System Properties question: RAM

[K. Stonefield]

When I click Start > right-click My Computer > choose Properties, I see my
computer's properties.

My question is regarding the information at the bottom of the General tab.

For the amount of RAM, is the amount shown the amount of RAM I have left or
the amount installed?

I ask because I thought it was the amount installed but a computer
technician told me it's how much I have left.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

When I click Start > right-click My Computer > choose Properties, I see my
computer's properties.

My question is regarding the information at the bottom of the General tab.

For the amount of RAM, is the amount shown the amount of RAM I have left
or
the amount installed?

I ask because I thought it was the amount installed but a computer
technician told me it's how much I have left.

It's the amount installed *and* available for use. And that is a reference
to systems that have graphics chips that use "shared" memory - these are
often chips on the motherboard, as opposed to graphics cards that you
install. All graphics chips and cards need some memory, and these ones
don't have any of their own, so they "share" the system RAM.

These "shared" graphics cards use part of the RAM that you've installed.
So, if you've got a system like this, and there are many, and you've
installed, say, 1 gig of RAM, you'll see that Windows reports somewhat less
than 1 gig is installed. The difference is the amount that the graphics
chip "shared", meaning "took", for its own use.

HTH
-pk

 

[K. Stonefield]

Thanks Patrick!

According to my computer's specs, 1024MB was installed but System Properties
says 384MB of RAM, so I was concerned.

So my graphics cards use that much memory? Wow.

If I were to upgrade my RAM to its maximum of 4GB, would that help speed
things up?
--
Thanks,
K.
In the field of stones...

When I click Start > right-click My Computer > choose Properties, I see my
computer's properties.

My question is regarding the information at the bottom of the General tab.

For the amount of RAM, is the amount shown the amount of RAM I have left
or
the amount installed?

I ask because I thought it was the amount installed but a computer
technician told me it's how much I have left.

It's the amount installed *and* available for use. And that is a reference
to systems that have graphics chips that use "shared" memory - these are
often chips on the motherboard, as opposed to graphics cards that you
install. All graphics chips and cards need some memory, and these ones
don't have any of their own, so they "share" the system RAM.

These "shared" graphics cards use part of the RAM that you've installed.
So, if you've got a system like this, and there are many, and you've
installed, say, 1 gig of RAM, you'll see that Windows reports somewhat less
than 1 gig is installed. The difference is the amount that the graphics
chip "shared", meaning "took", for its own use.

HTH
-pk

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Thanks Patrick!

According to my computer's specs, 1024MB was installed but System
Properties
says 384MB of RAM, so I was concerned.

Where exactly are you looking? On this XP Pro system, which has 2 gig RAM
installed, the General tab shows - 2 gig, the installed amount. There are
other places that *do* show the amount available - but free RAM is wasted
RAM, Windows should be allocating it.

Power down your system (not restart), turn it back on and go into the BIOS.
How much memory does it list? You may find that part of the RAM is not
being recognised, or that there is less installed than you think.

The place to check this is outside the OS, and that means in the BIOS. If
it isn't recognised there, Windows has no chance of seeing it.

So my graphics cards use that much memory? Wow.

Such chipsets are often in the 64 to 128 meg range, and 384 plus 128 is 512,
half the amount of memory you think is installed.

If I were to upgrade my RAM to its maximum of 4GB, would that help speed
things up?

The amount of RAM installed doesn't actually speed your system up, it can
only keep it from slowing down as you load things into memory. And 4 gig
is wasted on a 32-bit OS, as memory above about 3.2 gig can't be used.
Windows uses the address space above that point, to 4 gig, for mapping
hardware addresses, so RAM that might be in that area is simply ignored.
So, there's pretty much no point in installing more than 3.

On many systems and for many users, 512 meg is plenty on an XP system, and 1
gig should be fine.

HTH
-pk

 

[K. Stonefield]

Thanks again!

Okay, here's a newbie question: How do I see the BIOS and the RAM outside
my OS?

-K.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Thanks again!

Okay, here's a newbie question: How do I see the BIOS and the RAM outside
my OS?

