12gb of Ram and ONLY 8gb Usable - Windows 10

[ChronicleMe]

I have 16gb of ram installed in my desktop and it says that I have 12.0gb (8.00gb usable)... There is a chance that one of the 4gb strips are bad. However why can't I use all 12gb of ram?

Running Win 10 64bit...

Thanks

 

[Shaun o]

If you have 16Gb of ram, make sure the option in your bios of memory hole remapping is enabled.
Check what version of windows 10 you are using, and check if it has memory restrictions depending on the Bit version of the OS and the limits of the home and pro versions of the OS.

If you have an on board motherboard graphics solution, check it is not still enabled if you have a pci-e based graphics card in the Pci-e slot of your board.
On board graphics will reserve a part of main system memory for storage and texture storage for games ect.
It will not report this in some cases so for example it could be using up to 4Gb of system memory.
The 12gb will be what is left after the reservation of system memory for an onboard Igpu solution.
Subtract what windows is using up and other programs set to run at start up of windows as back ground tasks.
And you would be left with 8Gb free for programs to run.

A good way to tell is to see if the bios, at post of the system or in the bios menu it reports the full 16Gb of memory fitted to your motherboard.

If the case. Then check memory hole remapping is enabled in the bios if turned off.
And disable the onboard IGPU solution of the board or Intel based solution.
Or limmit the amount of memory reserved from system memory the Igpu can use in the bios of the motherboard.

 

[ChronicleMe]

If you have 16Gb of ram, make sure the option in your bios of memory hole remapping is enabled.
Check what version of windows 10 you are using, and check if it has memory restrictions depending on the Bit version of the OS and the limits of the home and pro versions of the OS.

If you have an on board motherboard graphics solution, check it is not still enabled if you have a pci-e based graphics card in the Pci-e slot of your board.
On board graphics will reserve a part of main system memory for storage and texture storage for games ect.
It will not report this in some cases so for example it could be using up to 4Gb of system memory.
The 12gb will be what is left after the reservation of system memory for an onboard Igpu solution.
Subtract what windows is using up and other programs set to run at start up of windows as back ground tasks.
And you would be left with 8Gb free for programs to run.

A good way to tell is to see if the bios, at post of the system or in the bios menu it reports the full 16Gb of memory fitted to your motherboard.

If the case. Then check memory hole remapping is enabled in the bios if turned off.
And disable the onboard IGPU solution of the board or Intel based solution.
Or limmit the amount of memory reserved from system memory the Igpu can use in the bios of the motherboard.

I have AMD FX8350 with 16gb DDR3 Ram + AMD MSI Radeon R9 390x 8gb + Windows 10 64bit home...

Onboard graphics is not enabled.

Thanks for the tips. I am not sure how to do all of that... How do you check the memory restrictions, what do I look for in the bios, and where can I check for memory hole remapping? How do I disable onboard IGPU solution? I have all AMD hardware not intel....

 

[ChronicleMe]

If you have 16Gb of ram, make sure the option in your bios of memory hole remapping is enabled.
Check what version of windows 10 you are using, and check if it has memory restrictions depending on the Bit version of the OS and the limits of the home and pro versions of the OS.

If you have an on board motherboard graphics solution, check it is not still enabled if you have a pci-e based graphics card in the Pci-e slot of your board.
On board graphics will reserve a part of main system memory for storage and texture storage for games ect.
It will not report this in some cases so for example it could be using up to 4Gb of system memory.
The 12gb will be what is left after the reservation of system memory for an onboard Igpu solution.
Subtract what windows is using up and other programs set to run at start up of windows as back ground tasks.
And you would be left with 8Gb free for programs to run.

A good way to tell is to see if the bios, at post of the system or in the bios menu it reports the full 16Gb of memory fitted to your motherboard.
if the case. Then check memory hole remapping is enabled in the bios if turned off.
And disable the onboard IGPU solution of the board or Intel based solution.
Or limmit the amount of memory reserved from system memory the Igpu can use in the bios of the motherboard.

