Built Computer: Windows 10 RAM 8GB installed but only 2GB available

[Ryan S]

Hello,

Here are the parts I used.
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Can't seem to figure out why all of my RAM isn't available. I'm guessing the RAM I bought may not be compatible with the motherboard, but wanted to see if there was anything settings I could try to change to fix it before buying new RAM.
I also see a similar setup on my HP laptop, showing 8GB installed and 2.88GB available.

 

[Barty1884]

You've got an AMD chip with onboard graphics.... Head into your BIOS and there will be a section related to onboard, where it dictates how much RAM is set aside for the GPU element. Normally it would be 1-2GB, but it's worth checking it's not set to 6GB for some weird reason.

 

[Ryan S]

You've got an AMD chip with onboard graphics.... Head into your BIOS and there will be a section related to onboard, where it dictates how much RAM is set aside for the GPU element. Normally it would be 1-2GB, but it's worth checking it's not set to 6GB for some weird reason.

Thanks for the suggestion.
It was set to auto, so I changed it to 2GB. After doing that, I only had about 1GB of usable RAM.

I'm running a 32 bit OS with a 64 bit processor. Would that cause any issues with the available RAM?

 

[Ryan S]

After looking around a bit, it looks like it is because I have a 32-bit version of Windows 10 Pro.
Now to decide if it is worth reinstalling the OS to the 64-bit version to get the extra RAM... any suggestions?

 

[MarkW]

32 bit Windows can only see 4GB no matter what you do. Any memory that the system needs for video cards or other add-on devices also has to come from that same 4GB. So if 1GB is going to the video card, and a few other things need a few megs here and there, and they always do, and Windows needs close to a GB as well, then before you know it, you are using 2GB and that leaves 2GB on a system that can only see 4GB total.

Get a 64 bit version of Windows, and it will see the entire 8GB, and you will have 6GB free.

 

[Tradesman1]

Make sure you back up your data files, going 32bit to 64bit requires a clean install of OS, apps and games