Windows 7: 64bit 4GB (3.25 Usable). Waste of an update?

I have googled this issue since yesterday spending £150 on Windows 7 Professional, only to find out that when its installed, I only have 3.25 usable.





Originally on 32bit Vista, I use 3DS MAX and Photoshop ALOT, and needed the extra RAM space due to those crashing with heavy workflow. Is this now a wasted update to 64 Windows 7 as I seem to now have less RAM then on 32??

With 3DS on, iTunes and Firefox my physical memory is at 80%.

What is available out of what you have can be affected by your hardware, including the video. I have 8GB of RAM but not all of the 8GB is available.

Your display differs from mine. I have Win 7 64 bit Professional and all mine shows is "8 GB", not the total RAM and what is available. I only got that type of display with the 32 bit OS.

You must do a complete new install for 64 bit, you can't upgrade. If you somehow did an "upgrade" installation that may be one reason.

What kind of graphics card do you have?

The most common cause of this is due to integrated graphics.

Since the onboard GPU doesn't have RAM of its own, it must borrow its memory from the system. This could be why you are seeing less than the the full 4GB useable.
The GPU has to borroow, or dedicate a portion of RAM to video use.

If you install a dedicated Graphocs Card, with its own memory, you will then have full use of your installed RAM for the system to use under x64 as it will not need to borrow anything.

What Wishmaster said.

Furthermore, you can go into your BIOS and lower the amount of memory the system has to share with the onboard graphics if the option is available in your BIOS, eg. 128MB, 256B, 512MB and so on; lower numbers means more system memory gain.

It was a clean install, I just didn't know how to explain what I did simply in the title without using "update" lol.

How come you dont have all 8GB available?

My graphics card is nVidia Geforce 9800GT.

I haven't touched any of my computer since I purchased it, so it came with the nVidia, does that mean it is integrated then? And can I change it?

I have read about BIOS upgrades, and wasn't sure of any of it, what is the best solution? New Motherboard?

How do I change that, will that affect the graphics then will it?

Sorry, I am a proper noobcake with computer insides.

Unfortunately the amount of memory available will never be equal to the installed memory. this is due to memory address space.

There is a technical explanation here .....

Understanding Address Spaces and the 4GB Limit - [H]ard|Forum

It is rather involved but basically you will not see a real benefit, memory wise, on 64Bit Windows at 4GB but need to be at a higher level, (which is not possible at all with 32 Bit)

One way to figure out if your Video card is onboard or dedicated is to open your case and have a look, assuming you know what to look for. If you open up the system page, windows key plus pause/break, then click the blue "Windows Experience Index" and then click the blue "View and print detailed performance and system information". What does it show under Graphics for Total available, Dedicated graphics memory, and Shared graphics memory?
Also have a look at this: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

Click Start. Type in Resource Monitor in the Search bar. Click it. When Res Mon opens click "Memory" tab.

Use Snipping tool and post resulting picture.

Posting attachment info is here if needed. Ooops you already have that. I didn't have my coffee yet.
http://www.sevenforums.com/852738-post3.html

At least you will be able to see where and what the memory is allocated for.
Mike

Changing the video card to use less memory is a bad idea. System may have more but video card will be short changed on games etc.

If you have discrete 9800 GT(x) then changing the onboard video memory shared does nothing. Looking at your system specs which is barely nothing BTW, you have Foxconn motherboard. Foxconn usually makes motherboard for OEM systems, their BIOS support and updates is very rare. Anyhow, try and look for a BIOS update becuase I have gut feeling now that it's BIOS or chipset limitation related. I have a Acer HTPC that shows only 3GB useable out of 4GB regardless if the OS is 32/64-bit. I contacted Acer but they never replied or released an updated BIOS thus I still don't know if it was BIOS or chipset related (ATI 690G), on my particular machine the BIOS detects 4GB and Windows shows 4GB but only 3GB useable. To sum this it all up, I ended up removing 2GB and replaced it with 1GB for 3GB total and covered back to 32-bit.

Until a posting of a Resource Monitor Snip everyone is guessing.