WinXP not seeing all my RAM?

[magitek]

I've got a BIOSTAR N4SLI-A9 mobo with 4 sticks of 1GB Corsair XMS ram. My bios/startup screen both say I have 4GB, but windows only sees 2gb. I should mention that in the task managed, under performance, it says I only have 2GB of physical memory, but my commit charge limit is 4gb. Oh, and under the "my computer" Properties window, it displays 2GB of ram with "physical address extension". Any help here?

 

[magitek]

4gb is *not* overkill when you're dealing huge photoshop files or video editing.

Anyway, I did a bit more research and apparently 2gb is not the limit. Msinfo32 says I have 4GB of ram. Other people have had a similar problem and it's been faulty mobo drivers. I guess it's time to complain at biostar.

 

[the_guru]

4gb is *not* overkill when you're dealing huge photoshop files or video editing.

Anyway, I did a bit more research and apparently 2gb is not the limit. Msinfo32 says I have 4GB of ram. Other people have had a similar problem and it's been faulty mobo drivers. I guess it's time to complain at biostar.

Windows XP can only use 2GB per application so Photoshop will only use up to 2GB. You can reach 3GB with some hack but it will affect performance. But 4GB on Windows XP is overkill...

 

[leorick]

well i do agree that 4gb of ram is overkill

 

[DScott79]

And Bill Gates said we will never need more than 1 MB at one point. He was wrong and so are you. Commen sense dictates that the more RAM you have the better.

 

[the_guru]

And Bill Gates said we will never need more than 1 MB at one point. He was wrong and so are you. Commen sense dictates that the more RAM you have the better.

Well it was 640kB but in reality it was not what Bill Gates said. It was a journalist that made a spin of what Gates said. So the whole myth is indeed a lie...

 

[michaelahess]

4 gig in pro should show as 3 if the bios is set correctly. When you have users with photoshop, pagemaker, indesign, and dreamweaver all running at the same time, 4 gig is very usefull. Try it without a pagefile and you'll notice a huge difference over 2 gig and a 2 gig pagefile.

 

[DScott79]

Sorry, now I will quote.

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." and "No one will need more than 637 kb of memory for a personal computer." (Bill Gates)

 

[dvdpiddy]

I've got a BIOSTAR N4SLI-A9 mobo with 4 sticks of 1GB Corsair XMS ram. My bios/startup screen both say I have 4GB, but windows only sees 2gb. I should mention that in the task managed, under performance, it says I only have 2GB of physical memory, but my commit charge limit is 4gb. Oh, and under the "my computer" Properties window, it displays 2GB of ram with "physical address extension". Any help here?

only linux sees all the ram you put in it.

 

[Heyyou27]

Or Windows XP 64-bit edition.

 

[michaelahess]

or server 2003 32-bit

 

[leorick]

you know i agree with that as well, that the more ram, the better. I can only imagine games 5 years from now using 5gb of ram and generating jaw dropping graphics.

but right now, 4gb is overkill. :lol:

 

[magitek]

It's fine if it can only use 2gb in any one program. I just want to figure out how to make XP recognize the other 2gb.

 

[Heyyou27]

Why would he want 32-bit server edition? 64-bit XP would be better, because he could use the RAM, and then have support for his 64-bit processor.

 

[luminaris]

Or Windows 3.1 .... Just kidding

 

[lakedude]

And Bill Gates said we will never need more than 1 MB at one point. He was wrong and so are you. Commen sense dictates that the more RAM you have the better.

Common sense dictates that if you don't have enough ram you need more. Common sense also dictates that if you have enough you don't need more. Example:

512 MB video cards have been around for years however only just now are the other electronics on the video card fast enough to make use of 512MB of ram. If you have an old 512 MB card the extra ram will never do you anygood because the rest of the card lacks the speed to use all 512 MB. Common sense dictates you should save money on any extra ram you can't make use of and spend that money on something more useful.

 

[magitek]

I don't remember asking if I needed that much ram, only how to make it work.

I do appreciate the few on-topic replies, though.

 

[magitek]

Biostar solved my problem. For anybody else with this issue, you need to enable "h/w memory hole remapping" in the bios. However, WinXP home/pro will still only recognize 3.2gb max.