ram not showing completely

[raman20]

i have installed 4 gb ram but it shows only 3 gb usable !!!

please help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PeaB4YouGo]

i have installed 4 gb ram but it shows only 3 gb usable !!!

please help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not knowing what kind of system you have, I'd venture that some of that RAM is being used by onboard video...

 

[TCG]

i have installed 4 gb ram but it shows only 3 gb usable !!!

please help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Judging by the operating system you listed in your profile, you are being limited by the 32bit OS. What you are seeing is standard behavior for a 32bit OS with more than 3gb of ram installed.

 

[Wallonn7]

32bit systems recognize 3GB only...

 

[stormy13]

raman20, welcome to the Seven Forums.

According to your specs yo're running 32 bit Windows 7, and as a result of that and with 4 GB of ram,

http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/86886-32-bit-vs-64-bit-comparison.html

32 bit OS
-A 32 bit OS can only address 4Gb of memory. Some of this is then allocated to hardware devices, usually dropping the available RAM to 3.25Gb or 3.5 Gb.
-The addressable space also applies to programs, giving a 2Gb limit of RAM to any one process. This means that 32 bit Photoshop can only ever access up to 2Gbs of RAM.
-Drivers are always a concern. Drivers for hardware usually have a 32 bit version, and there is usually not a problem with 32 bit drivers (finding or using).
-A 32 bit OS has a lower memory requirement to run. For Windows 7, the minimum RAM needed is 1Gb

This is for Vista but the same applies to Windows 7,

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

For Windows Vista to use all 4 GB of memory on a computer that has 4 GB of memory installed, the computer must meet the following requirements:

• The chipset must support at least 8 GB of address space. Chipsets that have this capability include the following:
  • Intel 975X
  • Intel P965
  • Intel 955X on Socket 775
  • Chipsets that support AMD processors that use socket F, socket 940, socket 939, or socket AM2. These chipsets include any AMD socket and CPU combination in which the memory controller resides in the CPU.
• The CPU must support the x64 instruction set. The AMD64 CPU and the Intel EM64T CPU support this instruction set.
• The BIOS must support the memory remapping feature. The memory remapping feature allows for the segment of system memory that was previously overwritten by the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) configuration space to be remapped above the 4 GB address line. This feature must be enabled in the BIOS configuration utility on the computer. View your computer product documentation for instructions that explain how to enable this feature. Many consumer-oriented computers may not support the memory remapping feature. No standard terminology is used in documentation or in BIOS configuration utilities for this feature. Therefore, you may have to read the descriptions of the various BIOS configuration settings that are available to determine whether any of the settings enable the memory remapping feature.
• An x64 (64-bit) version of Windows Vista must be used.

Basically as long as your motherboard/chipset supports more than 4 GB or ram, you need 64 bit Windows to be able to use all of the 4 GB.