Question Only half of installed RAM is showing ?

[Shmizer]

Hello,

I recently upgraded from 2x sticks of 8gb RAM to 2x sticks of 16gb of RAM for a total of 32gb. However my PC is only showing half of that. I have tried changing the virtual RAM and also disabled Intel Virtualization Technology.

Here are my Specs and picture of MSI BIOS RAM screen:

•Microsoft OEM System Builder DVD | Windоws 10 Home | 64-bit | Intended use for new systems

•Intel i7-6900K Processor (20MB Cache, up to 3.70 GHz) FC-LGA 2011-v3,BX80671I76900K

•MSI Extreme Gaming Intel X99 LGA 2011 DDR4 USB 3.1 Extended ATX Motherboard (X99A Godlike Gaming)

•EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming, 24GB GDDR6X, iCX3 Technology

•Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3600mhz (PC4-28800) C18 AMD Optimized Memory

•Toshiba OCZ RD400 Series Solid State Drive PCIe NVMe M.2 128GB with MLC Flash

 

[GamerZoyiFour]

Why no one replies? I was in another PC forum have the same problem and I paid 5$. Well I want to buy a MSI mobo as replacement for a Gigabyte z790 Elite AX that I had this problem you have. I put the 2 ram sticks Corsair Vengeance 16gb x 2 = 32 and will only boot with one. I tried A1 B1 , A2 B2, and nothing, ports worked and sticks were fine. The bios show the only stick at 4800 factory not at 5600 when I XMP. I don’t know what to do I just want to play my games stable. Newegg is giving me a hard time to refund my motherboard cost me $274. I would pay till $300 for one that won’t give me this stress and frustration. That mobo also had problems with pan and Wi-Fi, Realtek and Intel. I return the i7 12600K too. Now I’m waiting for the components, Amazon refund and replaced some hardware without question asked so I’ll buy from there from now on just not from Chinese seller. Do you recommend any MSI mobo ir is there anything better around my budget?

 

[Shmizer]

Why no one replies? I was in another PC forum have the same problem and I paid 5$. Well I want to buy a MSI mobo as replacement for a Gigabyte z790 Elite AX that I had this problem you have. I put the 2 ram sticks Corsair Vengeance 16gb x 2 = 32 and will only boot with one. I tried A1 B1 , A2 B2, and nothing, ports worked and sticks were fine. The bios show the only stick at 4800 factory not at 5600 when I XMP. I don’t know what to do I just want to play my games stable. Newegg is giving me a hard time to refund my motherboard cost me $274. I would pay till $300 for one that won’t give me this stress and frustration. That mobo also had problems with pan and Wi-Fi, Realtek and Intel. I return the i7 12600K too. Now I’m waiting for the components, Amazon refund and replaced some hardware without question asked so I’ll buy from there from now on just not from Chinese seller. Do you recommend any MSI mobo ir is there anything better around my budget?

My Motherboard is not the issue so no, we do not have the same issue. Both RAM sticks register and my PC reads them, it's just not using all available RAM... way to hijack my post, though. You should make your own, separate post, as my MOBO is functioning properly...

 

[USAFRet]

Why no one replies? I was in another PC forum have the same problem and I paid 5$. Well I want to buy a MSI mobo as replacement for a Gigabyte z790 Elite AX that I had this problem you have. I put the 2 ram sticks Corsair Vengeance 16gb x 2 = 32 and will only boot with one. I tried A1 B1 , A2 B2, and nothing, ports worked and sticks were fine. The bios show the only stick at 4800 factory not at 5600 when I XMP. I don’t know what to do I just want to play my games stable. Newegg is giving me a hard time to refund my motherboard cost me $274. I would pay till $300 for one that won’t give me this stress and frustration. That mobo also had problems with pan and Wi-Fi, Realtek and Intel. I return the i7 12600K too. Now I’m waiting for the components, Amazon refund and replaced some hardware without question asked so I’ll buy from there from now on just not from Chinese seller. Do you recommend any MSI mobo ir is there anything better around my budget?

Please start a NEW thread for your particular question.
Don't hijack this one.

Thanks.

 

[thestryker]

Your BIOS is clearly showing two 16GB sticks have you tried running something like CPU-Z to see if they show up there? Also what isn't "showing" the RAM (other than the BIOS summary)?

Out of curiosity is there a reason you didn't just buy 2 more 8GB sticks (or 4 matching) so you're actually utilizing quad channel memory instead of running the CPU in dual channel mode?

Edit: the X99 platform is very inconsistent on memory clocks so maybe try running 3200 and see if that changes anything.

 

[Shmizer]

Your BIOS is clearly showing two 16GB sticks have you tried running something like CPU-Z to see if they show up there? Also what isn't "showing" the RAM (other than the BIOS summary)?

