Windows 7 Question

TheHitMan-1973 · 9 Jan 2011 at 00:27

Just a quick one on Windows 7 , just checked my installed memory ( RAM ) and says 4.00GB ( 3.50GB ) useable , looks like the rest has been dumped on my GeForce 8600m GT available graphics memory or shared system memory . Is this normal ? :confused:

EniGmA1981 · 9 Jan 2011 at 01:37

Have you got the 32bit or 64bit version of win7? If it's the 32bit version then 3.5GB is the max it will see - you need a 64bit OS to make use of 4GB plus...

TheHitMan-1973 · 9 Jan 2011 at 01:55

EniGmA1981 said:
Have you got the 32bit or 64bit version of win7? If it's the 32bit version then 3.5GB is the max it will see - you need a 64bit OS to make use of 4GB plus...

32bit version , wish i got 64bit version now , i dout it makes much difference

Destination · 9 Jan 2011 at 09:29

Yes your version is the issue, with 64bit you could make use of your ram, with 32 bit you are limited as some is reserved for hardware.

TheHitMan-1973 · 9 Jan 2011 at 10:09

Hikari Kisugi said:
Yes your version is the issue, with 64bit you could make use of your ram, with 32 bit you are limited as some is reserved for hardware.

I will get the 64bit version for my new desktop

SiD the Turtle · 9 Jan 2011 at 10:35

If that's a laptop graphics card, it will likely pinch system RAM for its own use, therefore even if you did upgrade to 64bit, I doubt you'll see all of it available to the system.

TheHitMan-1973 · 10 Jan 2011 at 17:07

SiD the Turtle said:
If that's a laptop graphics card, it will likely pinch system RAM for its own use, therefore even if you did upgrade to 64bit, I doubt you'll see all of it available to the system.

So if i use my other Windows 7 64bit disk it will show up 4GB of memory ?

SiriusB · 10 Jan 2011 at 17:12

It is normal for laptop GPUs to use part of your RAM for itself. If you upgraded to 64bit I suspect you will see the exact same thing. 4GB installed, 3.5GB useable.

me227 · 10 Jan 2011 at 17:18

TheHitMan-1973 said:
So if i use my other Windows 7 64bit disk it will show up 4GB of memory ?

No. If your graphics card is built into the motherboard and it has to use some of your RAM for its memory then it'll take some no matter what version of Windows you're using.

There will be settings in your BIOS to change this amount.

If you have a standalone graphics card then it'll be the 32bit RAM limit.

EDIT: Too slow!

Paul_Robson · 11 Jan 2011 at 01:50

Install the 64bit version of Windows to fix your problem. 32bit software only uses 3.32gig of memory.