The precise method vares from PC to PC.

First, though, open any Explorer window (not IE) and go to Help, About
Windows. You'll get a little dialog that includes the line "Physical Memory
Available to Windows:" and have a figure in KB. If yours shows 384, it's
extremely unlikely that there is 1024 meg installed. It might be not
seated properly, or broken, or not there, but it isn't 1 gig.

To get into the BIOS, you have to turn the power OFF, you cannot just
restart. Watch the screen carefully as it comes up; you will see something
like "Press DEL (or F2) to enter setup". Press that named key. You might
not get it the first pass.

HTH
-pk

 

[K. Stonefield]

Patrick,

I followed your instructions and the amount of physical memory available is
almost 393,000 KB. That's 393 MB or RAM. Hmmm... Maybe I'll open up the
CPU and check the chips again.

Thanks,
K.

 

[Paul]

Patrick,

I followed your instructions and the amount of physical memory available is
almost 393,000 KB. That's 393 MB or RAM. Hmmm... Maybe I'll open up the
CPU and check the chips again.

Thanks,
K.

Try CPUZ.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Here is a sample picture of the output screens. The "memory"
tab shows the total memory installed, and the operating
speed and timing used. The "SPD" tab, shows information
about each stick, and the Serial Presence Detect data
is the timing information stored in a small chip on
each of the DIMMs. So the "SPD" tells you something
about each individual memory stick. Use the pulldown
menu on the SPD page, to select which memory slot
you're examining.

http://pat.marcourt.free.fr/cpu-z.JPG

HTH,
Paul

 

[Daave]

I followed your instructions and the amount of physical memory
available is almost 393,000 KB. That's 393 MB or RAM. Hmmm...

Close.

Actually if you have 384 MB of RAM (aka physical memory), that comes to
393,216 KB because there are 1,024 KB in 1 MB.

Also, in an earlier post, you stated, "According to my computer's specs,
1024MB was installed."

That's unclear. Specs won't tell you how much you have installed! But
they will let you know up to how much *may* be installed.

Another way to determine how much RAM you have installed, as Patrick
mentioned, is to look in your BIOS. The proper key to strike (to enter
the BIOS) just after you power on your PC depends on the make and model,
but usually you can see the method on screen briefly. If not, look at:

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Patrick,

I followed your instructions and the amount of physical memory available is
almost 393,000 KB. That's 393 MB or RAM. Hmmm... Maybe I'll open up the
CPU and check the chips again.

If you are suggesting that 393MB is not a possible amount of RAM to
have, that's true, but it's not the number you have. To get from KB to
MB, you divided by 1000, but that's the wrong divisor. There are
1024KB in one MB, so 1024 is what you need to divide by. The correct
result is 384MB, and that is a possible amount of RAM to have.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

When I click Start > right-click My Computer > choose Properties, I see my
computer's properties.

My question is regarding the information at the bottom of the General tab.

For the amount of RAM, is the amount shown the amount of RAM I have left

No (unless some has been removed from the number because you have
motherboard video support instead of a video card).

or the amount installed?

I ask because I thought it was the amount installed but a computer
technician told me it's how much I have left.

You are correct. That computer technician is one you should stop
using. He either doesn't know what he's talking about, or is purposely
lying to you for some reason.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Patrick,

I followed your instructions and the amount of physical memory available
is
almost 393,000 KB. That's 393 MB or RAM.

As noted, it's actually 384. The counting is done in base 2, not base 10,
and 1K is actually 1024.

You would get 384 meg with a 256 and a 128 meg set, or 3x128 meg RAM sticks.

HTH
-pk

 

[K. Stonefield]

Hello,

You will all be glad to know that I fixed the problem myself and it was so
simple. I just opened up the unit and removed and reinserted the RAM chips
(both of them). I used the CPUID program and it only recognized ONE chip!
So I found that one of the chips wasn't secured all the way in (must have
been those techs who serviced it last time because I never touched them).
Sigh. So now it's back to the speed that I remember! Thanks again for all
your help, everyone!

K.