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Just to be clear, you still should use a 64-bit Operating Systems. A 64-bit Operating System will allow a 32-bit JVM to come closer to the theoretical 4GB memory limit and of course take full advantage of the system memory.
JVM | Operating System | Maximum Heap Size | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
32-bit | 32-bit Windows | 1.4GB to 1.6GB | |
32-bit | 32-bit Solaris | 2GB | |
32-bit | 64-bit Solaris | Approaching 4GB | |
32-bit | 64-bit Ubuntu |
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* Due to various additional constraints such as available swap, kernel address space usage, memory fragmentation, and VM overhead, in practice the limits will vary.
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