4 GB of ram but only 2,75 is usable

[OrkMan]

I recently upgraded my 2 GB ram (1x2GB) to 4 GB (2x2GB) fine (had a bit of issue with the CPU ventilation getting stuck due dust, but it was solved), but windows showed that only 2,75 is usable. I thought it was because I was using a 32 bit OS, so I reinstalled a 64 bit, but suprisingly the problem still remains.
I did a bit of googling around, found similiar problems, so I'm almost sure that the RAM is not faulty. I checked the msconfig for limiting the max memory, it was unchecked. Tried to check the bios for memory remapping or any option regarding memory, but I couldn't find any. My mobo (Foxconn G31MX) should support memory up to 4 GB.

At this point I can only think that it's either because of my GPU (Nvidia Geforce 210) or my Motherboard, but I still have hope to get that 1,25 GB without buying anything else.

 

[danny2000]

More than likely it is the Nvidia card using shared memory. Is it an on-board video card?

 

[zander1983]

More than likely it is the Nvidia card using shared memory. Is it an on-board video card?

+1 More than likely your graphics card using some of your RAM.

How much RAM is usable when you remove your nVidia card and boot using onboard VGA?

 

[OrkMan]

It's not an on board card. I removed it and now it's says 3.24 GB is usable. Odd number. But still, this means the GPU only uses 0.49 GB, what about the remaining 0.79 GB ram?

 

[danny2000]

okay, you do have an on-board video card, and that is what you are obviously using.
In your case, you probably never turned-off the on-board video card in the bios so it was still using some of your ram, even though you had it hooked-up to the pci slot video card, which was also using shared ram from your system.

The 3.25 gb of ram is normal for a 4 gb system using an on-board video card.

 

[OrkMan]

So, I can disable the on-board video card, yes? I tried looking for an option for that in the BIOS, but no luck. I could only find a init display device (or something like this), I changed it from PCI port to PCIex, but nothing changed memory wise.

Also, when using 2 GB ram it doesn't seems to take away any memory.

 

[cin19]

Do you try to remove the motherboard battery to reset the CMOS?