Memory issues

[Raven]

Right, i have just bought another 2 gig of memory, exactly the same model as my existing 2 gig. I put them in the PC and they show up just fine in the bios but when it comes to windows it only shows as 2. I started checking each ram stick (there are 4) to make sure none were faulty and they are fine, in fact I put 3 in and it displayed as 3 in both the bios and windows.

Any clues? why does windows show 4 sticks as 2 and 3 sticks as 3?

TY

 

[Kryten]

Ok, couple of things:

1. What motherboard (make, model) are you using?
2. What make/model of ram? (thats not important just wondering)
3. have you run memtest on them?

32bit windows will only show 3gb out of 4 as I'm sure you're already aware, much less so if you;ve lots of other devices munching memory.

 

[rynnor]

Easy - you arent running windows Vista (64?) - before Vista 2 was the normal max with 3 possible with tinkering/XP Pro - however your pc will still use the 4 when running games just not for windows.

4 must just overload it so it reverts to 2 - its all about adressability using 32 bit addresses if your interested

Edit - darn Kryten beat me by seconds

 

[Raven]

Ok, couple of things:

1. What motherboard (make, model) are you using?
2. What make/model of ram? (thats not important just wondering)
3. have you run memtest on them?

32bit windows will only show 3gb out of 4 as I'm sure you're already aware, much less so if you;ve lots of other devices munching memory.

Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H motherboard and 2x OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5400

Thanks both, looks like its a windows issue then, 32 bit OS, will "ahem" acquire the 64 bit version tonight.

 

[Kryten]

Windows won't be hiding that much though - the minimum you should still be seeing is 3gb.
The only time you'll see substantial amounts missing is if you're using SLI graphics boards, the memory on those will count as well :/



Hmmm @ rynnor - you know I'm sure I've heard about that, not looked into it much with XP. Might do some investigation when I'm back at work on Wednesday and have the time, cheers