This is weird... I ran a scan using crucial's tool and it is showing that I have 2x4gb and 2x2gb sticks? Although the sticks read 4gb on them (when I pull them out of the case)...

 

[Shaun o]

Look on the main page of your bios.
It should report the Cpu it`s current speed.
And the total amount of memory fitted in the memory slots of your motherboard.

If it states 16gb it`s reading the full 16Gb of memory you have fitted.
You then need to look for an option in one of the sub menu`s of the bios that deal with memory.
It is most commonly found in the speed settings of your memory and the timing values.
If memory hole remapping is turned off turn it on.
Save the new settings before exiting your bios.
And then load windows and check to see what it quotes as total system memory.

Make sure that the primary graphics card interface is set to PCI-E as the interface mode type or Peg mode.
And not set to GPU / IGPUFX, also in the bios.

If your board has a Ueif bios you may have to select the advanced bios options to get to the options stated you need to check ok.

If all of the above fails in windows seeing the 16gb of memory you know you have fitted.
Then your problem could be to do with the bios firmware revision the board is currently running.
In such a case looking at what version your board has of the bios firmware.
you can find by looking in the bios, or at power up of the system on the bios boot splash screen if you press the pause key on your keyboard it will give you enough time to read what firmware version of the bios of the board is running.

You should then go to the maker of your motherboard with it`s model number of the board.
Look in the support section for the motherboard, and the bios firmware update firmware.
If there is a version of the firmware at a higher number than your board has.
Check to see what changes and improvements the new firmware fixes.

Then download the latest firmware, and flash your bios firmware to the new one downloaded.
Often an old firmware on a motherboard can be a reason for example why 16Gb of memory is not detected.

 

[ChronicleMe]

Look on the main page of your bios.
It should report the Cpu it`s current speed.
And the total amount of memory fitted in the memory slots of your motherboard. It shows all 4 sticks of ram. Slot 1&2 are PC3-12800 and Slot 3&4 are PC3-10700. See the screen shot below.
If it states 16gb it`s reading the full 16Gb of memory you have fitted.
You then need to look for an option in one of the sub menu`s of the bios that deal with memory.
It is most commonly found in the speed settings of your memory and the timing values.
If memory hole remapping is turned off turn it on. I don't see anything titled memory hole remapping.
Save the new settings before exiting your bios.
And then load windows and check to see what it quotes as total system memory.

Make sure that the primary graphics card interface is set to PCI-E as the interface mode type or Peg mode.
And not set to GPU / IGPUFX, also in the bios. This is ok in bios

If your board has a Ueif bios you may have to select the advanced bios options to get to the options stated you need to check ok.

If all of the above fails in windows seeing the 16gb of memory you know you have fitted.
Then your problem could be to do with the bios firmware revision the board is currently running.
In such a case looking at what version your board has of the bios firmware.
you can find by looking in the bios, or at power up of the system on the bios boot splash screen if you press the pause key on your keyboard it will give you enough time to read what firmware version of the bios of the board is running.

You should then go to the maker of your motherboard with it`s model number of the board.
Look in the support section for the motherboard, and the bios firmware update firmware.
If there is a version of the firmware at a higher number than your board has.
Check to see what changes and improvements the new firmware fixes.

Then download the latest firmware, and flash your bios firmware to the new one downloaded.
Often an old firmware on a motherboard can be a reason for example why 16Gb of memory is not detected. BIOS is up to date according to Gigabyte's Easytune 6 Bios detector.

Very frustrating... There has to be something we are missing?

Ram Pair 1&2 show identical as below:

Ram Pair 3&4 show identical as below

 

[erolgo]

Another way to configure maximum memory usage is by going into advanced startup configuration or "msconfig.exe." Type in "msconfig" into run or Cortana. Then go to the "Boot" option tab. In that menu, click on "Advanced" and set Maximum Memory to your specific configuration.

I have 16gb of ram installed in my desktop and it says that I have 12.0gb (8.00gb usable)... There is a chance that one of the 4gb strips are bad. However why can't I use all 12gb of ram?

Running Win 10 64bit...

Thanks