Question

Installed memory less than Total Physical Memory? Is there something wrong?

Asked by: Malc2003

As shown in the pics, the Installed memory is 4GB, but only 3.25GB Total?  Is it a max that Vista Home premium 32 can handle?  Or is it something else?

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Asked On
2009-08-28 at 08:28:33ID24690114
Topic

Personal Computers

Participating Experts
3
Points
125
Comments
10

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Answers

 

by: bcolladayPosted on 2009-08-28 at 08:34:30ID: 25208737

I think a 32 bit system can only use 3.25 gb

 

by: gtworekPosted on 2009-08-28 at 08:34:44ID: 25208742

It's normal in 32bit systems. They never can handle entire 4GB...

 

by: ksffemtPosted on 2009-08-28 at 08:37:26ID: 25208771

I believe you will find your "missing" RAM is actually being used by other hardware.  This is a common practice with video cards, the video card uses the ram installed in your machine to operate instead of using built on RAM.  High-end video cards can come with built on RAM.  

I would recommend watching your machine as it boots and see if it does a RAM check that is visible if it does then you will see the full amount of RAM as nothing has been allocated yet.  If it does show it you might be able to enable it in your BIOS or find the amount of RAM installed listed in your BIOS.

 

by: gtworekPosted on 2009-08-28 at 08:37:42ID: 25208773

You may try to play with your bios settings (especially shadowing and memory remap) it may give you 3.5 or even 3.8GB.
But you never reach full 4GB.
Vista after SP1 "knows" you have 4GB in your hardware and display such information. But some hundreds of megs are not usable until you swith to 64bit.... It's PC architecture limitation.

 

by: Malc2003Posted on 2009-08-28 at 08:39:52ID: 25208799

Oh, cool, well as long as it is a max.  I have an Acer M7711 Q8300 Quad core which I am running Vista 32 on, can I run Vista 64 on it?  or is this not a 64bit processor?

I do a lot of photo and video editing, but am I also correct in assuming that the likes of my photoshop CS4 will not work on vista 64?  will i need to completely change my software versions?

Thanks

 

by: gtworekPosted on 2009-08-28 at 08:41:48ID: 25208814

Software usually works ok but drivers are nightmare.
You should try. but nobody can guarantee you success.

Intel Q8300 has EM64T so it works with Vista x64.

 

by: gtworekPosted on 2009-08-28 at 08:43:33ID: 25208829

If you decide to go to x64 you "earn" "only" 700MB.
You have to decide is it worth of your time for reinstallation, driver research etc.

If you have time you should try...

 

by: Malc2003Posted on 2009-08-28 at 08:46:34ID: 25208859

Any significant speed gain to be had from going 64 and keeping all my 32bit programs?  Given the best scenario of all the drivers being OK and the small gain in memory.  

Or should I only think about this if my memory usage is nearing max?

Thanks

 

by: gtworekPosted on 2009-08-28 at 09:21:37ID: 25209214

there's no measurable speed increase after swithicng to x64.
So you should think only about memory.

 

by: Malc2003Posted on 2009-08-28 at 09:26:44ID: 25209257

Thanks guys

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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