Alright, so this is a question I've been asking all of my Tech Support-y friends for like 2 years now. I'm finally fed up (with KSP and GTA using nearly 3gb of RAM themselves) with only having 6gb of ram. I currently have 2 4GB sticks and 2 2GB sticks installed. I've tried each stick alone, as well as other ram altogether (a buddy sent me RAM from his PC that he just replaced so I know that RAM is working fine), and no matter what I only have half of the seated RAM. In BIOS, the full 12GB show up, with 6 "allocated." In Windows, I only have access to 6.
I've done all of the BIOS "tweaks" and whatnot related to this, I've messed with a lot of windows based stuff. The only thing I've heard that done anything with is that my CPU pins may be bent or missing, but I'd really really like to avoid reseating my CPU especially if there's the chance that there are bent pins involved. I'm still running an LGA1156 mobo so replacing the CPU or the mobo is gonna be a huge hassle if it comes down it and I don't really have the $ to replace a CPU or a Mobo.
So Tom's Hardware, what do you guys thing is the issue, and how do you think I should solve it?
UPDATE: So I did some more tweaking and messing around. I ran a memtest and I went through every module and tried to get it to work. After a lot of testing of different modules. The PC only boots when Ram is in the fourth slot. (closest to the CD Drives). I get full RAM in that slot. In the third slot, I get 50% of whatever I put in there. The first 2 slots don't work at all. However, in Memtest, it showed I had 6gb of usable RAM HOWEVER, it also showed that each stick was the correct size. I didn't get like Slot 0 "empty", Slot 1 "empty", slot 2 "2gb". I got the full reading there.
So I'm not too sure where to go from here. I'm thinking a board RMA may be in order.
I've done all of the BIOS "tweaks" and whatnot related to this, I've messed with a lot of windows based stuff. The only thing I've heard that done anything with is that my CPU pins may be bent or missing, but I'd really really like to avoid reseating my CPU especially if there's the chance that there are bent pins involved. I'm still running an LGA1156 mobo so replacing the CPU or the mobo is gonna be a huge hassle if it comes down it and I don't really have the $ to replace a CPU or a Mobo.
So Tom's Hardware, what do you guys thing is the issue, and how do you think I should solve it?
UPDATE: So I did some more tweaking and messing around. I ran a memtest and I went through every module and tried to get it to work. After a lot of testing of different modules. The PC only boots when Ram is in the fourth slot. (closest to the CD Drives). I get full RAM in that slot. In the third slot, I get 50% of whatever I put in there. The first 2 slots don't work at all. However, in Memtest, it showed I had 6gb of usable RAM HOWEVER, it also showed that each stick was the correct size. I didn't get like Slot 0 "empty", Slot 1 "empty", slot 2 "2gb". I got the full reading there.
So I'm not too sure where to go from here. I'm thinking a board RMA may be in order.