Computer Hardware Terms, Glossary and Dictionary

Conventional memory is the memory used in DOS systems. It refers to the memory-addressing scheme used in the original IBM and compatible PCs (8088). Because of 8088 engineering limitations, storage or memory addresses were limited to a maximum of one megabyte, but the top 384K (called upper memory) is reserved for system use. This leaves 640K of conventional memory. Everything above 1MB is either extended or expanded memory.

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conventional memory