RAM amount indication in My Computer

[Dart77]

Hi there, Please refer to the attached screen dump.

I just added an external Graphics card (AMD 5040 1Gb). Previously my computer had an on-board graphics, Intel HD with 1024 virtual (dynamic memory) which it borrows from the RAM.

I have 4Gb RAM installed (2 x 2Gb). The amount of RAM memory shown in My Computer Properties is 3.48. I assumed it was this amount due to the computer automatically allocating some RAM to the on-board graphics.

However, now I have installed the external graphics card with its own 1 Gb memory, why does the amount of RAM memory still show 3.48Gb ?

Why doesn't it show the full 4Gb that is installed? And does the CPU have full access to 4Gb RAM now?

Thanks in advance for help

 

[johnb35]

You are running XP which is a 32bit OS and won't be able to use all 4gb of ram. Usually its limited to seeing 3.25-3.5 gb of ram. It will not use the balance of the ram that is missing.

 

[fade2green514]

You are running XP which is a 32bit OS and won't be able to use all 4gb of ram. Usually its limited to seeing 3.25-3.5 gb of ram. It will not use the balance of the ram that is missing.

similarly there are other weird things with 32bit storage and stuff - like files that you put on a fat32 drive cant be over the 4gb limit either. weird i know.

 

[porterjw]

similarly there are other weird things with 32bit storage and stuff - like files that you put on a fat32 drive cant be over the 4gb limit either. weird i know.

How 32/64-bit Operating Systems utilize RAM and how a FAT32 storage system handles files are two totally different things. One is not dependent on the other.

 

[Okedokey]

The 500MB of RAM will be allocated to HDD cache and other addressable memory. Does your motherboard have memory remapping featured?

 

[beers]

As a side note you may want to consider upgrading to Win 7 or 8 as XP is no longer a supported OS from Microsoft.

 

[Dart77]

As a side note you may want to consider upgrading to Win 7 or 8 as XP is no longer a supported OS from Microsoft.

yes, a few people have suggested this but I love XP, it is all sorted and working perfectly for me. Many people like me are sticking with XP for as long as possible simply because it works better than the newer OS's with less problems and bugs. On the advice of a computer repairer who has seen and fixed thousands of systems, I turned off the windows updates nearly 3 years ago and have had no problems since. He did the same after a clean install of Windows and SP3 and has no problems or bugs whatsoever. He has seen so many problems people have had with Windows 7 and 8, especially business and large company software, since they moved from XP. We believe that since MS don't want people to continue using old OS's but they want you to buy the new versions, we are sure that it would not be too hard to 'accidentally' send out bugs in the updates to destabilise XP and 'help' people make the decision to buy the newer software. Of course most mainstream thinkers would hotly refute this, but after seeing thousands of computers he knows what he knows.

 

[Dart77]

The 500MB of RAM will be allocated to HDD cache and other addressable memory. Does your motherboard have memory remapping featured?

Thanks for reply, I thought all RAM was addressable memory? But the HD cache memory makes sense. I was told by a computer tech at work that 500Mb of memory is automatically set aside for the onboard graphics - maybe that is also classed as cache memory. He said that after installing the external Graphics I should see the full 4Gb displayed. Seems he was wrong about that. Although he did say that XP32 bit which is what most people have, can only access a maximum of 4Gb RAM, even if you have say, 8Gb installed.

I'm not sure if my computer has memory remapping...not sure what that does or how I would check if it did anyway

 

[Dart77]

You are running XP which is a 32bit OS and won't be able to use all 4gb of ram. Usually its limited to seeing 3.25-3.5 gb of ram. It will not use the balance of the ram that is missing.

Thanks for reply...but still not sure - is the top 500Mb allocated to something else in the system or the computer as a whole can only use 3.25-3.5Gb -so that 500Mb is taken out of this lesser amount. If so , I don't know why they would have this built-in disadvantage, so that a quarter of the memory is unuseable.

 

[beers]

You're welcome to try but you aren't going to flesh out the entire amount with Windows XP 32bit. You could probably see what is taking up what memory ranges with devmgmt.msc and see something similar to the following:

I turned off the windows updates nearly 3 years ago and have had no problems since

If you're really content on using a swiss cheese operating system, by all means.

 

[Okedokey]

Thanks for reply, I thought all RAM was addressable memory? But the HD cache memory makes sense. I was told by a computer tech at work that 500Mb of memory is automatically set aside for the onboard graphics - maybe that is also classed as cache memory. He said that after installing the external Graphics I should see the full 4Gb displayed. Seems he was wrong about that. Although he did say that XP32 bit which is what most people have, can only access a maximum of 4Gb RAM, even if you have say, 8Gb installed.

I'm not sure if my computer has memory remapping...not sure what that does or how I would check if it did anyway

ALL memory, regardless of source needs to reside in the addressable limit of 2^32 in a 32bit OS (4GB). It will allocate requirements with the remainder for the system.

 

[Dart77]

If you're really content on using a swiss cheese operating system, by all means.

not sure what that means but all I know is what I have done based on recommendations from someone who KNOWS from experience from seeing hundreds of systems is that I have had zero problems with XP.

 

[beers]

not sure what that means but all I know is what I have done based on recommendations from someone who KNOWS from experience from seeing hundreds of systems is that I have had zero problems with XP.

Have fun then.

 

[larsch]

ALL memory, regardless of source needs to reside in the addressable limit of 2^32 in a 32bit OS (4GB). It will allocate requirements with the remainder for the system.

Yes, memory that needs to be addressable by the cpu. That does not include the cache on a harddrive.