Windows not using all of my memory?


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I'm using Windows 7 7232 x64 version, today I brought a extra 2 gig of memory to take me upto 4gig, after checking in the properties its telling me only 3.25 is usable.

Can anyone tell me why? ... Please.

Edit:

My motherboard is a Foxconn, G31MX-K.

Edited by mnl231
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I would recommend checking your BIOS settings to see if there is a setting for memory allocation.

What kind of video card do you have in your system? It is possible that your system is assigning memory address space to your video card and it is cutting into the 4 GB of RAM which you have installed (typically this only occurs on 32-bit operating systems, but I've seen it happen in cases where the chipset isn't fully 64-bit capable).

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It's the chipset (southbridge I think). The chipset is 32 bit, rest is 64.

I have the same issue, only different motherboard.

Get another motherboard. Thats the only solution.

Mine says that it supports 4GB too, but damn false advertising.

And when I contacted Gigabyte they could only reply:

"Due to the nature of PCs not all the 4GB are available"

WTF?

Then why other mobos can use 4GB?

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your not taking into account that it will only support 4 gig total. you didnt include the gpu memory. it will assign the memory address for the vid card first and what is left over of the 4 gig it can run will come out of the installed ram. so it will only be using whats left of the 4 gig total ram it can use.

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thanks, guess I'll stick with what I've got for a few months, until I can afford to upgrade the PC and buy a new motherboard.

Oh, the graphics card is a Nvidia Gforce 8800 GS

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it support 4gb means, you can use 4gb without running into problems. the board won't stop working.... it's like a pci-e 16x slot which doesn't mean it has 16 electrical lanes. it fits but not all is used

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I'm using Windows 7 7232 x64 version, today I brought a extra 2 gig of memory to take me upto 4gig, after checking in the properties its telling me only 3.25 is usable.

Can anyone tell me why? ... Please.

Edit:

My motherboard is a Foxconn, G31MX-K.

Your issue would only apply if you are running a 32-bit version of Windows, or if your motherboard for some reason does not support higher than 32-bit memory allocation. What happens in that case is that some of the 4GB RAM is used to allocate the memory of hardware units, which results in often around 3.25GB of available RAM for applications to use.

I'd try a BIOS upgrade and see if it solves the issue.

EDIT: Your mobo does not support more than 4GB of RAM. I.e. it means it cannot allocate more than 4GB of RAM and you have the same restrictions as if you'd run a 32-bit OS (memory-wise).

Edited by dreamhacker
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