIA 7800 GS OC (256 MiB; AGP 8x)
* NO shutdown problems after fiddling with GeForce driver *
AGP aperture: 128 MiB
config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEMX.EXE /NUMHANDLES=64 /VERBOSE /LOG
autoexec.bat: no relevant entries
system.ini:
MaxPhysPage=48000 ; 1150 MiB
MaxFileCache=131072 ; 128 MiB
vmm32.vxd: plain vanilla (with 4.10.0.2222 vcache.vxd and vmm.vxd inside)

RLoew (3)
=======
OS: Windows 98SE
Memory: 2 GiB RAM (A-Byte) (32MB Reserved)
Motherboard: Shuttle FN41
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 1800+
Video card: Built in nVIDIA nForce2 32 MiB
AGP aperture: 64 MiB
config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS
autoexec.bat and system.ini: no relevant entries
vmm32.vxd (real mode), vcache.vxd, vmm.vxd: 4.10.0.2222 with RAM Limitation Patch 5.0

RLoew (4)
=======
OS: Windows 98SE
Memory: 2 GiB RAM (64 MiB Reserved)
Motherboard: ECS K8M800-M2
CPU: AMD Sempron 3000+
Video card: Built in VIA/S3 Unichrome Pro IGP 64 MiB
AGP aperture: 128 MiB
config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS
autoexec.bat and system.ini: no relevant entries
vmm32.vxd (real mode), vcache.vxd, vmm.vxd: 4.10.0.2222 with RAM Limitation Patch 5.0
Video Drive incompatable with some MaxPhysPage settings

RLoew (5)
=======
OS: Windows 98
Memory: 2 GiB RAM
Motherboard: ABIT AK32V
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2400+
Video card: All-in-Wonder Radeon
AGP aperture: 64 MiB
config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS
autoexec.bat and system.ini: no relevant entries
vmm32.vxd (real mode), vcache.vxd, vmm.vxd: 4.10.0.1998 with RAM Limitation Patch 5.0

vick1111
=======
OS: Win98 SE, WinXP, Linux Mepis & Linux Kubuntu MultiBoot
Memory: 2 GiB RAM (PC2-6400)
Motherboard: Asrock 4coredual-sata2
CPU: Intel core 2 quad processor
Video card: RADEON 9600 XT AGP (0x4152) 128.0 MiB (set to 1280 X 1024 16 bit)
AGP aperture: 64 MiB
2x 250 Gib PATA HDDs & 2x 250 Gib SATA HDDs
PATA HDDs partitioned so as to have only one (small) fat 32 partition at the beginning.
Just connecting one SATA HD causes pc to stop at boot when RAID is not activated.
No problems found with SATA HDDs once RAID is activated in BIOS.
config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEMX.EXE
autoexec.bat: no relevant entries
system.ini:
ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1
MaxPhysPage=44000
MaxFileCache=393216
vmm32.vxd: plain vanilla (with 4.10.0.2222 vcache.vxd and vmm.vxd inside)

xRayeR
======
OS: Windows 98SE
Memory: 2 GiB RAM (PC2-6400 Corsair)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L
CPU: Intel core 2 duo E4500 @ 2200 MHz (core 2 duo E2200 also worked Ok)
Video card: Asus EN7600GS Silent/HTD 256 MiB DDR2 PCI-E
config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEMX.EXE /NUMHANDLES=64 /METHOD:FAST /VERBOSE
autoexec.bat: no relevant entries
system.ini:
MaxPhysPage=46000 ; 1118 MiB
;MaxPhysPage=488FF ; absolute maximum but rather keeping a safety margin
MaxFileCache=261120 ; 256 MiB
vmm32.vxd: plain vanilla (with 4.10.0.2222 vcache.vxd and vmm.vxd inside)

========
1.75 GiB
========

eidenk
=====
OS: Windows ME
Memory: 1.75 GiB RAM (PC3200 - Samsung 1x 256 MiB and 1x 512 MiB and Nanya 1x 1 GiB)
Motherboard: Abit NF7S V2
CPU: Athlon XP 2600 Thoroughbred 2.02 GHz
Video card: nVidia GeForce2 MX400 PRO32S (AGP 4x)
AGP aperture: ??
config.sys and autoexec.bat: no relevant entries
system.ini:
MaxFileCache=504192 ; 492 MiB
vmm32.vxd: plain vanilla (with 4.90.0.3000 vcache.vxd and vmm.vxd inside)

