The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    M11X R2 recognition memory

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by ygorcardoso, Dec 8, 2010.

  1. ygorcardoso

    ygorcardoso Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hello guys,
    The Alienware M11X R2 recognizes the memory of you all or only a part of it?
    Mine has 4 gb installed but only recognizes 3.8 gb.
    Is this a problem?
     
    ygorcardoso, Dec 8, 2010
    #1
  2. DboogieC

    DboogieC Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    580
    Messages:
    1,010
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    the 3.8 is your usable space, the other .2 could be for your computers functions.
     
    DboogieC, Dec 8, 2010
    #2
  3. Benchmade 42

    Benchmade 42 Titanium

    Reputations:
    631
    Messages:
    1,738
    Likes Received:
    42
    Trophy Points:
    66
    So How do you xplain the m15x when it has 4gb of ram showing 4gb of ram and the m11x r1 showing 4gb of ram also

    This 3.8ram on r2 has been brought up before btw and nobody can explain why.
     
    Benchmade 42, Dec 8, 2010
    #3
  4. DboogieC

    DboogieC Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    580
    Messages:
    1,010
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    I edited that part sorry i read it wrong. check now
     
    DboogieC, Dec 8, 2010
    #4
  5. DboogieC

    DboogieC Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    580
    Messages:
    1,010
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Does the M11x GPU have dedicated RAM ? if not they other % could be going to that
     
    DboogieC, Dec 8, 2010
    #5
  6. bavman

    bavman Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    81
    Messages:
    312
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    31
    The m11x actually had 1gb of dedicated ram in the 335m. Just a guess, i might be wrong, but maybe your on the igp and thats pulling from your system memory?
     
    bavman, Dec 8, 2010
    #6
  7. DboogieC

    DboogieC Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    580
    Messages:
    1,010
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    On any computer there is dedicated ram to run your system that you cant see or mess with. Why wouldn't you say that the loss of .2Gb is that ??
     
    DboogieC, Dec 8, 2010
    #7
  8. TitanGod

    TitanGod Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    355
    Messages:
    515
    Likes Received:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Mine also does the same. It shows 3.8GB usable out of the 4GB available memory.

    It could be because I have the system overclocked to 160 Mhz instead of the traditional 133Mhz ... ( I could be wrong )
     
    TitanGod, Dec 8, 2010
    #8
  9. bavman

    bavman Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    81
    Messages:
    312
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    31
    If you open windows task manager and go to performance it will tell you how many mb of physical memory you have total. Which shows up as 3998mb on my laptop with 4gb of memory. And 4.00gb when you right click on my computer and hit properties.

    I take back my last comment, because even on integrated you'll still see the full 4gbs.
     
    bavman, Dec 8, 2010
    #9
  10. ygorcardoso

    ygorcardoso Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    My alienware M11X R1 recognizes the 4 gb while only R2
    3.8 when considering that the video cards are the same
    this explanation of sharing memory is not valid
    right?
     
    ygorcardoso, Dec 8, 2010
    #10
  11. DboogieC

    DboogieC Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    580
    Messages:
    1,010
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    maybe its the type of RAM, does anyone have 4gb "aftermarket" ram? does it show all 4gb ? maybe on a different Hz ?
     
    DboogieC, Dec 8, 2010
    #11
  12. DboogieC

    DboogieC Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    580
    Messages:
    1,010
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    What GPU did you R1 have ? did it have dedicated memory >?
     
    DboogieC, Dec 8, 2010
    #12
  13. CapnBoost

    CapnBoost Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    51
    Messages:
    162
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Probably video memory and paging. Could also be an artifact of the BIOS. I wouldn't worry about it.

    From my Resource Monitor:
    Physical Memory
    Hardware Reserved 203MB
    In Use 1840MB
    Modified 66MB
    Standby 1488MB
    Free 499MB

    The missing .2GB (200MB) is the Hardware reserve.
     
    CapnBoost, Dec 8, 2010
    #13
  14. Name User

    Name User Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    114
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    True, but a 64-bit system is capable of addressing more than 4GB of RAM, which means technically it shouldn't need to reserve space below the 4GB limit for hardware. This isn't always the case though, since some systems need to maintain legacy/backwards compatibility support for 32-bit applications. Theoretically, a 64-bit system could address up to 2^64 bits = 2 exabytes of RAM (~2.1 million terabytes).

    Our systems are most likely reserving the bulk of that missing 200MB for the Intel graphics card. If this is the case, the only way to free it up would be if the BIOS supports memory remapping.... and I'm guessing it doesn't.

    You can see that 203MB is indeed reserved for hardware by going to the Resource Manager and clicking on the Memory tab, which will display a colored bar breaking down memory allocation.
     
    Name User, Dec 8, 2010
    #14
  15. DboogieC

    DboogieC Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    580
    Messages:
    1,010
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    ^ your right i forgot about the differences from 64bi and 32bit, thanks for the correction :D
     
    DboogieC, Dec 8, 2010
    #15
  16. kent1146

    kent1146 Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    2,354
    Messages:
    4,449
    Likes Received:
    476
    Trophy Points:
    151
    There are actually pretty significant differences between the Alienware M11x R1 and M11x R2.

    Both the M11x R1 and R2 use an nVidia 335M GPU. However, the Intel GPU's are different. The Alienware M11x R1 uses an Intel GMA 4500 GPU, which is a separate chip package on the motherboard. The Alienware M11x R2 uses an Intel HD Graphics GPU, which is integrated directly into the CPU package itself. All Arrendale (Core i3/i5/i7) CPU's will have this design where the Intel GPU is on the same package as the CPU.

    There are also differences in the motherboard chipsets as well. The M11x R1 uses the Intel GS45 chipset, while the M11x R2 uses the Intel QS57 chipset.

    Between the difference in Intel GPUs and motherboard chipsets, I'm not surprised that the available memory is different. My guess is that the 200MB or so is reserved for motherboard resources.
     
    kent1146, Dec 8, 2010
    #16
  17. ygorcardoso

    ygorcardoso Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Its also only recognizes 3.8gb ?
     
    ygorcardoso, Dec 8, 2010
    #17
  18. CapnBoost

    CapnBoost Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    51
    Messages:
    162
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    It recognizes all 4gb, but it only allows you to use 3.8 because ~200mb is hardware reserved.
     
    CapnBoost, Dec 8, 2010
    #18
  19. Name User

    Name User Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    114
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Did anyone bother checking to see if the BIOS has a memory remapping option? I'm way too lazy to restart and go into the BIOS, but surely someone with a SSD would love the opportunity to watch how fast their laptop reboots :p
     
    Name User, Dec 9, 2010
    #19
  20. kent1146

    kent1146 Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    2,354
    Messages:
    4,449
    Likes Received:
    476
    Trophy Points:
    151
    It doesn't have memory remapping.

    I've never seen a laptop BIOS have that level of tweakability before. Most laptop BIOS'es I've seen were pretty basic (and for good reason).
     
    kent1146, Dec 9, 2010
    #20