7970 GHZ 6GB Only Seeing 4GB...

[Zaal]

Ok, so using CPUZ I can only see 4GB of the 6GB on the card. Does anyone know why this might be? Are 2GB supposed to be reserved/hidden for some reason?

 

[anthony8989]

Do you have current drivers? Is your PCI-e socket 3.0?

 

[bystander]

Are you using a 32-bit OS?

 

[Zaal]

Yes, I'm on a PCI-e 3.0 (the board has 5). I'm on the z77x-up7, and using the black (single-card) slot.
I'm also running win7pro-64.

Driver:
9.012-121219a-152192C-ATI
Catalyst 13.1

Oddly enough, the full 6GB is identified in Catalyst (under Information->Hardware).

 

[anthony8989]

Yes, I'm on a PCI-e 3.0 (the board has 5). I'm on the z77x-up7, and using the black (single-card) slot.
I'm also running win7pro-64.

Driver:
9.012-121219a-152192C-ATI
Catalyst 13.1

Oddly enough, the full 6GB is identified in Catalyst (under Information->Hardware).

Must be an error on CPUZ. If catalyst sees it at 6gb. Have you tried other apps like passmark ?

 

[Zaal]

Honestly, that slipped my mind. I'll check it now and get back here with an answer.

 

[Zaal]

Performance Test 8 only sees 4GB as well.

 

[bystander]

Performance Test 8 only sees 4GB as well.

There is a good chance the programs which are having issues reading all the VRAM are 32-bit applications, which cannot address more than 4GB of memory.

 

[Zaal]

Even if they see the 32GB of system memory?

 

[bystander]

Even if they see the 32GB of system memory?

While they see it, they can't use it. They may be getting the info from the system for the system memory, and they try and read it from the card for the VRAM.

It just just a theory, since you are seeing conflicting reports. It is not the card, it is the software reading the card in different ways.

 

[anthony8989]

Even if they see the 32GB of system memory?

Okay it's just a theory but... Because you're using such a high amount of GDDR3 RAM for your system memory, it could be that your OS can only utilize an additional 4GB from your graphics card and the rest is unusable by the OS. I do know that GDDR5 hardware is capable of doubling up it's memory capacity. Mixing the arrangement of 32-bit memory controllers, memory IC density, and memory circuit splitting allows of asymetric configurations. So I doubt the extra 2 GB of VRAM is even necessary in any case.

 

[Zaal]

Ah, thanks for the pointers guys. Glad it's not the actual card being defective.

Once again, thanks for the help.