Windows 7 64 bit issues

[KidHorn]

This is my new build hardware:

2 x ($7.99) LOGISYS 120MM4LED CASE FAN CF120BL - Retail $15.98
1 x ($64.99) HD 750G|SAMG 7K 32M SATA2 HD753LJ % - OEM $64.99
1 x ($54.99) PSU ROSEWILL|RG630-2 630W RT - Retail $54.99
2 x ($70.99) MEM 2Gx2|GSK F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT R - Retail $141.98
1 x ($114.99) MB ASROCK|P55 PRO RT - Retail $114.99
1 x ($144.99) VGA XFX|HD-487A-ZWFC HD4870 1G RT - Retail $144.99
1 x ($30.99) DVD BURN SONY-NEC|AD-7241S-0B % - OEM $30.99

I actually switched the PSU, but I don't think it's relevant.

I installed windows 7 64 bit RTM last night and have a couple of issues...

1) I have a 1920x1200 monitor. When I run in 1920x1200, the fonts all look horrible. The system fonts and the fonts in office, notepad, etc... all look bad. Images look fine. I can play games and they look fine. The fonts look like they have kind of a rainbow effect in addition to looking like they're blown up from a small bitmap. 1920x1200 is what windows recommends I run. I went to the ATI site and downloaded the latest windows 7 64 bit software.

If I switch to 1920x1080, everything looks perfect, but I have black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. It looks like it's running in 1920x1200, but with the bars. Anyone know how I can get a real 1920x1200 usable system?

2) When I go to Computer->System Properties and look at Installed Memory (RAM) it states 8.00 GB (3.18 GB Usable). I have 8 GB installed and 8 GB shows up in the bios.

If I go to task manager and click on Performance and then Click on Resource Monitor, It maps my memory and has Hardware Reserved set to 4937 MB. Is this normal?


Any help is appreciated.

 

[jared51182]

For your RAM problem, see if this helps: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/255724-30-vista-ddr2-showing

There was a similar problem in Vista 64. I don't know if the solution will be the same. Let us know, to help others as well.

Regarding your resolution problem: http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-cards/9097-startup-1900x1200-windows-resets-1024x786.html

That may not help, as the problem was slightly different, and it was nVidia, but it is a start - if you are willing to reinstall win7. Just try without installing the driver's from ATI, as that seemed to fix the above person's problem with nVidia.

What monitor are you using? The font thing might be a refresh rate issue. What is the current refresh rate you are running at? You might want to change it, and it might fix it.

 

[KidHorn]

I found a solution to the video resolution problem. Went to display in control panel. Clicked Change Display Settings. Clicked Advanced Settings. Clicked List All Modes. Selected 1920x1200 true color (32 bit). Hit OK. Apparetly when selecting 1920x1200, It defaults to 256 colors. I don't know if this is a windows thing or ATI thing, but defaulting to 32 colors when you have to dig to override it wasn't a good idea.

I'm not sure if the memory thing is really an issue or not.

 

[jared51182]

Well, the memory thing isn't really issue, other than that you paid for more than you are actually able to use. But that is your call. Glad to hear you resolved the resolution issue.

 

[snakej]

INSTALL Video Drivers!!!, if did ok, for the ram thats odd, if is a 64bit copy, try google and see what comes up.
cheers!
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there are no problems that last for ever, or at least no human to resist it.

edit;----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
try to see if there are a new bios update for you motherboard, that might likely fix the ram problems.

 

[KidHorn]

Well, the memory thing isn't really issue, other than that you paid for more than you are actually able to use. But that is your call. Glad to hear you resolved the resolution issue.

According to MS, windows 7 64 bit should be able to handle 192 GB, so in theory I should be able to use 8GB. The thing about the memory is that it is being used, it's just that most of it is supposedly being used by hardware. My video card has 1GB of DDR5 memory, but it states it's using 1 GB of onboard memory and over 1.2 GB of system memory. I know video cards use up as least as much system memory as on board memory since they basically have a mirror image of the video contents in system memory. Maybe other things are using a lot of system memory too since I have it in abundance.

I have to tell you my system runs very smoothly, My CPU never seems to get over 10% utilization and I always have lots of unused RAM. it could be that if there's demand for more memory, the hardwear will use less and make some available to applications.

 

[jared51182]

You are correct that a 64-bit system should be able to handle, hypothically, huge amounts of RAM, so no worries there.

I was reading up on OCing and found this from the OC sticky:

The only other setting worth mentioning here is the so-called “memory remap feature.” If you are running with more then 3 gigs of memory, and you want to actually have the BIOS/OS see it, you’ll need to enable this. Also enable this if you’re running a 64-bit operating system.

You may want to make sure that this is enabled.

 

[KidHorn]

I updated to the latest bios and one of the changes for the new bios is Memory Remap is set to enabled by default. Updating the bios did the trick. I now have just under 8 GB available.

I looked through the bios and didn't see a setting called Memory Remap. Maybe it gets set under a different name or maybe you can't actually set it. More likely I just missed it.

Anyway, except for some application installations not working in Win 7, I'm good to go now. Only took me a weekend to get everything straightened out. Not bad.

 

[jared51182]

Yay, congrats, and I'm glad things appear to be working out well.

 

[snakej]

lol i did told you bios update...