=======
1.5 GiB
=======

Cyberguy
=======
OS: Windows 98SE
Memory: 1.5 GiB RAM (Legend and Nanya)
Motherboard: ASUS P3V4X Slot-1 (with Asus slot1 to socket370 converter and Lin-Lin coppermine to tualatin adapter)
CPU: Pentium III 1.4Ghz Tualatin
Video card: Sparkle nVidia Fanless GeForce 6200 (256 MiB; AGP 4x/8x @ 4x)
AGP aperture: 128 MiB
config.sys and autoexec.bat: no relevant entries
system.ini:
MaxPhysPage=3E6FF ; (this value is the result of setting "Limit memory to 999 MB" in MSCONFIG's Advanced tab)
MaxFileCache=128000; 128 Mb
vmm32.vxd: plain vanilla (with 4.10.0.2222 vcache.vxd and vmm.vxd inside)

dencorso
=======
OS: Windows 98SE (w/98SE2ME)
Memory: 1.5 GiB RAM (PC3200 - Kingston 1x 1 GiB, 1x 512 MiB)
Motherboard: ASUS A7V600-X
CPU: Athlon XP-M 2800+ @2410 MHz
Video card: MSI MS-8817 V1 nVidia GeForce2 MX400 PRO32S (32 MiB; AGP 4x)
AGP aperture: 64 MiB
config.sys:
DEVICE=HIMEMX.EXE /NUMHANDLES=80 /TESTMEM:ON
INSTALL=XMSDSK.EXE 387072 N: /C1 /T /Y
autoexec.bat: no relevant entries
system.ini:
MaxPhysPage=48600 ; 1158 MiB
MaxFileCache=114688 ; 112 MiB
ChunkSize=2048
VCACHE.VxD: Xeno86's 4.10.0.2223, VMM.VXD: original 4.10.0.2226

Offler
====
OS: Windows 98SE
Memory: 1.5 GiB RAM (PQI SDR SDRam 133 CL3 @ 158 CL2)
Motherboard: Abit VH6-T model "Immolator" (Via Apollo Pro 133T chipset)
CPU: Intel Pentium III-S Tualatin 1.26 GHz
Video card: Asus Radeon x850xt (256 MiB; AGP 4x)
AGP aperture: 16 (64 works, but causes problems with graphics with AGP @ 82 MHz)
config.sys:
DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS /NUMHANDLES=128 /HMAIN=64 /TESTMEM:OFF /Q
DEVICE=EMM386.EXE RAM NOTR
autoexec.bat:
XMSDSK.EXE 513732 K: /C1 /T /Y (swapfile in ramdrive)
UMBFILL.COM (used as a prevention for rebooting: without it 700 MiB RAM
is the maximum that works, with it 1 GiB RAM is usable by the system)
system.ini:
ConservativeSwapfileUsage=0
PagingDrive=K:
MinPagingFileSize=513264
MaxPagingFileSize=513264
MaxFileCache=32768
MinFileCache=32768
ChunkSize=512
vmm32.vxd: self-recompiled (with 4.10.0.2222 vcache.vxd and vmm.vxd inside)

RetroOS
======
OS: Windows 98SE (w/98SE2ME)
Memory 1.5 GiB RAM (PC133 CL3 - Infineon 2x 512 MiB and Kingston 2x 256 MiB)
Motherboard: MSI 694D Pro (MS-6321)
CPU: Dual Pentium III CopperMine 866 MHz
Video card: Palit FX5500 nVidia GeForce FX 5500 (256 MiB; 128 bit; AGP 8x)
AGP aperture: 128 MiB (256 MiB works with 1 GiB, but not 1.5 GiB)
config.sys: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.EXE /NUMHANDLES=64 /VERBOSE
(HIMEM.EXE is a renamed HIMEMX.EXE, for use with xRayeR's Safe Mode patch)
autoexec.bat: no relevant entries
system.ini:
ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1
MaxPhysPage=4953E ; 1173 MiB, 1.146 GiB
MaxFileCache=101376 ; 99 MiB
Chunksize=1024
VCACHE.VxD: original 4.10.0.2222, VMM.VXD: original 4.10.0.2226, IO.SYS: with xRayeR's patch for Safe Mode

