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    Installed 4gb ram

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by belmont717, Jan 25, 2009.

  1. belmont717

    belmont717 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I tried searching to see if there were other threads with the key terms "4gb ram" and couldn't find anything. I just recently upgraded my notebook from 1gb of ram to 4gb of ram. When I right click "My Computer" and go to properties I see that it detects the 4gb of ram, but when I run rainmeter to see how much ram is used and it says that I am using 1gb out of 3gb. Wheres the other 1gb of ram? Is it because 32bit can only handle up to 3gb? If so how come the My Computer properties tells me it sees 4gb?

    Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
     
    belmont717, Jan 25, 2009
    #1
  2. PhoenixFx

    PhoenixFx Notebook Virtuoso

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    32Bit OS is the problem, you can only access somewhere between 3~3.5GB depending on the configuration. Vista SP1 released a patch to display the total amount of installed memory as 4GB, but that is only for show, it cannot utilize 4GB. Before SP1, even Vista My computer displayed the actual usable size, I guess MS decided that it is wiser to show 4GB to satisfy/trick the customer to save their own support staff and that of collaborating OEM manufacturer's, from explaining this to everyone who calls back after a RAM upgrade :p
     
    PhoenixFx, Jan 25, 2009
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  3. belmont717

    belmont717 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Now I felt like I went over board with the ram upgrade ;p. Thanks for the confirmation. Thought I was going crazy.
     
    belmont717, Jan 25, 2009
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  4. temagic

    temagic Notebook Consultant

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    you could of course contemplate installing the 64-bit version of Vista...
     
    temagic, Jan 25, 2009
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  5. PhoenixFx

    PhoenixFx Notebook Virtuoso

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    No I don’t think so. 3GB is a good upgrade from 1GB for Vista.
     
    PhoenixFx, Jan 25, 2009
    #5