physical address extension

In computing, Physical Address Extension (PAE) allows for up to 64 gigabytes of memory to be used in 32 bit systems, given appropriate operating system support. PAE is provided by Intel Pentium Pro and above CPUs (including all Pentium-series processors except the original Pentium and the Pentium MMX), as well as by some compatible processors such as those from AMD. The CPUID flag PAE is assigned for the purpose of identifying CPUs with this capability. The processor hardware is augmented with additional address lines used to select the additional memory, and 36 bit page tables, but regular application software continues to use instructions with 32 bit addresses and a flat memory model limited to 4 gigabytes. The operating system uses PAE to map this 32 bit address space onto the 64 gigabytes of total memory, and the map can be and usually is different for each process. In this way the extra memory is useful even though regular applications cannot access it all simultaneously. For application software which needs access to more than 4 gigabytes of memory some special mechanism may be provided by the operating system in addition to the regular PAE support. On Microsoft Windows this mechanism is the Address Windowing Extension (AWE), while on Unix systems a variety of tricks are used, none having been blessed as a standard.

Physical Address Extension

See also