RLoew (6)
=======
OS: Windows 98SE
Memory: 1.5 GiB RAM (32MB Reserved)
Motherboard: Soyo P4VGA
CPU: Intel Celeron 2.40 GHz
Video card: Built in S3 Prosavage DDR 32 MiB
AGP aperture: 64 MiB
config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS
autoexec.bat and system.ini: no relevant entries
vmm32.vxd (real mode), vcache.vxd, vmm.vxd: 4.10.0.2222 with RAM Limitation Patch 5.0

tscharlii
======
OS: Windows 98SE
Memory: 1.5 GiB RAM (Dual Channel, PC3200 @ 333 MHz, 2x 512 MiB, 2x 256 MiB)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-7N400-L
CPU: Athlon XP 2600+
Video card: Ati Radeon 9600XT onBoard (128 MiB; AGP 8x)
AGP aperture: 128 MiB
config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS
autoexec.bat: XMSDSK.EXE 524288 G: /t /y
system.ini:
ConservativeSwapfileUsage=0
PagingDrive=G:
MaxPhysPage=40000
MaxFileCache=65536
vmm32.vxd: plain vanilla (with 4.10.0.2222 vcache.vxd and vmm.vxd inside)

I thank very much all the listed members, without whose help the above list wouldn't have been possible.

Comments:
1) All those who are not in the list, but ought to be, please PM me with info and I shall add you.
2) All those who are in the list and find anything wrongly reported, please PM me and I shall correct it.
3) The above list is a work-in-progress, I intend to keep it up to date.

====================================================
All MSFN threads relevant to running Win 9x/ME with more than 1 GiB RAM:
====================================================
Help I need to Get 2GB installed RAM working in Win98SE
VCACHE fix attempt
"Not Enough Memory" error discussion, Possible fix found...
Windows 98SE 2GB RAM Out of memory when opening DOS command prompt
512 MB ram and above?, Myth or Fact?
Win9x: More than 512 MB of RAM?
512 Ram, Can I install more than 512 MB of Ram?
1.5gb and some trouble with them..., another few bugs discovered and descripted

=================================
Noteworthy specific posts inside MSFN threads:
=================================
Igor Leyko's Article (in English, by GreyPhound) and also...
Igor Leyko's Article (in Russian, so one can see all the figures)
32bit Windows not seeing all 4GB of RAM?, Read here for more information on why... (by cluberti)
diskless on the relationship between XMSDSK, MaxFileCache and the number of simultaneous DOS boxes
xRayeR on HIMEMX and xRayeR on accessing Safe Mode
Multibooter on software which is buggy/unreliable with 2GB RAM

==================================================
MSKB articles relevant to running Win 9x/ME with more than 1 GiB RAM:
==================================================
Q108079 - 32-Bit File Access Maximum Cache Size
Q125691 - INFO: Overview of the Windows 95 Virtual Address Space Layout
Q181594 - Windows 95 Can Access Up to Two GB of RAM
Q181862 - Specifying Amount of RAM Available to Windows Using MaxPhysPage
Q181966 - System Configuration Utility Advanced Troubleshooting Settings
Q184447 - Error Message: Insufficient Memory to Initialize Windows
Q253912 - "Out of Memory" Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed
Q304943 - Computer May Reboot Continuously with More Than 1.5 GB of RAM *
Q311871 - A blue screen appears when you start a computer with 1 GB or more of RAM *
* These latter two articles are misleading in that they include the statement: "Windows Me and Windows 98 are not designed to handle more than 1 GB of RAM", which simply is not true. Q311871 is included here just for the sake of completeness, and ought to be disregarded, as Igor Leyko, in 2005, had already pointed out.

==================================================
Software files relevant to running Win 9x/ME with more than 1 GiB RAM:
==================================================
ONGD - FREE - Xeno86's modified VCACHE.VXD (direct download)
ONGD - FREE - Japheth's HIMEMX.EXE (and JEMM) Homepage
ONGD - $$$$ - RLoew's RAM Limitation Patch Homepage
LAST - FREE - Frank Uberto's XMSDSK v. 1.9I Ramdrive (direct download)
ONGD - FREE - xRayeR's IO.SYS patch for accessing Safe Mode (direct download)

Very nice thread, realy.

Too bad I can't make it to the list since my Ram installed is "only" 1GB....

