4gb RAM 2.8gb useable?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave Parker
  • Start date Start date
D

Dave Parker

I've got 4gb ram in my machine but Control Panel > System indicates 2814
mb. I realize in 32-bit that I lose some address space, but this seems a
little silly esp. with a 512mb video card. How do I troubleshoot this?

thanks,
Dave
 
Part of this will be handled via BIOS settings for you motherboard --
in some cases you can 'recover' as much as 512M that way -- but you may
well find it doesn't speed things up.
 
Unless "you" have allocated RAM to be used as video RAM in your bios, there
is nothing you can do.

It is the way 32 bit hardware and software (the operating system) use the
RAM. Some M/B's and chipsets allocate more than others to be used
specifically for the system. This RAM, though used by the system, is not
available for use by installed programs.

People who use 4 gig of RAM with 32 bit Windows typically see approximately
2.8 gig to about 3.5 gig available for programs. This includes the system
information type programs that show you installed RAM.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
You will see this issue with all 32-bit Windows versions. These versions
have
a 4GB address space and all the memory has to be allocated to it not just
the system RAM. You have to allow for the Video Ram and memory used
by other devices.

Depending on what and how many hardware devices are installed on that
particular system,
there is usually between 2.5 and 3.5GB of that address space left available
for System RAM.

More Information can be found at the following websites.

Memory Limits for Windows Releases:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx

Information regarding PAE-Kernel:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms791485.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEdrv.mspx
 
I've got 4gb ram in my machine but Control Panel > System indicates 2814
mb. I realize in 32-bit that I lose some address space, but this seems a
little silly esp. with a 512mb video card. How do I troubleshoot this?
Click to expand...
Enable "Hardware Memory Hole" in bios.
 
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