Win 7 not using all memory

Hi
I just upgraded to windows 7 64bit and went from two gig to 8 gig. Was looking forward to much better performance.
However I was topping out at 100% on the task manager at around 4 gig. I did the winconfig and found the the machine said I had 7.37 total physical memory but only 3.87 available physical mem. Another post here suggested to set memory to max in the config settings. I did now I'm at 6.75 total mem and 4.15 available. I'm so confused on what to do to be able to use what I installed. Help?
Here the second report I generated:

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name RYAN-PC
System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model M61SME-S2
System Type x64-based PC
Processor AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+, 2200 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Award Software International, Inc. F7, 11/23/2007
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7600.16385"
User Name Ryan-PC\Ryan
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) Not Available
Total Physical Memory 6.75 GB
Available Physical Memory 4.07 GB
Total Virtual Memory 13.5 GB
Available Virtual Memory 10.7 GB
Page File Space 6.75 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

thanks

Wow, over a hundred views and no one has any ideas?
I'd sure appreciate if any of you could help me out. Thanks

If your Windows7 version is a 32bit version then it will be limited to a max RAM of 4GB. Only the 64bit version of Windows7 can utilise quantities of RAM over 4GB.
To check and see which version u have right click on Computer and select Properties.
Read thru the pane that opens up and it will indicate which bit type you have...either 32bit or 64bit. If it says 64bit then something else is causing OS to not see the extra RAM added...

GAry

Thanks for the input Gary. Very much appreciated. I am running windows 7 64 bit. I double checked using your directions and I am infact running "64 bit operating system".
Any ideas?

Welcome to Seven Forums sarge74.

My usual disclaimer: I'm not an expert at anything. :)
According to your specs your GPU is a GeForce GTX 560. Standard memory configuration is supposed to be 1GB.

GeForce GTX 560 | Specifications | GeForce

It's normal to have that amount of RAM set aside under what's called "memory mapping". Other hardware on your computer usually uses smaller amounts of memory and that is set aside as well. So your usable memory will very likely be less than the installed memory.

The usable memory may be less than the installed memory on Windows 7-based computers

For a better picture (a graphic display) of how your computer memory is actually being allocated, you could open Resource Monitor > Memory tab. If you have a question about what it's showing you can post a screenshot and one of the experts should be able to explain it.

Resource Monitor

Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

Here's the screen shot. Thanks Marsmimar.

Thanks Bear. Here's another. Hardware Reserve still at 0. Is something wrong?

sarge74 said:

Here's the screen shot. Thanks Marsmimar.

According to your screenshot your installed memory is 6911MB. But in your first post you indicated you went from 2GB to 8GB. So installed memory should be 8192MB (8 x 1024 and similar to my screenshot.)



You're missing about 1281MB. That's close enough to 1280 to say you're missing a gig and a quarter (1024MB + 256MB = 1280.) Suggest you double check your RAM and make sure each module is seated correctly. You could also check each module individually in slot # 1 to make sure it's being recognized. It's possible that even a new stick can be defective.

BTW, how is your 8GB installed? 4 sticks of 2GB? 2 sticks of 4GB? Something else? Are they all brand new or did you just add additional memory to the original 2GB? Sometimes non-matched sticks can throw out some RAM errors. Not saying this is what's happening, just suggesting things to look at.

EDIT: Typed over your last reply. Second screenshot is showing 7551 installed. Again, not what it should be and changed from first screenshot. Something about your installed memory isn't being detected correctly.