Question 16gb of ram but task manager says it only uses 8gb

[ReemiReemo]

Asking for someone but their PC seems to only use half of the ram? we thought initially it was the ram sticks that went bad but I got them to upgrade from 8gb to 16gb. Previously it would only use 4gb but now it's 8gb, it's two sticks of ram and I'm suspecting it's the motherboard that's the problem? I want to make sure before deciding whether or not to tell them to replace their motherboard.

 

[lvt]

What motherboard do you have?

 

[Karadjgne]

1. Right-click the Windows icon from the bottom left click Run and type MSConfig then click OK
2. Go to Boot options and click Advanced Options
3. Uncheck the Maximum Memory and click OK
4. Once done, check if the issue persists in Task Manager.

Also, how many actual ram sticks, and what slots are they in?

 

[ReemiReemo]

What motherboard do you have?

Not mine but I think they had an MSI A320 motherboard of some kind, can't recall which one exactly will have to ask them

 

[ReemiReemo]

1. Right-click the Windows icon from the bottom left click Run and type MSConfig then click OK
2. Go to Boot options and click Advanced Options
3. Uncheck the Maximum Memory and click OK
4. Once done, check if the issue persists in Task Manager.

Also, how many actual ram sticks, and what slots are they in?

Will let them know to do this as soon as soon as they're online. They have 2 ram sticks both of them 8 GB from the same kit, there are only 2 slots on the motherboard.

 

[DSzymborski]

And on what data was the conclusion that the PC could not use more than half the RAM based? We can give the best help when we know the entire story, not just a few parts of it.

 

[ReemiReemo]

And on what data was the conclusion that the PC could not use more than half the RAM based? We can give the best help when we know the entire story, not just a few parts of it.

It was when we checked task manager and the ram info on the windows, on task manager's performance tab it says that 8 GB of it was hardware reserved. In the system info of windows it says "Installed ram 16 16gb (7.96 useable)