Does it count if you are running windows 98 in vista using "Virtual PC"? I can manage the ram available to Windows 98 from the Virtual PC console. I'm running with 1.5 in vista with a quad core, I can try giving all the ram to windows 98 but I'm not sure what that will do just yet.

Well, I don't know of any report about it being done before, so it sure is an interesting experiment! Since you're not running it on a day-to-day basis, it'd require a proof of stability. Hence, if you succeed in getting it to run, have it run stably for more than 15h and get a perfect shutdown at the end, I can create a new category in the list, which I'll then divide in "Runing on Virtual Machines" and "Running Directly on Hardware", and you'd be the first user on the new category. And your system description should include data for both the real hardware and the virtual hardware windows thinks is running on.

You know, I'm not sure it technically count as running with more than 1GB memory, if you're actually limiting the memory and not using it.

I'm not sure if it's possible to actually get more than 1GB memory used by 9x, I'm not even sure which file you'd have to patch (probably a vxd), but it would be pretty cool if someone ever found out.

It is definitely possible. I have actually used 3647MB of RAM with Windows 98 SE using my Patch. It actually requires at least 2 vxd files to be patched. If you look at my entries in the list at the beginning of this thread, you will notice I am not setting any limit on memory usage.

The point is that when you put more than 1GB of RAM in a PC with Windows 9x, problems start to occur even when limiting the amount of RAM by using MaxPhysPage.
Various other parameters or drivers are generally needed to become stable. The more RAM, the worse the problem...

I currently have 1176924KB (1149MB, 1.122GB) of actual usable Windows memory reported from Windows Properties without any special patches installed. I've never seen Windows work so fast!

My mobo has 1.5GB installed. The manufacturer says that you can use up to 2GB of PC100 (four modules), but at PC133 (which I'm using), it is only stable with 1.5GB...
So, sometimes it also depends on your mobo...

Doesn't this qualify as a limit?
When I say "without limiting" I mean that you'd actually be able to open a program allocating 2GB of RAM or more, without resorting to swap-memory (e.g. with virtual memory disabled). A RAM limitation patch won't do that...

I would think a solution that would do that would at least require patching himem.sys or something... (sorry for the abuse of "would")

So far, I know only one person who had a system that did not work stably with 2GB or RAM using my Patch. I rewrote my Demo so people could check first.



That is approximately where the first memory table overflow occurs. That limit varies slightly with configuration and use of Safe Mode.



My Soyo P4VGA has this problem. With 2GB the computer either doesn't boot or fails my memory test program.
This has nothing to do with Windows of course.



When I said FULL USE, I meant it. I allocated over 3GB of RAM without using Swap. A single Program is limited to 2GB so I needed 2 Programs running.
The Patch doesn't set a RAM limit, it eliminates the limitation.



My earlier version did patch HIMEM.SYS because there was a problem at 2.9GB of RAM. My current version does not need to patch HIMEM.SYS

Sounds nice.

My point was, that without patching the Windows VMM, configuration gets somewhat tricky the more RAM above 1GB is installed.
However, this topic highlights that it is possible to use Windows 9x on a PC with more than 1GB of RAM with just public domain information and patches (and even get over 1GB available to Windows).

rloew, I think your work is outstanding... but your results are here for comparative purposes only and (Forum Rules 13) does not pertain to actual product promotion.

I'll give this a shot sometime...

@ RetroOS, why a dualie? I have a dual-PIII machine too and it's really nice, but you know 98 can only work with one CPU anyway...

I multiboot with Windows XP, so I get both PIIIs then.
Windows 98SE is my primary OS, and I only use Windows eXtra Problems for the odd task.
It's also handy to confirm hardware operation if I have a problem in 98SE with a new piece of hardware...

some specifications for my computer:
- adding swapfile to ramdisk helped with 3d performance - 12.5 percent improve in 3dmark2001
- this is quite high-end gaming machine - all the best for the MOBO and Win98
- its purpose is mostly gaming and multimedia - everything fueled with overclocking

I have run some tests on RAMDISKs and XMSDSK in particular.

Conventional RAMDISKs use XMS memory, displacing Windows from said memory.

Windows 98SE maps this memory into the System Arena in the last GB of Virtual memory. This memory is also used for File Caching and VMs.

