3 GB installed but only 1GB usable.

[Grandpa Ubu]

I just built a new system and decided to try out Windows 7. Everything is just amazing but I do have 1 problem. I have 3 GB memory installed and 7 recognizes this but says only 1GB is usable.

My system is basically.

i7 Quad 920
Gibabyte EX58-UD4P Motherboard
3GB DDR3 Corsair Memory
ATI Radon HD4670 1G DDR3 Graphics Card
Soundblaster Platinum Sound Card
Seagate SATA Barracuda 500GB 7200 RPM HD with drivers from 3/10/09

I am using the Windows 7 RC 7100 with all updates.

I have seen many places here and around that talks about 32bit only using 3 gb ram...I get that but nowhere talking about using less when that much is installed.

I did see something about Video cards using up memory...I thought that was why I bought a 1gb card in the first place..I thought it had its own ram....I don't understand why it uses my memory.

As you can see my memory usage is extremely high because of this and I am afraid of doing anything.

Also, I tried the x64 version and it only used showed 3gb and 2 usable.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for your suggestion..

Grandpa

 

[Snufffed]

when you boot have you ran the MEMORY Diagnostics.?
What did it say?
Have your swapped memory modules around?
Does your video card access RAM for use?

 

[Grandpa Ubu]

Don't know how to run memory diagonstics...I'll see what I can find out
No But I will switch them
How would I find out about the video card?

 

[zigzag3143]

did you check the settings in BIOS?

 

[Grandpa Ubu]

did you check the settings in BIOS?

What setting in bios you mean....I did have to turn up the voltage to 1.6 v to run the memory at rated 1600 speed....that is only setting I see in bios

 

[Grandpa Ubu]

Don't know how to run memory diagonstics...I'll see what I can find out
No But I will switch them
How would I find out about the video card?

Switching does nothing and mem test said no problems...it did not give me a report when I logged in though.

Cant find info on graphics card using memory yet

 

[Snufffed]

Normally there is a setting to "Auto detect memory". which I'm sure your BIOS does... since your post shows 3GB : 1 usable.
Memory diagnostics, will run a gamot of tests on your memory chips to make sure they are 100%. which is located under Admin tools.

some times different manufactures set there mobos to access RAM at different times. which only makes so much usable by the system.
I think that is adjustable in the BIOS under memory. your manual should tell you how to check or adjust.
some references to same problem:

  [URL="http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vista-7/681442-how-adjust-shared-video-memory.html"][U][SIZE=4][COLOR=#2200cc][B]how to adjust[/B] shared video [B]memory[/B] - Tech Support Guy Forums[/COLOR][/SIZE][/U][/URL] 
2 posts - 2 authors - Last post: Feb 10, 2008
[B]how to adjust[/B] shared video [B]memory[/B]. i have vista, p5n32-sli deluxe mobo, 3.4 pentium d 4gb ram (2.8 [B]usable[/B] 32bit) nvidia 8800ultra, [B]...[/B]
[COLOR=#008000]forums.techguy.org/windows-vista-7/681442-how-[B]adjust[/B]-shared-video-[B]memory[/B].html[/COLOR]

   [URL="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321363"][U][SIZE=4][COLOR=#2200cc][B]How to adjust memory[/B] usage by using configuration options in SQL [B]...[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE][/U][/URL] Explains two configuration options that you can use to establish upper and lower limits to the amount of [B]memory[/B] (buffer pool) used by the SQL Server [B]...[/B]
[COLOR=#008000]support.microsoft.com/kb/321363[/COLOR]

 

[darkassain]

usually this is because you are using a 32 bit OS...
and im pretty sure the cause is you graphics card...
if you see your wei then click on view detailed performace information
you can see how much really your GPU is taking out the 4gb total usuable ram
try to find the 64 bit version and install that one....
it should give you access to all that ram...

 

[garysgold]

Hello Grandpa Ubu,

Welcome to Seven Forums.

Have you had a look at the performance tab in task manager (ctrl+shift+esc).

Gary

 

[zigzag3143]

32 bit ram limit

I think 32 bit w7 can recognize memory up to 3.5 gigs and 64 bit 8 gigs. Ubu is using a separate graphics card with its own memory so since his system is seeing the full memory and his photos show very little mem usage for every thing exept firefox (98 meg) I would like to see whats using up 2.5 gigs of ram and the suggestions about running an independant memory test to see if it is working and what is using it are right on. I defer to the experts but offer whatever help I can give.

K

 

[Grandpa Ubu]

Well supposedly drivers are kinda important.....go figure I thought I had installed the W7 driver but I checked the date and ver and found out it was in fact a Vista driver ...so I installed the Win 7 drivers and now I have 2 G usable now...I opened almost everything on my computer and even Battlefield 2142 at the same time.....only used about 40% memory...so I have recovered 1 gb of the 2 gb that was lost....

Now I'm gonna try to find the last Gig....

Thanks guys for all your help and suggestions......

Snuffy...thanks for the links...I'll check them out...

 

[zigzag3143]

bios settings

sorry I forgot to ask if there is a setting in bios for "OS installation" or something similiar? On some systems to keep the mobo and OS most compatible the bios will only use 1 gig while installing an OS. Let me see if I can gleen some info abt the mobo from the mfr web page.

ken

 

[usasma]

Windows isn't stealing your memory. First, the 3gB is visible to your computer, so it's there. Windows does stuff in the background (in addition to everything that's running in the foreground) - so it's eating some memory just by running.

