4GB w/Vista x64 only 2.8GB usable ? tried everything ?

[nevasumma]

I cant' find any posts that help. I have 4GB Muskin D.C. (2x 2GB kits = 4x 1GB) and my mobo WILL do D.C. w/4 sticks.
It only sees 2.8 in bios and says 4GB is installed. All apps. say 4GB installed and 2.8 usable.
My QUESTION: Is this normal for 2x 512MB 3850s in Crossfire to map 1.13GB for AGP aperture size???
OR am I doing just fine. BTW I got better scores having 4GB over 2GB in D.C. 4 sticks VS. 2 sticks, contrary to popular belief.

 

[roadrunner197069]

If your using Vista you may need to load Vista with 2 gigs then download the update from microsoft for 4 gigs. Once you install the update the other 2 should work fine.

 

[CNeufeld]

There may be a setting in your BIOS to do with memory re-mapping. You should see all 4GB in your BIOS, regardless of your OS (without the remapping, anyway), and then see a reduction in memory for 32bit OS's.

Post your motherboard model if you want more specific help, perhaps.

Clint

 

[nevasumma]

I will try to install w/2GB then put in 4GB and download new stuff etc...
Although... I am getting sick of reinstalling everything for 6 hours each time (programs/drivers/games/etc).
There has to be a way to just get it to work from my desktop or bios w/o reinstalling again.
I mean this the year 2008. The era of things working properly... finally... lol"!"

A8R32MVP - Deluxe

Bios says 4GB installed, 2.8 usable
Sys. specs. same, 3dMark same, Sandra same. SO is it that I am actually using 4GB, but 1+ is mapped to AGP"?"
I have tried both mapping settings in my Bios. Nothing changes about how much is usable. I am thinking that it might be fine because I got better scores with 4GB installed, regardless of how much is being used. But would like confirmation about it. If I am doing something wrong, teach me please.
I wonder what other people using 4GB are reporting in the bios and OS????????????? Helpful!

 

[roadrunner197069]

Just take out 2 sticks download the fix, turn off machine add other 2 and try again.

 

[nevasumma]

ok

 

[dengamle]

When the bios says 2.8 usable it won't really matter anything to install a Windows patch. It is to different worlds. A memory remap feature in bios can change the usable amount, but 32-bit xp/vista cannot take advantage of that

msinfo32 can give you an overview of your memory map, so you can see how your hardware eats away the address space

 

[bhavv]

The A8R32-MVP Deluxe is a rather old motherboard, I know because I have one at the moment.

I think this might actually be a limitation caused by your S939 Proccessor? Which CPU do you have and can you check its Revision? I think CPUZ and Sandra should both show its revision.

 

[CNeufeld]

You might get better scores because you've gone from 2.0GB to 2.8GB, but if the BIOS only says you've got 2.8GB available, and Windows says you've got 2.8 available, I suspect you're not fixed yet.

I can get the readings off my BIOS and Vista when I get home, but I've got a relatively new Asus Core2Duo board. Like you, I've got 2x2GB of RAM.

Clint

 

[CNeufeld]

I checked at home. From the initial BIOS memory check to CPU-Z, it says I've got 4GB of RAM. I didn't see anything about usable vs. installed.

Clint

 

[bobbknight]

I cant' find any posts that help. I have 4GB Muskin D.C. (2x 2GB kits = 4x 1GB) and my mobo WILL do D.C. w/4 sticks.
It only sees 2.8 in bios and says 4GB is installed. All apps. say 4GB installed and 2.8 usable.
My QUESTION: Is this normal for 2x 512MB 3850s in Crossfire to map 1.13GB for AGP aperture size???
OR am I doing just fine. BTW I got better scores having 4GB over 2GB in D.C. 4 sticks VS. 2 sticks, contrary to popular belief.

If you have a 32 bit os the answer is YES.

 

[notherdude]

You say in thread title you have Vista 64. With Vista 64 and a motherboard that supports memory remapping you should have 4 gig usable RAM no matter the video ram.

You sure you have Vista 64? Ultimate does not mean 64 BTW.

 

[BustedSony]

Some motherboard/memory combos simply do not properly map all the Ram, related to single/double sided ram and size of the chips. I had an older motherboard, a CUSL2 or something with P4, that would show just that same 2.8 Gigs with 2 X 2Gig Crucial Ballistix sticks, but used all four gigs with 4 X 1Gig sticks of OCZ Platinum. Those two Crucial sticks are now on an Asus Maximus Formula with no problems.

Incidentally make sure the memory is good, a bad bit can also lead to errant mapping.

 

[randomizer]

Make sure memory remapping is enabled just in case 😉

 

[mundungus]

OP wrote:

"BTW I got better scores having 4GB over 2GB in D.C. 4 sticks VS. 2 sticks, contrary to popular belief. "

I'm not sure I understand. Are you running DC in both set-ups or only with 2 GB?

I assume using 4 of the same Mushkin sticks of the same make the you should still be running dual channel and getting the same benefits as when you were using 2 sticks. However your scores would be better because of the memory increase.

I think that although you are Running a 64bit OS, if the application is 32bit, it is just like running it in a 32bit OS. This maybe where you are seeing memory access limits. Not sure, but it was explained that way for me when inquiering about the benefit of Windows 64bit and the Adobe creative suite ( 32bit ).

 

[Badarthur]

One of the problem's I ran into was on my ASUS MB I could populate all 4 ram slot's- I used Crucial Ballistic and my system worked fine. But when I had to RMA my ASUS MB and I tryed a DFI BloodIorn MB it would only use 2 of the 4 ram slot's effectively. Both of the MB's had Memory Hole option in the Bios and I was using 64bit Vista Ult but when I tryed using all 4 stick's in my DFI I could only Overclock to a certain point without problem's, so I bout 2X2 Gig stick's of GSkill DDR-1000 and it has worked fine. The only thing I have to remember is when loading up I can only use 2Gig of ram untill I can get into the bio's and turn on Memory Hole option. If I try leaving all 4 gig in either way on either board if all 4 are in I get no screen/video untill I remove 2gig of that ram. Depending on what OS you are using I fould out a wile back that 64bitVista need's 4 gig of ram and it docent matter weather you have 4X1Gig or 2X2Gig 64bit Vista is going to use about 1-Gig of ram just to run your desk top.

 

[nevasumma]

Ok I fixed it. I had to run at defaults once, get to desk top, restart w/OC (and it made me soft off... ) next restart and 4GB installed and usable! The download said it wasn't for my machine, so I tried various things and had a hunch that if I just started from scratch again, it would fix itself. I'm @ 2,850mhz and 2,280FSB/HT, RAM @476 - neat!
Thanks for the bits and pieces. I put it together finally.

 

[enewmen]

There may be a setting in your BIOS to do with memory re-mapping. You should see all 4GB in your BIOS, regardless of your OS (without the remapping, anyway), and then see a reduction in memory for 32bit OS's.

Post your motherboard model if you want more specific help, perhaps.

Clint

Exactly.

 

[claudiu2009]

Hi mate!!!
I have the same problem!!! in the beginning I was having 4gb ram and 2.86gb usable....I was upgrade with 8gb ram and still 2.86gb usable? i`ve checked to crucial.com and scan ..they said my laptop support 8gb!!!
how to do it working???
thanks!!!