Upgrade from 2-4Gb memory problem

Associate
Joined
5 Jan 2004
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Hi All,

I have a problem. I've upgraded from 2->4Gb memory - Geil 800MHz DDR2 by adding two extra 1Gb sticks of Geil 800MHz DDR2 to my existing rig which had 2x1Gb of Geil 800MHz DDR2.

The Bios reads 4Gb and windows task manager reads 4Gb but programmes such as Norton Check it and Photoshop elements 7 only read 2Gb.

Is my machine registering the 4Gb or only using the 2Gb? How do I get it these programmes to make use of the full 4Gb?

Let me know what info. you need,

Mobo Gigabyte DS3 rev 1.0

cheers

Pete
 
Soldato
Joined
7 Nov 2007
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Basically, the 32bit OS can see about 3 - 3.5gb. Applications can only see 2gb each which is why Norton says 2gb. you'll need a 64bit OS and a 64bit application to see more than 2gb per app.
 
Soldato
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17 Oct 2007
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3,800
A 32-bit process has access to 4GB of virtual address space. This is then split into two whereby 2GB is for user-mode (applications) and the other 2GB for the kernel. This means that a 32-bit application will only ever be able to address a maximum of 2GB of RAM. If you're using Windows x86, you can do something called the /3GB switch which increases the user-mode space up to 3GB but decreases the space for the kernel down to 1GB. However, the application needs to be large-address-aware to take advantage of this. Though, by doing this switch, it could potentially affect the stability of the machine.

If you're using Windows x64, if the application isn't large-address-aware, then it will only ever be able to address 2GB of RAM, the same as if you were using Windows x86. However, if the application is large-address-aware, it will be able to address up to 4GB of RAM by default. You don't have to worry about the /3GB switch or anything - Memory Limits for Windows Releases

Also, if you're not already aware, your system will only be addressing around 3GB of physical memory because you're using Windows x86. The only reason why task manager is reporting 4GB of RAM on selected values is because it's reporting the amount of physical memory you have installed in the system and not how much is actually available. Though, there should be a couple of other values that report how much Windows is actually addressing and not how much you have installed.
 
Associate
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Chippenham
Of course cpuz will show your memory and settings, there is no loss at putting all 4 GB in, if you have the Geil ull 800 it can be set to very tight timings, its good ram imho :)
 
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