MAX Ram?

[quy nguyen]

Hi,
I am running windows Vista in 32-bit windows. I install 4GB RAM into the machine but it show the RAM available is around 3GB. It is new RAM and there is nothing wrong with this. How could it be?
Thank you very much.

 

[David B.]

Perfectly normal.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605

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Hi,
I am running windows Vista in 32-bit windows. I install 4GB RAM into the
machine but it show the RAM available is around 3GB. It is new RAM and there
is nothing wrong with this. How could it be?
Thank you very much.

 

[Tom Lake]

Hi,
I am running windows Vista in 32-bit windows. I install 4GB RAM into the
machine but it show the RAM available is around 3GB. It is new RAM and there
is nothing wrong with this. How could it be?
Thank you very much.

The total a 32-bit system can address is 4GB but out of that 4GB, some
memory space needs
to be reserved for video, for PCI slots, for other peripherals. 3GB is not
an unusual amount to have free.
Go here for a detailed explanation:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/en-us

Tom Lake

 

[Dwarf]

Hi quy,

The maximum memory space for a 32-bit version of Windows Vista is 4GB.
However, hardware devices and I/O ports have to be mapped into that memory
space, so the maximum memory available for use is usually 3 to 3.5GB
dependant on the hardware in the machine. The only way to access the full 4GB
would be to install a 64-bit version of Windows Vista.
Dwarf

 

[Tim Slattery]

Hi,
I am running windows Vista in 32-bit windows. I install 4GB RAM
into the machine but it show the RAM available is around 3GB.
It is new RAM and there is nothing wrong with this. How could it be?

Explanation here: http://members.cox.net/slatteryt/RAM.html

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

Be greatful, thats usually the amount you are able to see under Vista 32 bit
because of the limitations of the architecture itself. If you want to see
all 4 GBs, you either have to have a mother board that supports or migrate
to Windows Vista x64 instead.

The system memory that is reported in the System Information dialog box in
Windows Vista is less than you expect if 4 GB of RAM is installed:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/en-us

Understanding Address Spaces and the 4GB Limit - [H]ard|Forum:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1035670
--
Andre
Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
My Vista Quickstart Guide:
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E8E5CC039D51E3DB!9709.entry
Hi,
I am running windows Vista in 32-bit windows. I install 4GB RAM into the
machine but it show the RAM available is around 3GB. It is new RAM and there
is nothing wrong with this. How could it be?
Thank you very much.

 

[quy nguyen]

Thanks
How is it if I only install 3GB. How much RAM available if I install 3 GB?
Is there different between 4GB and 3GB. Thanks

 

[Dwarf]

Hi quy,

Providing the memory space required by your hardware doesn't exceed 1GB, you
should find that you have 3GB available. However, if you are running in
dual-channel mode, then I recommend going down to 2GB. This is because 3GB in
dual-channel mode means 2 1GB sticks and 2 512MB sticks. On some
motherboards, for example, for dual-channel mode to work correctly ALL memory
sticks need to be identical.
Dwarf

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

Its a lot of factors, limitation of the motherboard and the operating system
architecture.
--
Andre
Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
My Vista Quickstart Guide:
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E8E5CC039D51E3DB!9709.entry

Thanks
How is it if I only install 3GB. How much RAM available if I install 3 GB?
Is there different between 4GB and 3GB. Thanks

Be greatful, thats usually the amount you are able to see under Vista 32
bit
because of the limitations of the architecture itself. If you want to see
all 4 GBs, you either have to have a mother board that supports or
migrate
to Windows Vista x64 instead.

The system memory that is reported in the System Information dialog box
in
Windows Vista is less than you expect if 4 GB of RAM is installed:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/en-us

Understanding Address Spaces and the 4GB Limit - [H]ard|Forum:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1035670
--
Andre
Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
My Vista Quickstart Guide:
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E8E5CC039D51E3DB!9709.entry
Hi,
I am running windows Vista in 32-bit windows. I install 4GB RAM into the
machine but it show the RAM available is around 3GB. It is new RAM and
there is nothing wrong with this. How could it be?
Thank you very much.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thanks
How is it if I only install 3GB. How much RAM available if I install 3 GB?