Out of curiosity is there a reason you didn't just buy 2 more 8GB sticks (or 4 matching) so you're actually utilizing quad channel memory instead of running the CPU in dual channel mode?

Edit: the X99 platform is very inconsistent on memory clocks so maybe try running 3200 and see if that changes anything.

thestryker,

Thanks for your reply.

I have not used CPU-UZ, however, in task manager it shows only 16gb available total. I know task manager parses the SMBIOS memory data incorrectly and it may show inaccurate readings, so I viewed the RAM in Resource Monitor and it shows the same reading.

Regarding your question about just using 4x 8gb sticks instead, to be honest I didn't even think of that considering this is my first PC build. I guess I could try that but, shouldn't it work in dual channel mode as well with the 2x 16gb sticks? If so, what do I need to set/change to make it work?

I will try running the RAM speed at 3200 despite the stick's capability to run at the current 3600 and see if that helps.

Look forward to your response, thanks!

 

[thestryker]

I've had two BDW based X99 systems and neither one was actually stable with memory speeds over 3400, but I'm not sure that's what is going on here mostly just a general note.

That is very odd that the BIOS shows the two sticks, but doesn't read 32GB memory. The DIMMs are installed in the correct slots for that motherboard, and yes dual channel will work you're just getting half the memory bandwidth you could be. My current setup is 4x 8GB and my other X99 is 4x 4GB so they're getting full quad channel bandwidth.

It looks like MSI released one BIOS revision after the one running on your motherboard and it mentions memory compatibility. First thing I'd suggest doing (if changing to lower speed doesn't fix the problem) is pull both sticks of memory and then just reinstall them. If it's still not displaying correctly then I'd try your 8GB sticks just to make sure everything is still working with those. If those are working fine then look at updating your BIOS (leave the 8GB sticks in there while you do this) and then try the 16GB sticks again. At this point if the 16GB sticks still aren't working correctly then you should probably look at returning it and either buying 4x 8GB to have matching sticks or 2 more of the same model 8GB you already have.

 

[Shmizer]

I've had two BDW based X99 systems and neither one was actually stable with memory speeds over 3400, but I'm not sure that's what is going on here mostly just a general note.

That is very odd that the BIOS shows the two sticks, but doesn't read 32GB memory. The DIMMs are installed in the correct slots for that motherboard, and yes dual channel will work you're just getting half the memory bandwidth you could be. My current setup is 4x 8GB and my other X99 is 4x 4GB so they're getting full quad channel bandwidth.

It looks like MSI released one BIOS revision after the one running on your motherboard and it mentions memory compatibility. First thing I'd suggest doing (if changing to lower speed doesn't fix the problem) is pull both sticks of memory and then just reinstall them. If it's still not displaying correctly then I'd try your 8GB sticks just to make sure everything is still working with those. If those are working fine then look at updating your BIOS (leave the 8GB sticks in there while you do this) and then try the 16GB sticks again. At this point if the 16GB sticks still aren't working correctly then you should probably look at returning it and either buying 4x 8GB to have matching sticks or 2 more of the same model 8GB you already have.

So before updating my BIOS I decided to download CPU-Z, and using that software it DOES show that I have 32gb of RAM, so if it shows it on there I should be good, even though my MSI BIOS shows differently?

If not I'll try updating BIOS like you recommended

 

[sitehostplus]

Hello,

I recently upgraded from 2x sticks of 8gb RAM to 2x sticks of 16gb of RAM for a total of 32gb. However my PC is only showing half of that. I have tried changing the virtual RAM and also disabled Intel Virtualization Technology.

Here are my Specs and picture of MSI BIOS RAM screen:

•Microsoft OEM System Builder DVD | Windоws 10 Home | 64-bit | Intended use for new systems

•Intel i7-6900K Processor (20MB Cache, up to 3.70 GHz) FC-LGA 2011-v3,BX80671I76900K

•MSI Extreme Gaming Intel X99 LGA 2011 DDR4 USB 3.1 Extended ATX Motherboard (X99A Godlike Gaming)

•EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming, 24GB GDDR6X, iCX3 Technology

•Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3600mhz (PC4-28800) C18 AMD Optimized Memory

•Toshiba OCZ RD400 Series Solid State Drive PCIe NVMe M.2 128GB with MLC Flash

Could be one of them is bad. Try the sticks one at a time and see what happens.

 

[thestryker]

So before updating my BIOS I decided to download CPU-Z, and using that software it DOES show that I have 32gb of RAM, so if it shows it on there I should be good, even though my MSI BIOS shows differently?

If not I'll try updating BIOS like you recommended

This is what my Windows/System and CPU-Z show. Yours should be the same in both, but with different clocks/dual channel displaying in CPU-Z. If that's the case then you're fine.