i have 3 gega RAm ddr2 800 , i have decided to buy one more RAM to make it 4 gega , the problem is that windows cant see the whole 4 gega and it reads only 3.2 gega , i have windows xp 32 bit , video card 8800 GTS G 92 , is the problem the windows xp 32 bit ?? i have ran a scan in pcpitstop site and it saw the 4 gega RAMs ? so whats the problem ?? thanx for replying
Yes, the issue is with your version of windows. Windows 32bit versions only have 4GBs (not gega) of address space. Windows however needs to reserve some space for other uses, such as storing the video cards memory in the ram and the harddrives cache. To prevent memory issues, this has always been done by using the END of the memory address space and work backwards. The problem is that we are now able to put 4GBs of memory in a system, so you can't use all 4 gigs of address for ram.
The solution is to either return the gig of ram seeing as you can't use it, or switch to a 64bit version of windows.
------------------------------The voice of REASON
Do NOT feed the TROLLS!
Always a DEMON!
Reply to 4745454b
thnx for replying , u mean that even if the windows cant read the extra RAM , it also cant make use of it in its applications ?? and if i decided to keep the RAM would it cause any conflict to system ?? thanx again
If you decide to keep the RAM it will NOT cause any conflicts or issues to system! It will stay there and you just will not use it, unless you switch to 64bit windows.
As you said yourself, windows only reports 3.2GBs of memory. You are using 200MBs of that 1GB stick. Windows won't use (much) that new stick, the address spaces are being used for other things.
------------------------------The voice of REASON
Do NOT feed the TROLLS!
Always a DEMON!
Reply to 4745454b
It will stay there and you just will not use it, unless you switch to 64bit windows.
Assuming his hardware supports more than 4GB RAM with memory remapping. I guess he thinks that "Gigabyte" is really telling us a lot about the hardware. What else is there to know? Its got sockets and chippy things on it.
Are there any DDR2 chipsets that don't support more then 4GBs of ram? The oldest one I can think of is the 915/925, I'm not sure how much those supported. I don't think they supported DDR2-800, so its probably more recent then that, so he *should* be able to use more then 4GBs/64bit. You are correct however, knowing more about the system is a good thing.
------------------------------The voice of REASON
Do NOT feed the TROLLS!
Always a DEMON!
Reply to 4745454b
- NVIDIA GeForce 7050/7100/7150 for Intel
- Intel P31 and G31
- Intel 945 Series
- VIA P4M800/890/900, PT880/890
- Some ATI chipsets before 690G/V that I forget
Quite a number of actively shipping motherboards, mostly for Intel processors. Since AMD moved the memory controller to the CPU a while ago, the chipset was largely removed from the equation.
Hmmm, thanks for the education. I thought all recent boards were 8GB+, looks like I'm wrong. I'll try to remember this so I don't make the mistake again.
For the OP, if he's even still around, I'm more and more convinced that 4GBs isn't for you. I would return the ram, there isn't much performance difference between 3 and 4GBs anyways.
------------------------------The voice of REASON
Do NOT feed the TROLLS!
Always a DEMON!
Reply to 4745454b
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