5.67 GIGs of Usable Ram?

[Chewy_ZA]

Hi all

I just bought 8 GB Ram gaming kit (2x 4GB 1600hz Patriot ram sticks) and when I went to check my system ratings I noticed my computer only said 5.67 GB was usable. My specs are:
Intel i5 2500
Gigabyte Z77 (supports 32GB of ram)
Nvidia Gtx 660
Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit

I update my BIOS last week and really not sure what could be causing this, please help. Thanks

 

[COLGeek]

How are you measuring "usable" memory? How much shows as installed (Control Panel/System)?

Also, are you using Lucid to take advantage of your integrated GPU when the full power of your 660GTX isn't required? if so, how much memory have you allocated to that in your BIOS?

 

[c_for]

Sounds to me like COLGeek is on the right track. With the info provided I would guess that some of your RAM is being borrowed by your on-board graphics.

 

[Chewy_ZA]

When I click on start button> right click on computer> properties. It shows me my windows version, processor and ram, its says I have 8GB of ram and in brackets shows (5.47GB usable). Also if I were to go into task manager it shows I have 5603MB of total physical memory. I added my friends 2GB ram stick which totals 10GB and my system still says 5.47GB usable.
Also I am not using Lucid, my motherboard supports it but I am not sure how to use it, I have tried before by installing the software from my motherboard installation disk but it gave a error saying Integrated Graphic Device was not found and when I tried downloading the graphic driver for my CPU from intel that failed. CPU is intel i5 2500 2nd generation

 

[COLGeek]

In Device Manager, what devices are listed under Display Adapters?

 

[Chewy_ZA]

In Device Manager, what devices are listed under Display Adapters?

It only shows Nvidia Geforce GTX 660

 

[COLGeek]

Good. In your BIOS, is the on-board/IGP (or however listed) disabled?

 

[Chewy_ZA]

Good. In your BIOS, is the on-board/IGP (or however listed) disabled?

Checked the BIOS, Internal graphics was set to auto so I set it to enabled, joy
I was able to to install Lucid after installing my CPU graphic drivers.

Also I looked at resource monitor in task manager and found where all my memory was going to and it looked like this:
-Available 3558MB
-Cached 1175MB
-Total 5266MB
-Installed 10240MB
-Hardware reserved 4974MB

Note I added a 2GB ram stick totaling 10GB, windows said only 5.14GB memory was usable but I guess that other 5GB went to hardware reserved not sure though why my hardware needs so much memory especially since my graphic card has 2GB memory.