Usually all 3GB. The issue is that all 32-bit versions of Windows (XP
as well as Vista), even though they have a 4GB address space, can only
use *around* 3.1GB of RAM. That's because some of that space is used
by hardware and not available to the operating system and
applications. The amount you can use varies, depending on what
hardware you have installed, but is usually around 3.1GB.

Note that it's *address space* that the hardware uses, not RAM. With
4GB of RAM, if the hardware uses .9GB of address space, then there's
3.1GB of address space left for the RAM to map to, and the remaining
..9GB has no place to go. But with 3GB of RAM, there's room in the
address space for all 3GB of RAM plus the .9GB needed for the
hardware.

Is there different between 4GB and 3GB.

Depends on your hardware, but usually there's little if any
difference. Some people get as much as 3.5GB usable out of 4GB of RAM,
though.

Thanks

Be greatful, thats usually the amount you are able to see under Vista 32
bit
because of the limitations of the architecture itself. If you want to see
all 4 GBs, you either have to have a mother board that supports or migrate
to Windows Vista x64 instead.

The system memory that is reported in the System Information dialog box in
Windows Vista is less than you expect if 4 GB of RAM is installed:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/en-us

Understanding Address Spaces and the 4GB Limit - [H]ard|Forum:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1035670
--
Andre
Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
My Vista Quickstart Guide:
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E8E5CC039D51E3DB!9709.entry
Hi,
I am running windows Vista in 32-bit windows. I install 4GB RAM into the
machine but it show the RAM available is around 3GB. It is new RAM and
there is nothing wrong with this. How could it be?
Thank you very much.

 

[quy nguyen]

Thank you very much for all your help
It is very weird when It come with 4GB (2x2GB) the RAM available is 3.07GB.
Then I replace one 1GB with 2GB (3GB in total) it shows available RAM only
1.92 GB.
But the originally RAM 2GB (2x2GB) It shows 2.06 GB of RAM . How could it
be?
It is nonsense that install 3GB of RAM have less memory than its original
2GB.
Do you know what wrong with it? How can I maximize my RAM. Thank

Its a lot of factors, limitation of the motherboard and the operating
system architecture.
--
Andre
Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
My Vista Quickstart Guide:
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E8E5CC039D51E3DB!9709.entry

Thanks
How is it if I only install 3GB. How much RAM available if I install 3
GB? Is there different between 4GB and 3GB. Thanks

Be greatful, thats usually the amount you are able to see under Vista 32
bit
because of the limitations of the architecture itself. If you want to
see
all 4 GBs, you either have to have a mother board that supports or
migrate
to Windows Vista x64 instead.

The system memory that is reported in the System Information dialog box
in
Windows Vista is less than you expect if 4 GB of RAM is installed:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/en-us

Understanding Address Spaces and the 4GB Limit - [H]ard|Forum:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1035670
--
Andre
Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
My Vista Quickstart Guide:
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E8E5CC039D51E3DB!9709.entry
Hi,
I am running windows Vista in 32-bit windows. I install 4GB RAM into the
machine but it show the RAM available is around 3GB. It is new RAM and
there is nothing wrong with this. How could it be?
Thank you very much.

 

[ProDigit]

In other words, could you tell me what would happen if I install 4 x 2GB RAM
sticks?

If I understand it correctly, it would be exactly the same as 2x4GB? Or will
you have less memory available when installing 8GB then 4Gig (on a 32bit
system)?

 

[Charlie Tame]

In other words, could you tell me what would happen if I install 4 x 2GB RAM
sticks?

If I understand it correctly, it would be exactly the same as 2x4GB? Or will
you have less memory available when installing 8GB then 4Gig (on a 32bit
system)?

The maximum any 32 bit OS can address is 4GB, there simply aren't enough
"Bits" to address more than that, and some of that "Address Space" is
taken by hardware in the system so you will never see 4GB free memory
although it is there.

