[Hentrinity]

I installed 4GB RAM, but it displays as 3.5GB

My friends comp has 4GB RAM but it is 4.00GB

Anyway to boost it back to normal?

 

[G-man88]

is your firends OS 64 bit or 32 bit most 32 bit operating systems will only register 3.5 gigs of RAM if you want all of it you'll most likley have to get a 64 bit operating system

 

[justpassingby]

It's normal with XP 32bit, it'll report 3GB, 3.2GB or 3.5GB depending on the hardware. No reason to go 64bits unless you have some program that will benefit from it. XP 64 isn't cheap and some old programs/devices may not work anymore. 99% of the existing programs are 32bit and can't use more than 2GB of memory anyway.

Read this if you want more informations :
http://www.techsupportforum.com/f10/winxp-shows-less-ram-249007.html#post1484667

 

[Hentrinity]

ok thx then...it wuz 64bit, since its vista

 

[justpassingby]

The amount of ram reported in the system properties isn't accurate anyway. Just forget about it, chances are your system will never use more than 1 or 2GB of ram at any time. Check the peak value under commit charge in the task manager's performances tab, that's the maximum amount of memory (ram + page file) that was ever used since you turned the computer on.

 

[Riskyone101]

Hello,

Just because u2 have the same amount of ram doesnt mean they will read the same outcome.
It depends on the motherboard onboard graphics.

Equation:
Ram = 4GB
Video = 256MB - 1GB
Total = 4.25 - 5GB
Ram memory reading - 3.25 - 4GB

 

[TYRANICK]

Just a quick few questions while we are on RAM:

1) Under the task manager performance tab, the Physical Memory section says i have:

Total: 2096172(K)
Availible: 1477508-1496549
Cache: 480492

So...my question is, why do I only have around 1.4 gigs of ram "availible" when all I got running really is Firefox, AV, APSyware, and just all standard services and processes related? How is my system already using 0.6 of a gig?

2) Anyway to change the (K) to (MB) in the taskmanager? It's annoying trying to work it out ><

 

[Riskyone101]

Ram = 2GB
Video = 1GB
Total memory = 3GB
Available 1.5GB (onboard graphics .5GB)

 

[justpassingby]

ok thx then...it wuz 64bit, since its vista

Unless it says otherwise it's probably Vista 32bit. Vista was patched to show the total amount of physical RAM but it's only cosmetic. A 32bit OS can't address more than 4GB of total physical memory. Since the video card, sound card and other hardware devices also use physical memory the amount available for the system will be less than 4GB. As Riskyone said with XP the amount reported will depend on the hardware and will be different from one rig to another. It's all explained here : http://www.techsupportforum.com/f10/winxp-shows-less-ram-249007.html#post1484667

Or here : What Happens when 3 GB or more RAM is installed with Windows?

1) Under the task manager performance tab, the Physical Memory section says i have:

Total: 2096172(K)
Availible: 1477508-1496549
Cache: 480492

So...my question is, why do I only have around 1.4 gigs of ram "availible" when all I got running really is Firefox, AV, APSyware, and just all standard services and processes related? How is my system already using 0.6 of a gig?

XP manages the memory automatically. Say some program uses 10MB of RAM for now but may require up to 50MB. As long as there's enough free RAM XP may already allocate 50MB for that program. The result is that when the program needs more memory XP doesn't have to start to allocate it at that very moment, the address range is already available => gain of time. The point is not in having as much free ram as possible but in using it as efficiently as possible. You don't have to worry as long as the peak value under commit charge (= the amount of RAM + page file used currently) is lower than the total of physical memory. This means you have enough memory for all your apps and don't need to add more. If the commit charge was bigger than the physical memory the system would need to swap constantly between the page file and the physical memory, hence reducing the system's performances.

2) Anyway to change the (K) to (MB) in the taskmanager? It's annoying trying to work it out ><

No, sorry. 1048576KB = 1024MB = 1GB. Dividing by 1 thousand (as if it was in base 10) usually gives a good enough approximation.