XP Ram Question

[Winter]

Im running
- Windows XP
- intel i7 975
- evga x58 sli motherboard
- 3 x 2GB DDR3 ram (6 GB)

all these are compatible
but when i go to system in windows it only shows 2.49 GB of ram?

anyone got any pointers or reasons its only showin the 2.49 and not atleast
showin the 4gb? im stumped

please help =)

 

[sgopus]

all your going to see.

 

[H. Roth]

Im running
- Windows XP
- intel i7 975
- evga x58 sli motherboard
- 3 x 2GB DDR3 ram (6 GB)

all these are compatible
but when i go to system in windows it only shows 2.49 GB of ram?

anyone got any pointers or reasons its only showin the 2.49 and not atleast
showin the 4gb? im stumped

please help =)

What does your system see prior to Windows loading? It's apparent
that it's probably not seeing the entire 6 gigs.

That said, unless you're using a 64-bit version of Windows, anything
over 4 gigs is wasted.

 

[JS]

Windows XP 32-bit can only address 4GB.
From that you need to subtract the memory
your Video card has plus an additional small
amount for other hardware resources.

Are you running Crossfire or SLI as that may
also impact how much memory you have available
for use in XP.

 

[Mark Adams]

Im running
- Windows XP
- intel i7 975
- evga x58 sli motherboard
- 3 x 2GB DDR3 ram (6 GB)

all these are compatible
but when i go to system in windows it only shows 2.49 GB of ram?

anyone got any pointers or reasons its only showin the 2.49 and not atleast
showin the 4gb? im stumped

please help =)

32 bit operating systems like Windows XP only have 4GB of address space. The
hardware uses some of that space. Whatever is left over can be addressed by
the RAM, which is what remains after the hardware uses what it needs. You
might as well remove 2GB of RAM and use it in another computer. Or wait for
the 64 bit version of Windows 7 which can use all of your RAM.

 

[Jose]

Im running
- Windows XP
- intel i7 975
- evga x58 sli motherboard
- 3 x 2GB DDR3 ram (6 GB)

all these are compatible
but when i go to system in windows it only shows 2.49 GB of ram?

anyone got any pointers or reasons its only showin the 2.49 and not atleast
showin the 4gb? im stumped

please help =)

If it shows up as 4MB on the POST screen at boot, you know it is
installed properly.

It depends where you are looking in Windows to read your numbers, but
you should be able to account for almost all of it.

What you have installed (what shows up in the POST) does not mean
Windows has access to all of it. As a matter of fact, Windows will
have access to less of it, sometimes a amount is "missing" but it is
somewhere. My video card takes up 64MB right off the bat, so start
subtracting.

Use msinfo32 and you can see total, available, how much your video is
using, etc. and you should be able to get close to adding things up,
or it will make some sense at least.

The 4GB/32bit business is easy to explain and understand. Here is an
article from some company called Intel that explains a lot of things
about the 4GB/32 bit business - and then you can understand why this
is.

 

[JS]

Im running
- Windows XP
- intel i7 975
- evga x58 sli motherboard
- 3 x 2GB DDR3 ram (6 GB)

all these are compatible
but when i go to system in windows it only shows 2.49 GB of ram?

anyone got any pointers or reasons its only showin the 2.49 and not
atleast
showin the 4gb? im stumped

please help =)

Some additional info:

A link to the white paper titled "Gaming Performance Analysis" by Corsair
Memory Inc. provides a good clear explanation of how a video card effects
the amount of available memory in your PC.
See: http://www.corsair.com/_appnotes/AN804_Gaming_Performance_Analysis.pdf

Intel Chipset 4 GB System Memory Support
http://www.dcomputer.com/ProInfo/support/support/mainboard/4GB_Rev1/4GB_Rev1.pdf

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Im running
- Windows XP
- intel i7 975
- evga x58 sli motherboard
- 3 x 2GB DDR3 ram (6 GB)

all these are compatible
but when i go to system in windows it only shows 2.49 GB of ram?

anyone got any pointers or reasons its only showin the 2.49 and not
atleast showin the 4gb? im stumped

please help =)

If it shows up as 4MB on the POST screen at boot, you know it is
installed properly.

It depends where you are looking in Windows to read your numbers,
but you should be able to account for almost all of it.

What you have installed (what shows up in the POST) does not mean
Windows has access to all of it. As a matter of fact, Windows will
have access to less of it, sometimes a amount is "missing" but it is
somewhere. My video card takes up 64MB right off the bat, so start
subtracting.

Use msinfo32 and you can see total, available, how much your video
is using, etc. and you should be able to get close to adding things
up, or it will make some sense at least.

The 4GB/32bit business is easy to explain and understand. Here is
an article from some company called Intel that explains a lot of
things about the 4GB/32 bit business - and then you can understand
why this is.

Jose,

If it shows up as 4MB - actually - you are in trouble. ;-)
(In reference to your, "If it shows up as 4MB on the POST screen at boot,
you know it is installed properly.")

Also - if you are going to reference an article - you might actually link to
it. ;-)
(In reference to your, "Here is an article from some company called Intel
that explains a lot of things about the 4GB/32 bit business - and then you
can understand why this is.")

 

[Bennett Marco]

If it shows up as 4MB on the POST screen at boot, you know it is
installed properly.

HUH (and I'm not referring to your use of MB)? "Winter" has 6GB
installed.

 

[Jose]

Jose,

If it shows up as 4MB - actually - you are in trouble. ;-)
(In reference to your, "If it shows up as 4MB on the POST screen at boot,
you know it is installed properly.")

Also - if you are going to reference an article - you might actually linkto
it. ;-)
(In reference to your, "Here is an article from some company called Intel
that explains a lot of things about the 4GB/32 bit business - and then you
can understand why this is.")

It was past my bedtime.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Im running
- Windows XP
- intel i7 975
- evga x58 sli motherboard
- 3 x 2GB DDR3 ram (6 GB)

all these are compatible
but when i go to system in windows it only shows 2.49 GB of ram?

anyone got any pointers or reasons its only showin the 2.49 and not atleast
showin the 4gb? im stumped

This is 32-bit Windows XP?

All 32-bit client versions of Windows (not just Vista/XP/7) have a 4GB
address space (64-bit versions can use much more). That's the
theoretical upper limit beyond which you can not go.

But you can't use the entire 4GB of address space. Even though you
have a 4GB address space, you can only use *around* 3.1GB of RAM.
That's because some of that space is used by hardware and is not
available to the operating system and applications. The amount you can
use varies, depending on what hardware you have installed, but can
range from as little as 2GB to as much as 3.5GB. It's usually around
3.1GB.

Note that the hardware is using the address *space*, not the actual
RAM itself. If you have a greater amount of RAM, the rest of the RAM
goes unused because there is no address space to map it to.