If you open up Task Manager (right click on the Task Bar to get to it) and sum the memory usage in the Processes tab (with the "Show processes for all users" selected, you'll see most of what's being used.

Then go to the Performance tab of Task Manager and you'll see a description labelled Physical Memory - that'll show the Total, Cached, Available, and Free

Here's a description of the stuff in Windows 2000 Server Task Manger (I can't locate a more recent link): Task Manager It describes all but the "Free" entry under Physical Memory

*******************************************
32bit client OS's (not server OS's) can only see 4gB of physical memory addresses. Some hardware leaps in front of the line and reserves some of this address space for itself. This means that Windows (being 2nd in line) may not get all of the physical memory addresses that it needs for your memory.

For example, if you have 4gB of RAM, and your hardware claims 1gB of address space, there's only 3gB of address space left for your RAM. You can have a gazillion gB of RAM installed - but if there's only 3gB of address space available, that's all that Windows will be able to see/use (BTW - Windows changed the display in Vista SP1 so you'll see installed RAM rather than usable RAM).

NOTE: This is physical memory, and is not related to the /3gb switch for virtual memory

The only way around this limitation is to remove the hardware that's doing it. IME the biggest culprit here is the video card - so you can remove the video card to remove the restriction, but then you won't be able to see anything!

*******************************************
Virtual memory bears no direct relation to physical memory (that we can see). The Windows Memory Manager sub-system manages the swapping of memory between virtual memory and physical memory by swapping stuff in and out of physical memory and the pagefile.

Each process in Windows 32 bit client OS's is limited to 4gB. 2gB are reserved for kernel-level activity, and 2gB are reserved for user-level activity.

So, if you've got 50 processes running, then you've got 200gB of virtual memory address space reserved for those processes (they may not all be used).

You can switch the 2gB/2gB thing to 1gB/3gB only under these circumstances:
- the /3gB or PAE switch must be enabled in Windows
- the application that's using this MUST BE PAE AWARE. If it's not, then nothing will change.

 

[Snufffed]

Your motherboard uses Scalable ability to both 3 way CrossFireX and 3 way SLI support for ultimate graphics performance.
If your using SLI configuration, (a SLI configuration also removes an amount of ram equivalent to that of your Video cards) then your 1GB Video card accesses 1GB Memory for max video. (per the mobo settings.) now you only have 2GB usable.
You might also expand the task manager to show all processes. Then you can add up memory used per process.

checking you mobo specs it says it is very specific on how memory modules are inserted.

According to Intel spec definition that XMP DIMMs and DDR3-1600 above are supported for one DIMM per channel only
(Nore2)
When enabling Dual Channel mode with 2 memory modules, be sure to install them in the DDR3_1 and DDR3_3 sockets
(Note3)
When enabling 3 Channel mode with 3 memory modules, be sure to install them in the DDR3_1, DDR3_3 and DDR3_5 sockets
When enabling 3 Channel mode with 4 memory modules, be sure to install them in the DDR3_1, DDR3_2, DDR3_3 and DDR3_5 sockets
(Note1)

might make a BIG Difference.

 

[Grandpa Ubu]

WOW...the response here is amazing....Let me go through everything....

GARY...attached is a pic of Task Manager....Its showing the 2 g now after my driver update. As you can see this update reduced my usage from 60+ % to 25% or so....

ZigZag....mem test showed good

Usasma....Thats good info to check out...I'll do that...great information for future reference as well

Snuffy....I have me memory in 1,3,5....I only have one video card but using 1Gb for video makes sense due to it being a HD card....I'll look into this as well

Guys, again, your response is nothing short of amazing...thanks for everything...I'll check everything and report back to you...





Thanks again,

Grandpa

 

[Grandpa Ubu]

Darkassain....attached is my WEI....this memory should be scoring higher than this. I did find out in my bios that my voltage profile was back to 1.5 v and I adjusted it to the 1.65 v the memory calls for and it placed it to the true 1600 speed in the bios now...

It does appear that 767mb is shared system memory but I'm not sure if this is the missing ram so I'm not sure if this is what you were talking about

Thanks

Grandpa

 

[FromStoneage]

go check BIOS if reads 3Gb or not, also use CPUZ to check if you've installed your RAM correctly. CPUID

 

[Captain Zero]

I'm thinking it's the BIOS. Second option to look at is how the RAM is installed and in what slots. Snuffy and usasma are on the right track. CPUID will show you what's recognized by Windows but unless the BIOS sees it, Windows never will. If you still can't see all your RAM, it might simply be a bad chip or slot.

1.6v into your chip is a little hot. I'd check temps on the NorthBridge and make sure you're not cooking it. If it's higher than 50-60c, you're pushing it for 24/7 and that will cause your RAM to fail - and possibly fry your board.

 

[Grandpa Ubu]

From Stoneage...thanks for the suggestion of CPUZ...great tool even if I done understand everything...attached are shots..3 g is showing and running but the freq appears to be off. My bios is showing 1600 mhz and CPUZ is showing only 800mhz.

Cpt Zero....attached is the memory voltages for the memory. I have the TR3X3G1600C9. It calls for 1.65v

I am gonna check with corsair as well but the system and bios both seem to be registering 3 gb.

Thanks guys.

 

[os7]

Hi,

Enter into the bios setup when you start your PC, probably it is to press `Del' or ctrl A, look out for the message on the screen, scan all the tab shown in the bios, it would be in advanced bios feature, look for the RAM installed in all the channels, there may be four channels for RAM, otherwise remove all but one and add one bye one, look into the bios, if it doesn't detect all of your RAM, then get the RAM physically checked into some other PC.