Windows 8 Pro only shows 2.97 GB of RAM (8 GB installed)

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
T

techngro

Distinguished
Oct 27, 2011
71
1
18,640
Hey all, I bought Windows 8 a few months ago and installed it on a PC i've had since early last year. I did a Steam survey and when it was finished, I noticed that it said I had a 32-bit OS. That seemed weird cause I always install 64-bit versions of an OS since I have 8 GB of RAM. So I checked my system info and it says that I have 8 GB installed physical memory, but only 2.97 total physical memory.

I don't remember if I was given the option to install a 64-bit version when I did my Windows 8 install. I suspect that I wasn't and now have a PC that is using less than half of the memory it has installed.

So two questions. Am I just misinterpreting the memory stats above (i.e. is that what it's supposed to say)? And if not, can I upgrade to a 64-bit OS from my current 32-bit version without doing a clean install?

Thanks in advance.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Shubham Verlekar

Shubham Verlekar

Honorable
May 10, 2013
236
0
10,860
hello techgnro,
Your probably using a 32 windows OS which will only recognize roughly 3.3GB RAM because some of the RAM is dedicated for use by the system files. If you want to go higher, then upgrade to a 64bit windows OS and add more RAM if the motherboard supports it.
Solution
Clean Reinstall with 64Bit Os of windows

HOPE THAT HELPED

REGARDS &ENJOY:)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
T

techngro

Distinguished
Oct 27, 2011
71
1
18,640
Well, I called MS and spoke to a CSR and found out why it had installed a 32-bit version. I was having problems with my PC and had to wipe the hard drive, but I couldn't find the Windows 7 install disk that I had (I know it was dumb to not find it BEFORE I wiped my hard drive). So I decided at that point that it would be a good time to upgrade to Windows 8. So I got on my laptop and bought Windows 8. What I did not know (and nowhere did I see this on MS website when I went to purchase OR download the ISO) was that the ISO that you download is based on the version that you are currently running. So my laptop has 32-bit Windows 7, so 32-bit Windows 8 was downloaded automatically.

The first thing that made me upset was that the first tech I spoke to tried to tell me that I didn't really need to use the other 5 GB of RAM that I had installed. Wha?!?! Seriously? That's your answer to my issue?

The second thing that made me upset is that there is no way to get a download of the 64-bit version. It's just whatever the system analyzer says you should have. They said I could have MS send me a disk, but they would charge me. Seriously? As huge as a tech company as MS is and they can't find a way, or couldn't be bothered to have the option to get whichever version of the OS you want on their download page. Or have an ISO that gives you the option to install 32- or 64-bit? Or at least give your support techs a way to shoot me a link to the version I want.

Anyway. I'm just gonna get a version from my friendly neighborhood torrent site. They said that I could use my product key on a 64-bit version even though it was previously used on a 32-bit version. I've seen conflicting reports on that, but i'll take them at their word.

Anyway, thanks for the responses guys.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

Brian David

Honorable
May 13, 2013
2
0
10,510


System Files? Though you are right that 32bit OS's typically see about 3GB of RAM it has nothing to do with system files. 32bit OS's only have 4GB of address space total. This address space is also used by system hardware like your video card and very small amounts by other devices. So if you have 1GB of RAM on your video card your 4GB's of address space is now 3GB for your RAM. If you have 2GB of RAM on your video card you will only see ~2GB of RAM for your OS.

The reason that your Video cards RAM is addressed this way is so game developers can access your video RAM without knowing specifics about your card's hardware, they can just address it like they would RAM.

Furthermore if you are running Intel hardware you might be able to enable PAE (Physical Address Extension). This will take you from 32bit OS to 36bit which will give you more than enough room to address everything including all your RAM. The issue with this is that only certain Intel CPUs and chipsets support it, so all your hardware must support it otherwise enabling it will do nothing.

You are better off installing a 64bit OS and skipping the PAE as it is a PITA most times.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom