[SOLVED] Appropriated Memory on BIOS

[Gerald6049]

So I found a old Mboard ASUS P5GC-MX/GBL, and I want to upgrade the RAM to 4GB (from 2GB). The problem is only 3,2GB is usable on windows, and when I check into BIOS settings, they allocated the memory into Appropriated memory. I try to find the settings, and also set back the BIOS to default but nothing change with the Appropriated memory.

the pict - https://pasteboard.co/JORklLH.jpg / https://imgbb.com/znywfNz

I'm sure the mboard is supported 4GB RAM (Max) https://origin-www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5GCMXGBL/specifications/ .
Can somebody explain about this Appropriated memory ?

 

[thx1138v2]

It is RAM used by other devices such as graphics video displays, drivers, and controllers.

 

[Bob.B]

So I found a old Mboard ASUS P5GC-MX/GBL, and I want to upgrade the RAM to 4GB (from 2GB). The problem is only 3,2GB is usable on windows, and when I check into BIOS settings, they allocated the memory into Appropriated memory. I try to find the settings, and also set back the BIOS to default but nothing change with the Appropriated memory.

the pict - https://pasteboard.co/JORklLH.jpg / https://imgbb.com/znywfNz

I'm sure the mboard is supported 4GB RAM (Max) https://origin-www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5GCMXGBL/specifications/ .
Can somebody explain about this Appropriated memory ?

https://superuser.com/questions/336947/memory-is-being-appropriated

 

[Gerald6049]

It is RAM used by other devices such as graphics video displays, drivers, and controllers.

I use GPU, so they should not allocated memory for internal graphics, am I right ? and I only 1 keyboard and mouse, nothing else.

 

[Karadjgne]

Windows 32bit (x86) could only use 3.5Gb of ram. The remaining 500Mb was lost/unused on a 4Gb setup. Out of what's left, you'll loose part to system necessary files/hidden files etc that stay resident and are not user accessible, so aren't counted as part of available memory.

 

[Gerald6049]

https://superuser.com/questions/336947/memory-is-being-appropriated

I have read the link that you gave me, I mention it will happen if you use 32 bit OS. But I use 64bit OS Win 7 Ultimate (forgot to mention). Could this be chipset limitation ?

 

[Gerald6049]

Windows 32bit (x86) could only use 3.5Gb of ram. The remaining 500Mb was lost/unused on a 4Gb setup. Out of what's left, you'll loose part to system necessary files/hidden files etc that stay resident and are not user accessible, so aren't counted as part of available memory.

Thanks for the reply, but I use 64bit OS Win 7 Ultimate. Could this be chipset limitation ? Because on ASUS site they are recommend to use less than 3GB memory ?

 

[Karadjgne]

That site is also ancient, hasn't been updated in years, 64bit (x64) wasn't even around when that was new.
And Asus is off its rocker to suggest 'less than 3Gb' as that would mean flex mode ram, which is only a partial dual, rest single mode, not a full dual. Unless you used just 1Gb x2.

It was possible at the time, the lower voltage ram didn't exist, so used a higher voltage amd ram which the board didn't exactly like. So you are looking at out-dated information based on when that board was new, not info from later as OS and memory changed.

You will have to be careful with the ram selection though, you'll need to look specifically for Intel single rank/sided low density ram, the AMD ram used dual rank/sided high density chips and was well known to have issues at 2x2Gb on some of those lga775 mobo's.

 

[Gerald6049]

That site is also ancient, hasn't been updated in years, 64bit (x64) wasn't even around when that was new.
And Asus is off its rocker to suggest 'less than 3Gb' as that would mean flex mode ram, which is only a partial dual, rest single mode, not a full dual. Unless you used just 1Gb x2.

It was possible at the time, the lower voltage ram didn't exist, so used a higher voltage amd ram which the board didn't exactly like. So you are looking at out-dated information based on when that board was new, not info from later as OS and memory changed.

You will have to be careful with the ram selection though, you'll need to look specifically for Intel single rank/sided low density ram, the AMD ram used dual rank/sided high density chips and was well known to have issues at 2x2Gb on some of those lga775 mobo's.

Seems nothing can do with the memory then. Thanks for the explanation mate.

 

[Karadjgne]

It's out there, you can try Kingston or Crucial, they have ram + motherboard matching software ypu can try. Once you know what to look for, it's a lot easier to find on places like eBay, or even from them directly.

 

[mikeebb]

There's a fundamental limitation in Windows. Even with 64-bit, if you run it in 4GB RAM you will have around 3.5 (plus or minus, depending on the specific system) usable. A bunch of memory-mapped system stuff ends up in the rest. The advantage of 64 bit is that you get ALL of that 3.5GB for virtual memory allocation to software (including 32-bit software) without doing anything special. If you run 32-bit Windows, you have to use a special boot mode to get access to more than 2GB of virtual memory (3.5 max) for software.

Ages ago, I had that board in my daughter's computer with a P3 of some kind. It was more or less indestructible. But DDR RAM is kind of hard to come by any more. Hmmm... if my new build works, I'll have a surplus ATX Gigabyte board with an engineering sample Core2 Extreme (that should date it) and 8GB RAM. Any thoughts (other than e-waste collection) what to do with it?