-=FAQ=- Why don't I see all my RAM? The 4GB limit.

I scanned the last three pages and didn't find this bit of information. I won't get into all the technical jargon, but your (non integrated) video card memory effects available memory. The more video card memory you have the less available system ram you will have available due to memory mapping. It's a trade-off. Generally, if you have turned off all unnessesary features in the motherboards BIOS you'll be sitting around 3.5GB memory if you have a video card with 256MB, 3.2GB if its 512MB and so on. If you do a lot of video and use Windows XP/Vista 32Bit I would recommend you try to find a fast 256MB video card (and you don't play games). A very good choice would be the ATI X1950 series w/ 256MB.

As for 64Bit OS I wouldn't even bother using one unless I had at least 8GB memory. It does address more memory, but the trade off is that (in laymen terms) it uses larger memory blocks. This means that if you open a lot of smaller files they will still use the larger block size as larger files. In other words, it can potentially be less efficient than a 32Bit OS. I currently have 8GB on my PC and 32GB on my Mac Pro and can see this very often.

I'm just trying to follow the instructions to show all of my 4GB RAM (I'm using XP), but I don't appear to have a 'boot.ini' file anywhere.

I have searched all of C:\ and the search function doesn't find anything. I have got hidden files and folders enabled.

Any ideas where my 'boot.ini' file might be?

Thanks,

Mike

Okay, I've solved it now via Google! In case anyone else has this problem, here are the details (copied from WindowsITPro.com):

UPDATE: I tried the boot.ini modification and it didn't work at all. Still showing 3.21GB of RAM. Absolutely typical for anytime I ever want anything to work.

Incidentally I'm using XP Professional, Service Pack 2, Version 2002. My motherboard is an Asus P5Q-EM with Intel E5200 CPU and 4GB of G.Skill DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel RAM.

Mike

Mike-DT6 wrote in post #8353397
Okay, I've solved it now via Google! In case anyone else has this problem, here are the details (copied from WindowsITPro.com):

UPDATE: I tried the boot.ini modification and it didn't work at all. Still showing 3.21GB of RAM. Absolutely typical for anytime I ever want anything to work.

Incidentally I'm using XP Professional, Service Pack 2, Version 2002. My motherboard is an Asus P5Q-EM with Intel E5200 CPU and 4GB of G.Skill DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel RAM.

Mike

Windows XP can and does see all 4GB of memory. However, that is all a 32-bit OS can see - it's mathematics. If you read through the FAQ you'll see that video memory and certain ROM's are placed into memory which share the same memory space as Windows XP. The only way to increase what Windows XP 32-bit can use is to use a video card with less memory. If you move to a 256MB video card then you'll have around 3.5GB vs 3.2GB and so on. Windows XP/Vista/7 64-bit (and Servers) can address more memory. OS X (Apple) uses a different method of dealing with memory limitations by making (in laymen terms) spaces which 32-bit applications can address, which theoretically allows each program to address more than a 32-bit OS would typically allow.

Yes, I read it, but by the end I was still under the impression that I could be able to get the full 4GB of RAM to be available, as suggested by the example.

My motherboard was made to handle 16GB of RAM, in the same way that CyberDyneSystems' motherboard was made to handle 32GB, which I took to be the reason why it was possible to adjust things for it to make 4GB available.

Mike

It's definitely not a given that you will be able to see all the RAM,. regardless of the fixes offered to try.

From the FAQ;
"The most you can usually get is approx 3.5 but these days with modern hardware this is rare. Norms are now in the 2.5-3GB range, with some dipping below 2.5"

How much RAM do you have installed? 4GB?

And how much video RAM?

My guess is that you won't be able to free up any more... without going 64 bit.

Keep in mind, I have 8 GB of RAM on my machine, and yet in XP32 I can still only see 4GB.
If you have only 4GB, you are still limited by the amount of RAM being taken up by ROMS and Video.

Okay, I see now. When you said in your article that you went from 2.5GB to the full 4GB I thought that 'full 4GB' meant that you had 4GB, which is what I have!

In my PC, XP still only shows 3.21GB, which is effectively the amount given at the beginning of the article, so I took that to be another suggestion that my PC was a good candidate for achieving something with the adjustments.

Anyway, it's not the end of the world. I just thought I would give it a try. I can see now that my set-up isn't capable of any more.

I am using onboard graphics (Q45 chip), so I expect that will be having an effect on things.

Mike

In all honesty Mike, that's just a theory on my part,. my answer is hazy because I'm not actually sure why it only works some of the time.
I do know that it's not a sure thing, but why?

I was mainly pointing out the RAM difference just to show there are other variables, that "may" effect it..

Let me add a little update to all this thread while it still lives... (not for too long!)

As long as your motherboard BIOS supports the "Memory Remap Feature" and you enable it, the MMIO (memory mapped I/O) of devices and especially the video card's RAM can be virtually mapped outside the real 4GB memory map.

One of the few motherboards that is still limited to 4GB RAM but allows full use of the RAM is Biostar G31-M7 TE. I installed 2x2GB RAM, Vista Ultimate 32-bit, and nVidia 7600GT with 256MB RAM and "My Computer" properties shows all 4GB.

It is important to note that 32-bit OS allows applications to only access on 2GB of RAM.

Q: Is Vista 32-bit merely reporting the total amount of RAM installed? Or is it reporting the total memory available for use? I've read somewhere on the Internet that Windows changed the way it reports RAM.