3GB RAM as 1.5GB

[Guest]

Hello everyone, i'm new here.

I recently bought some extra memory for my pc and a new graphics card. I had 1GB of DDR RAM now i removed that ***, and put in 1x 2GB DDR2 and 1x 1GB in my PC. I also removed my 7300GS and put in a 8400GS. After getting all this done, my pc only reads the total ram as 1.5GB?! I really hate this, cuz i wanna play far cry 2 badly, even on lowest settings and safe mode on farcry 2, i get crappy FPS at around 15FPS... i'm getting my new 9800GTX next week and i hope to see some difference including my ram changine to 3GB. but any chance i can do something to make my ram fully readable to 3GB? or atleast 2GB+ ??

PC Specs:

Intel Pentium D 2.66GHz Overclocked to 2.9GHz

Windows XP SP2

Palit GeForce 8400GS 256MB

GIGABYTE GA-8VT880P Combo Motherboard

650PSU

also i think its because of TurboCache...

but can anyone help?

many thanks!

 

[jitpublisher]

Greetings and welcome to the forum!
Yep you have some issues here for sure.
Check to make sure the DDR2 is running at the correct speed in the BIOS, I think on this board you may have to set it manually depending on if you are using DDR, or DDR2.
Your board only supports 1 gig memory modules, 2 sticks for a maximum of 2 gig.
You must also install DDR/DDR2 memory in pairs of the same size to run in dual channel mode.

And of course, the 8400gs you installed is a very weak card for gaming.
The next problem is your Pentium D.
It will not be able to push the 9800 to anywhere near it's potential, so it will be a little better, but do not expect miracles.
Lastly, your motherboard is one of the old transitional boards, supports DDR, DDR2, AGP and PCIe slots both.
Your PCIe slot can only function at 4X. A pretty big bottleneck for a mid to high end gaming GPU.
On these types of boards, you simply do not get the full potential out of the better hardware when you install it, as the board is designed to work with the old slower parts too.
You should start looking at saving money towards a complete motherboard/CPU upgrade.
There are some nice Phenom 2 combos out there for ~ $250 that would trounce you current rig and mop the floor with it.
You would get better results with the 8400, and new motherboard/CPU than you will get by putting a 9800 into the rig you have now.

 

[Guest]

Greetings and welcome to the forum!
Yep you have some issues here for sure.
Check to make sure the DDR2 is running at the correct speed in the BIOS, I think on this board you may have to set it manually depending on if you are using DDR, or DDR2.
Your board only supports 1 gig memory modules, 2 sticks for a maximum of 2 gig.
You must also install DDR/DDR2 memory in pairs of the same size to run in dual channel mode.

And of course, the 8400gs you installed is a very weak card for gaming.
The next problem is your Pentium D.
It will not be able to push the 9800 to anywhere near it's potential, so it will be a little better, but do not expect miracles.
Lastly, your motherboard is one of the old transitional boards, supports DDR, DDR2, AGP and PCIe slots both.
Your PCIe slot can only function at 4X. A pretty big bottleneck for a mid to high end gaming GPU.
On these types of boards, you simply do not get the full potential out of the better hardware when you install it, as the board is designed to work with the old slower parts too.
You should start looking at saving money towards a complete motherboard/CPU upgrade.
There are some nice Phenom 2 combos out there for ~ $250 that would trounce you current rig and mop the floor with it.
You would get better results with the 8400, and new motherboard/CPU than you will get by putting a 9800 into the rig you have now.

Thanks for your help, i always thought of upgrading and now i will definately upgrade.

I'm upgrading to:

-GIGABYTE GA-EX58-EXTREME (It's pricey, any better opinions? I'm buying from australia, and motherboard should have SLI support)
-4GB or 6GB DDR3 RAM
-Intel Core 2 Quad CPU or Intel i7 920 (If the i7 goes cheaper lol)
-Might as well add another 9800GTX or get GTX 280 if it is cheaper.

Do you think that will make much improvement? I can guarentee i can get atleast 25FPS on HIGH in Crysis at 1440x900 resoultion without AA. (I Have 19" HP LP1945wv monitor)

What say?