RAM query

kristilclear · 21 Jan 2015 at 23:37

recently had a prob with pc booting up, removed a piece of ram here n there and finally got comp up and running again

however, gone to system properties to check its all rosie and where it says ram:-

installed memory ram 4gb (3.25 gb useable)

this literally could have said that for years and ive only become aware of it because ive been removing pieces to fix my pc.

i bought this pc from overclockers way back in 2008, hardware isnt my strongest point, any thoughts?

Kris

MagicBoy · 21 Jan 2015 at 23:39

I reckon you are running a 32-bit version of Windows, therefore it would be normal. It's unlikely to be a hardware issue.

kristilclear · 22 Jan 2015 at 00:13

i am yea, not that i know what 32 bit means.....

MagicBoy · 22 Jan 2015 at 00:47

In layman terms 32-bit means Windows can access a maximum 4GB of RAM. Unfortunately when 4GB is installed you can't use all of that due to design decisions made in the early days of 32-bit IBM PCs. Hardware will be reserving the "unusable" memory at the top end for technical reasons with the graphics card taking the biggest chunk.

2008 era machines would have had 32-bit Windows installed by default as most applications and peripherals were not fully compatible with 64-bit Windows at the time. There's nothing you can do about it, apart from formatting and reinstalling 64-bit Windows from scratch. I really wouldn't bother, it's more effort than its worth to get 700MB RAM back.

TL;DR Don't worry, it's normal.