Windows is saying only half my ram is installed?

[epicprince15]

So, as the title says windows is detecting only half of my memory, saying I have 8gb when i should have 16gb.

My motherboard is an ASrock H170 Pro4s,

I am using 2 2x4 gb ram kits, of Ballistix Sports

My operating system is Windows 10 Home 64 bit.

I have been browsing this forum / similar forums for days and have tried most fixes for it. I understand it could be a motherboard issue, but I figure I should post here before purchasing a new one. The Bios seems to detect that I have 16gb ram installed, and so does cpuz, however when I look at my specs windows only says I have 8gb installed.

So when it comes to fixes I have tried looking into msconfig and there was nothing limiting it there. I have tried each of the 4 ram cards in each of the slots one by one, each seems to be functioning. I have ran Memtest86 overnight and it detected no errors however it did only detect 8gb of ram.

The only bit of progress I've had is when I was testing the cards/slots, and I noticed that the problem seems to be that it will not detect a second card in either channel(unless this is normal?). When testing one at a time, each slot worked and windows detected 4gb of ram, however when testing 2 sticks in different configurations i noticed it would only detect 8gb of ram if there was one in each channel, but would only detect 4gb if in a single channel.

This is the first PC I've ever built, so if its a mistake on my end I figure it will be something I didn't look for. I understand that most games will run just fine with 8gb of RAM, however it would still be nice to get the full 16 that I have. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Barty1884]

Which "kits" do you have specifically? Mixing & matching memory (even same brand/speed/timings) can be a crapshoot - that's why modules are sold together in kits, verified to work with one another.

Manually entering timings (start with the lowest common denominator) and see how you make out. A slight voltage bump may be required for all 4 modules to work together.

 

[mgallo848]

Maybe he needs to enable XMP in BIOS? He said he's new to this so that might be the easier fix for him as opposed to manually setting timings himself.

If that's the case, go here and download the owner's manual and look up how to change the memory to an XMP profile. http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H170%20Pro4S/#Manual

 

[Barty1884]

If they don't work "out of the box" ie 2133MHz, then XMP would proportionately bump those - unlikely to work if they're not requiring identical voltage etc (common, even with kits that appear to match). Manually setting timings would have a greater chance of success, but testing with enabling XMP initially is a good place to start, just to see if that works.

 

[mgallo848]

If they don't work "out of the box" ie 2133MHz, then XMP would proportionately bump those - unlikely to work if they're not requiring identical voltage etc (common, even with kits that appear to match). Manually setting timings would have a greater chance of success, but testing with enabling XMP initially is a good place to start, just to see if that works.

Maybe he has this type or ram kit where everything should've been the same "out of the box"?
https://www.amazon.com/Ballistix-Sport-PC4-19200-288-Pin-Memory/dp/B00MTSWMVQ

Just trying to come up with some ideas.

 

[Barty1884]

Not knocking the ideas, anything might help.

That kit is what the OP should have. 4x4GB modules, sold together in retail packaging & tested/verified to work together.
They did state they have 2x 2x4GB kits, so, while on the face of it they are the 'same'.... there's always variances in little things like sub-timings etc.

At a high level, they appear the same (main timings, CL etc) but at a granular level, certain tolerances are allowed.
For a specific chip to go into "Ballistix Sport" kits, Crucial will specific X or Y requirements. Within that, there will be tolerances, probably +/- 5% or something.

Then, to conform to JEDEC standard 1.2V for DDR4, I think there's some marginal tolerances allowed.
As a very simplistic example, say one batch of chips (= module) requires 1.2001V to be stable and another batch can do 1.99999V
For all intents and purposes, they're both "1.2V", but those minute differences can be the difference between functionally operation together or not, as the case may be.

Obviously that's a very basic example, and there's lots more to it..... but that's why mixing & matching modules can be quite the crapshoot.

 

[mgallo848]

Not knocking the ideas, anything might help.

That kit is what the OP should have. 4x4GB modules, sold together in retail packaging & tested/verified to work together.
They did state they have 2x 2x4GB kits, so, while on the face of it they are the 'same'.... there's always variances in little things like sub-timings etc.

At a high level, they appear the same (main timings, CL etc) but at a granular level, certain tolerances are allowed.
For a specific chip to go into "Ballistix Sport" kits, Crucial will specific X or Y requirements. Within that, there will be tolerances, probably +/- 5% or something.

Then, to conform to JEDEC standard 1.2V for DDR4, I think there's some marginal tolerances allowed.
As a very simplistic example, say one batch of chips (= module) requires 1.2001V to be stable and another batch can do 1.99999V
For all intents and purposes, they're both "1.2V", but those minute differences can be the difference between functionally operation together or not, as the case may be.

Obviously that's a very basic example, and there's lots more to it..... but that's why mixing & matching modules can be quite the crapshoot.

I understamd what you're saying but without knowing the differences of each batch how will you know what to set them to if you do it manually? This is why I was thinking that going the XMP route may set everything for him automatically.

 

[Barty1884]

You don't, that's the problem. Sometimes it can work (rather than XMP, for whatever the reason), sometimes it doesn't.

The added voltage bump (like 0.005V or whatever) typically has a higher success rate, for when the variances are solely on those minute voltage differences.

 

[mgallo848]

Again, how will he know which one or ones....if any, may or may not need a voltage bump?

 

[Barty1884]

You don't......

The slight bump in voltage would affect all modules.
The added 0.xV applied to the one that needs the help, gets it up and running - the only that doesn't need anything, doesn't matter. The increase in voltage is negligible enough for those other modules to not cause any problems.

 

[mgallo848]

So basically he had has nothing to lose by trying XMP

 

[Barty1884]

So basically he had has nothing to lose by trying XMP

Correct. I agreed with that sentiment a while back

testing with enabling XMP initially is a good place to start, just to see if that works.

 

[epicprince15]

Sorry everyone for not replying sooner, i did buy the kit (2 of them) that mgallo848 posted above. I tried running with an XMP profile and no changes, as for manually setting voltages and timings insofar I am all but wholly unsure of how to do that.