I have 512mb DDR but only says 480mb, why??

[darcyhart]

hello, my PC is old and am getting a new one hopefully,
on my current computer i had one stick of ddr 256mb, the PC only picked up 200 and something. for the mean time- before my new PC i thought as small RAM was cheap i would stick another in there, so i put a second 256mb stick into the second slot.
i now have 512mb but my PC is only picking up 480... ??? why is this!! i checked it by going to My computer>properties... the typical way.. i also tried it on the Crucial website, that confirmed that i DID have 512 but where is that 32mb going?? is part of RAM reserved or something? cheers . i will answer to any replies if needed, cheers vmuch

 

[royalcrown]

Yes Darcy...I am guessing you use onboard video, the video connector on your motherboard, it uses part of your system ram. Usually in 32, 64, 128...etc up to 512k...you get the idea

 

[royalcrown]

BTW, without a seperate..."video card" new systems do the same thing, the newest motherboards can "share" up to 512k of your system ram...it won't really hurt it, but if you get into online games like world of warcraft, even a cheap video card would be lots better (if it is a desktop) and stop sharing your memory

 

[lunyone]

I'd say RC is correct, he just beat me to the punch I'm sure your onboard GPU is taking 32mb of DDR for it to run. Usually you can change the amount in BIOS, if you feel you don't need all 32mb's worth.

 

[royalcrown]

well lunyone, the 32mb is a dead giveaway...heheh

 

[jerreece]

First thought when I saw the threat title. Integrated video processor. Royalcrown is dead on.

 

[Nik_I]

yep without a doubt its the onboard video. when i set up my new system i initally used the onboard video and it was set to 256MB dedicated. as a result i had only 1.75GB of usable system ram. that's why pc oem's often mention that a video card has dedicated memory rather than shared memory. a lot of people don't realise that when they buy.

 

[darcyhart]

lol wow, what a forum... this forum is really good. iv been looking for a decent forum to join. WELL I HAVE COMPLETED THE SEARCH ! lol im here to stay

 

[darcyhart]

cheers for your help people!

 

[royalcrown]

welcome aboard