The old Commodore 64 could use some neat tricks to get around it's 64K
limit which was the same kind of thing but the 64 could "Page" the RAM
so that you could actually turn off the built in ROMS and use much more
of the memory for your own purposes, but that would not be so easy with
PC hardware that is multi tasking so for a 32 bit OS you are stuck with
4GB minus whatever addresses the hardware needs to use. I don't see any
reason why 4 X 1GB, 2 X 2 GB or any combinations of physical memory
should make a difference. It is no use going over 4GB unless you also
use a 64 bit OS on that machine.

I think going over 4GB might with some hardware might be a bad thing and
possibly cause conflicts.

 

[ProDigit]

The maximum any 32 bit OS can address is 4GB, there simply aren't enough
"Bits" to address more than that, and some of that "Address Space" is
taken by hardware in the system so you will never see 4GB free memory
although it is there.

The old Commodore 64 could use some neat tricks to get around it's 64K
limit which was the same kind of thing but the 64 could "Page" the RAM
so that you could actually turn off the built in ROMS and use much more
of the memory for your own purposes, but that would not be so easy with
PC hardware that is multi tasking so for a 32 bit OS you are stuck with
4GB minus whatever addresses the hardware needs to use. I don't see any
reason why 4 X 1GB, 2 X 2 GB or any combinations of physical memory
should make a difference. It is no use going over 4GB unless you also
use a 64 bit OS on that machine.

I think going over 4GB might with some hardware might be a bad thing and
possibly cause conflicts.

I'm sorry, maybe I wasn't clear.. I meant if a mobo is compatible with 2GB
RAM sticks, and has 4 slots. not looking wether it's compatible with 8GB or
not, that is of no concearn here.
If I have a system with 4GB installed, would adding a (or more) 2GB sticks
do any good to the allready having 4GB-system?
will you result in less free RAM, the same, or more free ram with a say 6GB
system?

 

[Charlie Tame]

I'm sorry, maybe I wasn't clear.. I meant if a mobo is compatible with 2GB
RAM sticks, and has 4 slots. not looking wether it's compatible with 8GB or
not, that is of no concearn here.
If I have a system with 4GB installed, would adding a (or more) 2GB sticks
do any good to the allready having 4GB-system?
will you result in less free RAM, the same, or more free ram with a say 6GB
system?

OIC now, sorry for being a bit obtuse

I don't think you will see any difference but another consideration will
be the RAM speed and that I think is the more important factor. I am no
expert on RAM timing settings and MBs will vary but certainly if you
have some RAM available that is still compatible with the MB but faster
I would give it a try. I am sure someone here can point you to a source
of proper technical info on this, no use asking at places like Best Buy
unless you can understand what's written on the packaging yourself.

What I think we will all agree on is that RAM is best bought from the
same place at the same time or bought as a "Matched" set to avoid mixing
and matching, I have seen weirdness occur with RAM that is allegedly the
same spec but a different brand or batch. IOW if you had 2GB and wanted
4 it is safest to buy 4GB all at once and keep the 2GB for something
else or maybe trade it. It may be fine in an older machine but if you
want top performance stick with at least bought at the same time RAM.

The MB may be capable of addressing 6GB, most probably capable of at
least 8GB these days, but the 32 bit OS will never see it and if the MB
is not capable you may have trouble I think. It is a matter of how many
address lines the maker has actually wired. Even with a 64 bit OS if
those lines are not "All" wired you will not see the theoretical maximum
RAM. If the MB maker says 8GB then it's only wired for 8GB and that is
all Vista 64 (Or anything else) will be able to see. I would not go
above 4GB unless using Vista 64 and if any RAM you add is slower then
that will likely force whatever is already there to run slower.

Like I said I am not a RAM expert with timings and stuff so please see
if anyone else agrees / disagrees etc.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In other words, could you tell me what would happen if I install 4 x 2GB RAM
sticks?

If I understand it correctly, it would be exactly the same as 2x4GB?

On 32-bit Vista, it will be almost exactly the same as 3GB.

Or will
you have less memory available when installing 8GB then 4Gig (on a 32bit
system)?

Exactly the same amount. About 3GB.