The larger the RAMDISK, the less File Cache is available. Looking at the list Dencorso assembled, you can see that the people who used a large XMSDSK in their setup ended up with a much lower setting for MaxFileCache. This limits RAMDISKs to not much more than 512MB so they can't be used to support 2GB of RAM without using MaxPhysPage. Some people have had problems relying on MaxPhysPage to limit memory.

XMSDSK has a bug in it that makes it work improperly above 2GB of RAM when the /T option is used.

I am working on RAMDISKs that don't use XMS Memory. One should be able to use the 64-Bit Memory in AMD Computers having 4GB or more RAM.

@RLoew: It is reassuring to see that your tests support my conclusions (in posts #21 and #25, here: link) from my own tests and also from those reported by diskless (link) on where Windows maps the memory it doesn't control and the consequences this has.

This amounts to stating that 1.5 GiB is about the maximum RAM that can be used fully by Win 98SE (without the RAM Limitation Patch) plus XMSDSK: 1158 MiB or a little less to VMM and 378 MiB or a little more to XMSDSK, because much more will leave no space for the File Cache and any DOS Boxes. It should be added that, all other things remaining the same, it is also a good idea to use HIMEMX.EXE instead of HIMEM.SYS, because this allows for more DOS Boxes (as found out by xRayeR and confirmed by vick1111, see posts #70-#82, here:link), for reasons that are still not totally clear.

Win ME probably can do better, in this respect, since it is able to detect about 2 GiB, so probably it may also accept a 512 MiB XMSDSK, to attain about 2.5 GiB of fully used RAM...

Of course, the list in post #1 of this thread shows clearly that to run Win 98Se with lots of RAM, with part of it unused, perhaps for a multibooting machine, not only is possible, but is actually being done in a day-to-day basis by some of us.

I have completed work on a 64-Bit RAMDISK as well as a 32-Bit RAMDISK, neither of which use XMS Memory.
Since Windows does not know this memory exists, it doesn't manage it or allocate precious System Arena space for it.
I have been able to create and use 2GB RAMDISKs without problems.

I haven't as yet determined the difference in behavior between HIMEM.SYS and HIMEMX.SYS, there isn't anything obvious in the source code for HIMEMX.

I have done some further research on HIMEMX.

HIMEM is recognized by Windows during Windows Startup, so it is hooked, letting Windows take over management of all XMS calls. Any XMS Memory that was
allocated before Windows Startup is not included in available Memory for Windows but is mapped into the System Arena so Windows can support the Programs
and Drivers that reserved the Memory. Since most RAMDISKs use XMS Memory, they tie up System Arena space. This is why a large XMS based RAMDISK
cannot be used because the System Arena runs out of space.

HIMEMX is not recognized by Windows so calls to it are executed in Virtual Mode. HIMEMX uses the BIOS Interrupt 15 call to manipulate Extended Memory.
Windows hooks this Interrupt so it can manage the Memory. Windows uses the standard XMS calls to take over the Free Memory during Startup. The difference
is that Windows does not know about XMS Memory that was Allocated before Startup so it doesn't reserve space in the System Arena for it. This is why there
seems to be more space for DOS Boxes etc. The problem is that actually using this Memory invokes the Interrupt 15 call which then causes Windows to allocate
Pages to the System Arena to manage it. Reading or Writing a Large RAMDISK quickly fills up the System Arena and leads to a crash.

You can setup a large XMS RAMDISK using HIMEMX but your system will crash if you try to fill it up.

I also observed a problem combining HIMEMX with EMM386 whenever exceeding approximately 1408MB. EMM386 appears to allocate all of the XMS memory and
then release what it doesn't need. Above 1408MB EMM386 does not release approximately twice the amount of Memory above 1408MB, so the available memory
actually decreases as the total amount of RAM increases.

This topic has been updated!

What's New?

on post #1:

RetroOS's new system configuration

on post #2:

Q125691 (more info on Win9x/ME memory management)
xRayeR's IO.SYS patch for accessing Safe Mode (info and download link)

Let's keep the list up-to-date:
If you are using 9x/ME with more than 1 GiB RAM, do PM me your info and you shall be added to the list!

This topic has been updated!

What's New?

on post #1:

MatureTech's system has been added.

Hence, now:



Let's keep the list up-to-date:
If you are using 9x/ME with more than 1 GiB RAM, do PM me your info and you shall be added to the list!