Why doesn't windows use all available physical memory ?

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Oh_Noes

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Jul 8, 2013
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I am running a server with 4gb of ram and the maximum physical memory it needs is about 3.5gb.
Windows dumps the data to the pagefile and keeps physical memory usage at 3gb max.

I also tested this with another pc with 6gb ram and it maxed out at 5gb ram.Anything over was dumped to the pagefile.

Both are 64bit systems

Is this by design or can i tweak something to make windows use close to all available physical memory ?
 
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varun_02

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Nov 26, 2013
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What happens is that some of the addressable memory (regardless of how much you have physically installed) is reserved for use by page files or by some of the devices that you are using, such as a graphics card, PCI card, integrated network connections, etc., so it's unavailable for use as normal main memory.

The amount of memory needed for these devices is calculated by your system at startup; if you haven't maxed out the memory in your system, it's invisible to you, and all your physical memory (the RAM that's installed) is available for use. However if you've maxed out the DRAM in your system, this amount will be deducted from your physical memory, so you can't use 100% of your DRAM.
 
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