Windows 7 - Only 3 Gb of usable ram

I have 4 gb of RAM installed but it says (3.00 GB Usable). Does this mean that last 1 GB stick is useless? I'm on win 7 32-bit.

Can you give us a screen snip ?


Do you have Max Memory set to Zero (0) ?

Memory - Set Maximum Amount Used by Windows 7

32-bit systems will only use up to 3.0-3.25GB of RAM
You SHOULD use a 64-bit version of Windows7 to use all your RAM

DocBrown, yes I have it set to zero and it is unchecked just like in the pic u posted. Right next to where it says installed memory it says "4.00 GB (3.00 GB usable) in the system info. The main question I am trying to ask here is are the last 1 GB of ram that I installed going to be useless, meaning it wont speed up my comp and its just dead weight? If it is then I might as well return it to the store.

Hello Thomas,

Do you have a integrated graphics chip on your motherboard? Laptops/notebooks do, and sometimes a desktop will.

If so, then in the BIOS settings you may have that 1GB of RAM set to be dedicated to it. Unless you have installed a separate graphics card to use instead, then this setting should not be changed.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

That might not even get you all of your RAM. The MB BIOS and chipset need to support at least 8GB of RAM and they must also support the memory remapping feature (the follwoing link to the MS KB article):

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

Without the memory remap and support for 8GB, even though your graphics card has its own memory, it will use part of that 4GB of 32 bit address space as a map into your video memory, and makes it unavailable to you (hard to swallow but that is the way it is). I believe the memory remapping lets the 64 bit OS map the video memory above the 4GB of your physical memory, giving you full use of the 4GB. This applies only for 64 bit Windows 7, there is nothing you can do about it in 32 bit Windows 7.

- Gene

It depends on the Operating system as well as the Hardware. A 64 bit system can use up to 12 - 16 gigs I believe. To get this full advantage, you need to have hardware that can also handle this large amount of memory, if it cannot, then you just get the 3 gigs you can use, and the other 1 gig sits there not being used.

Here are some explanations of the phenomenon: Maximum Memory in 32-bit Windows Vista : Windows Vista and Windows 7 Help

This is a ongoing topic even if you use 64bit style os you still have atleast some memory on standby if you use more then 4 gigs then it still will leave you about a 1.50 gigs short of all you're ram

I guess the possability of all 4 gigs being used going to 64 bit but yet again when you run 64 bit and only have 4 gigs it will max to about 3.85 gig usage and still hold back 20% of one gig it is using that memeory in case you need a little boost

I hope what i am saying to you all makes sense I am useing 8 gigs of ram and usable is only 6.75 so i am missing 1.25 gigs which is allocated in standby waiting for the day i have a program that needs it

Other then that no real performance bump will be gained even thought you would have access to all 4 gigs just look at it like you're saving cash for a rainy day cause that is what windows is doing for you even though you don't want it too

Well I never heard of "reserved space for a boost", where did that come from? What is probably happening with your 8GB being only having a usable 6.75 GB is that your chipset only supports 8GB of addressing, so the upper part o that 8GB is used to map your video RAM to the kernel address space as well as other hardware whose memory must be mapped into kernel space, and hence that range of addresses is not usable. For instance, the Intel 975X chipset only supports up to 8GB, so your graphics card and other memory mapped devices will have to use up some of that 8GB of address space.

Rule of thumb (for 64 bit OS) is, I believe, that maximum the usable memory = the maximum memory supported by your chipset minus the video ram size. Plus the BIOS must support remapping under certain circumstances). The most a 32 bit OS will support = 4GB - video ram size.

Her are some examples (assuming 64 bit windows)

1. Your chipset supports 8GB and your BIOS remapping. You can get upt to 8GB minus video ram usable memory
2. your chipset supports 4GB of ram: you will get a max usable memory of 4GB minus video ram size

Read the link to the Microsoft KB article I posted above and search for Microsoft windows memory management to understand how this works.

- Gene