Memory limitations of different operating systems

The platforms and operating systems that MATLAB supports have different memory characteristics and limitations. In particular, the processor limit is the maximum amount of virtual memory a single process (application) can address.  On 32-bit systems this is the most important factor limiting data set size. The process limit must be large enough for MATLAB to store all the data it is to process, plus M code, the MATLAB executable itself and other state. Where possible, choose an operating system that maximizes this number, i.e. a 64-bit operating system.  The following is a list of MATLAB supported operating systems and their process limits.

 

Operating system

Process Limit

 32-bit Windows XP, Vista and Windows 2000 (default) 2GB

 32-bit Windows XP with 3GB boot.ini switch

Note: Modelit does not recomnmend this option as setting the boot.ini switch may lead to system instability including BSOD errors

 3GB

 32-bit Vista with increaseuserva set 

 3GB
 32-bit Linux
 ~3GB
 64-bit Windows XP, MAC OSX, Linux or Solaris running 32-bit MATLAB ≤4GB
 64-bit Windows XP, Vista, Linux or Solaris running 64-bit MATLAB 8TB