hi all just upgraded my memory to 4x1024 corsair xms2 ddr2 6400..my problem is why does vista say that i have 3075 gig of memory installed..this is my first post on the forum so a big hi to u all

Hi Johny.

32-bit operating systems can only address 2^32 bits of memory, or 4GB.

In theory then, it can address 4GB RAM. However, in practice, it can't - the memory on your graphics card and memory reserved for the operating system itself, including the page file, are counted in the addressed memory, hence your copy of Vista is only showing you 3GB.

thanks for reply monkey...does this mean that vista 32 is not using the 4 gb of ram thats installed in the computer?..would upgrading to vista 64 utilize all the available ram..thanks

That's correct - it can't use all the RAM.

64-bit OSes can address 2^64 bits of memory, or 128TB. Upgrading to Vista 64 will solve the problem and allow Vista to use all the RAM you have.

oh dear looks like im spending again lol..is there anything i should be aware of monkey with regards to vista 64

my rig

quad core q6600 2.4
4 gig corsair xms
msi p6n sli v2 mobo/650i chipset
nvidia 8800gtx
500g sata hd

Nope - that will run Vista fine, I think.

Woah woah wait a second, lets not shoot from the hip here.

The most common cause >3GB issues is caused by the MCH failing to pick it all up. Sometimes a BIOS update is necessary; sometimes the motherboard itself has timing issues (cheapened design) and the latencies need to be slackened up; sometimes there is simply compatibility issues between the chipset and the memory modules.

Any memory space allocated by Windows for things like graphics memory shadowing will be in the kernel space for or page address cache. Windows and the BIOS should report 4 GB correctly and exactly.

Perhaps there's more to this:

• Is the /3GB kernel boot switch in use?
• Is PAE enabled in the BIOS?
• What is the exact memory count in the BIOS?
• Does this change if a memory module is removed?
• Have you tested the memory for errors (with something like Memtest86+?

all i can tell you is that the bios says i have 4096 gb of memory but windows vista says i have 3075 gb of memory on board

just noticed vista says i have 3075 mb of ram not gb..my heads cooked

its usfull to no when your buying a new computer/laptop. as it come ith 4gb ram, and i said that vista 32 bit seems to only support 3GB, which showed on the system, he got like 200£ off.. because of it. lol - from comet btw!

It could be your version of vista.

Microsoft says that any vista below premium must be x64edition to utilise more than 3GB of ram.

Vista premium and vista business according to microsoft will run 32GB of ram.

operating systems like the man said bellow depending on what you have go to a 64 bit addition os and you can use up to 8gb of ram below that and the max is 3gb.

were they got 32GB of RAM from i don't know the max slots for ram a motherboard offers is 4 the max amount of memory per stick is 2GB 4x2=8GB Which I would recon as max. To utiles that amount of RAM you need each stick to be running 8GB of RAM which they don't sell. So as for the 32GB of ram I think its goon wrong somewhere or I'm way behind.

if 4 gig is installed, 1 gig is reserved for the os and 3 gig is available.

It is motherboard depenedant however there are pc motherboards with 32GB capability's and theres due to be a 64GB mobo. You could be mistaken for saying these are server mobo's but there not. They were made for home pc use for some reason?