Computer

[Wrayvon]

Hey guys, basically I bought a new MB a few weeks back and bought 2 gigs of ram at the same time. Now I have decided to buy another 2 so I would have 4, but it doesn't seem to work. Only shows up as 2.75? Is this something to do with them all being 1024mb not bang on 1gig sticks?

Any ideas?

CHeers

[JonMack]

Does your motherboard support 4GB of RAM?

[James Quigley]

do they all have the same PC numer (i.e. PC3200)?

[Wrayvon]

Yup, supports 8gig. And yup, there all the same ram- CLICK

Any other ideas

[anzo]

Jeeeesus, what are you planning on doing with the computer?

...having said that the benefits aren't all that; you won't notice much in performance.

Edited November 6, 2007 by anzo

[Wrayvon]

Having sex with it

Its running quad core too

[Spikenipple]

Take a look in your motherboard manual and look for memory slot settings. If you're using all 4 slots the memory controller usually only likes having them in order. The only other time i've ever had memory size issues is when i've used cheap crappy ram, faulty decent ram or a cheap crappy motherboard.

[anzo]

The only thing that requires that much ram is a server...and even thats pushing the boat out. You won't gain anything at all from 4gb....but who am I to convince you otherwise

As spike said, check the MB manual...with four slots its usually '1-2-1-2' order...so double check it.

My guess is down to the virtual address space...it basically wont appear without f**king about into PAE.

(By the way, if your running Xp, I think the total listed RAM in the BIOS is 3.25gb...)

Edited November 6, 2007 by anzo

[Greetings]

Had a similar problem but in my case 2gb showed up as 512mb. Sent the RAM back to the shop, they replaced it and everything has been working well since. Those were Goodram sticks.

4GB is a lot but it depends what he does on the PC. I've got 3,1gb at the moment, often find it being 80-90% used.

[David]

If your running XP it only supports up to 4GB ram and I have a feeling it shows as less than you have?

[Token]

If your running XP it only supports up to 4GB ram and I have a feeling it shows as less than you have?

There's a 2GB max of per-process user-mode address space, but the system as a whole can handle 2^32=4294967296 bytes = 4GB of memory, so there shouldn't be any reason that it won't recognise 4gb.

The thing I'd be more concerned about is mixing up different brands of ram modules, say hynix with crucial. Different brands of ram being mixed up are notorious for being unstable or even just not working. First I'd switch the modules around in all possible variations (mobos can be fussy about which module goes in which dimm). Then I'd want to test the sticks in a different comp, then you can tell if they're faulty and get replacements.

[poopipe]

There's a 2GB max of per-process user-mode address space, but the system as a whole can handle 2^32=4294967296 bytes = 4GB of memory, so there shouldn't be any reason that it won't recognise 4gb.

The thing I'd be more concerned about is mixing up different brands of ram modules, say hynix with crucial. Different brands of ram being mixed up are notorious for being unstable or even just not working. First I'd switch the modules around in all possible variations (mobos can be fussy about which module goes in which dimm). Then I'd want to test the sticks in a different comp, then you can tell if they're faulty and get replacements.

pay attention to that.

then run a 64bit operating system so you actually notice the difference.

[Nick Garland]

The only thing that requires that much ram is a server...and even thats pushing the boat out. You won't gain anything at all from 4gb....but who am I to convince you otherwise

As spike said, check the MB manual...with four slots its usually '1-2-1-2' order...so double check it.

My guess is down to the virtual address space...it basically wont appear without f**king about into PAE.

(By the way, if your running Xp, I think the total listed RAM in the BIOS is 3.25gb...)

Under 32bit that may be slightly true, but in general, if you add more ram there is a performance increae, Windows will load more in to the memory so its faster loading programs, things like iTunes will also use more depending how much is spare, and well firefox has a memory leak so more is always helpful.

I run 4gb ram and its uber fast, but I am on 64bit OS so it actually gets some use, just loading into windows, and msn uses 37%, add some music and firefox, 50%, then add a virus scan about 60%, still space to run more programs, plenty more, add on top of that Visual Studio, compiler etc, usuall gets into the region of 75/80%.

More ram is always handy, I still have 2 sockets spare so I can get 8gb in here, but thats overkill.

As for your problem, if your filling all 4 ram slots, the last of your worries is having it in the 1, 2, 1, 2 order, I think you find on most motherboards unless stated that if your using 4 slots to disable Dual Channel ram as I dont think many older mobos support 4 socket dual channel. Most newer ones do I think but check the manual to see if it supports dual channel over 4 slots as logically speaking, it becomes quad channel.

What quad you running?

[Danny]

If your running XP seriously get Vista. On a high end machine such are yours it will actually run faster than XP. As people have said, i'm pretty sure that XP cannot recognise a full 4gb.

[rocks370]

look here

amazing what you can find out form a simple google