More RAM doesn't always amount to better performance

bigseb said:

So far so good... definitely an improvement... only thing is on my system page it says total RAM is 4GB then in brackets 3GB usable... huh?... I read in another thread about a poster that had the same problem so I'm off to find that now... see what I can do to fix it...

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Are you running the 32 bit (x86) version of Windows 7? If so it's normal for the OS to only be able to use part of the fourth gig of ram - memory addresses are needed for hardware, such as the memory on the video adapter.

bigseb said:

32bit... but it should be at 3,25GB... not a hell of a lot more I know but that's not the point... The Sly Assassin reckons this is because of WEI and I have to do a fresh install... looking for a better solution...

Any ideas?...

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For more precise information open the task manager, switch to the performance tab and see the total available memory entry. I've attached a screenshot from my system showing total memory as 3326 kb, which is about right for a 32 bit OS with a 512 meg video adapter.

bigseb said:

No mate... even there it shows my total physical memory as 3070MB... somewhere 250MB have gone astray...

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Do you have a dedicated video card, or motherboard graphics? If you have mobo graphics you may be able to adjust the amount of shared memory in the BIOS. Posting a list of your hardware may give us a clue.

bigseb said:

Have graphics card with 256MB... tell me what info you need and I'll give it... would really like to get to the bottom of this...

A 32bit OS can only address 4Gbs TOTAL...this includes any & everything that uses Memory!
Look at what your graphics card is using in "Shared Memory" & this will more than likely show you where the extra has gone. That's where mine is being used which is good because it's needed by my games.

If you look in Resource Monitor it will show you what is using what for the most part.
My "Usable" RAM is 3325 with Hardware using 771Mbs.

bigseb said:

Ok... my graphics card has 256MB dedicated memory... that means it shouldn't dip into my RAM... or did I get that backwards?... as far as I know of the 4GB RAM I have installed 3,25GB should be available to use with a 32bit OS... of that 3.25GB the graphics card uses none as it has its own RAM... that's what I've had explained to me... right or wrong... please help... willing to learn...

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Unfortunately, a 32 bit OS can only address a total of four gigs. The 256 megs on your video card is using part of that four gigs. That means 256 megs of you ram is unavailable. It's sitting there in your computer but can't be used because Windows does not have enough memory addresses to map it. There are other devices in the computer that also have memory address space set aside for them. The total address space dedicated to hardware is unavailable to the OS. That's why a system with four gigs of ram can only use 3+ gigs. I hope this is more clear. The only way to resolve this is to switch to a 64 OS - it can address a much larger amount of ram.