Wrong RAM size in Windows 10 (BIOS maybe?)

[Crossvxm]

I recently built a PC from leftovers I've had for quite a while. The motherboard, a Gigabyte F2A68HM-H Revision 1.1 is a bit new to what I am used to, less simplified and very bland in terms of the BIOS UI and I can't shake the feeling that my issue is related to it's BIOS. Basically, Windows 10 shows me that I have 12GB, of which 6.95GB is usable. I only have 2x4GB Corsair Vengeance Pro 2133MHz CL11 sticks occupying the only two slots it has. The reason I believe it is a BIOS issue is because I tried to turn off Window's virtual memory (pagefile) which I thought was somehow the culprit, fully wiped the HDD, reinstalled Windows 10 and still the issue persists. Why am I being shown more RAM than I have, yet less than what I have is usable?

-AMD A10-7860K APU
-Hyper 212 LED cooler
-Gigabyte F2A68HM-H motherboard
-8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro 2133MHz RAM (Grey)
-MSI GTX 680 Twin Frozr III (2GB/OC)
-Corsair CX750M power supply
-Corsair Graphite Series 230T case
-2TB 7200RPM 64MB cache Seagate HDD
-Genuine Windows 10 Home (3/19/17 installation)

 

[Saleh_5]

Is your windows 10 64bit? or 32bit?

 

[rgd1101]

look at the task manager and under the memory tab, see the rest is in hardware reserve.

go into bios and see how much ram it see.

 

[Tom Tancredi]

I.... Windows 10 shows me that I have 12GB, of which 6.95GB is usable. .....Why am I being shown more RAM than I have, yet less than what I have is usable?
....
-8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro 2133MHz RAM (Grey)...

Okay first off can you screen shot what it is your seeing because your not making much sense here.

• 
  You have 8GB installed, yet your saying W10 says 12GB???? I think you are way off here.
  As for the 'usable' - that is meaning AFTER I loaded Windows, the Drivers, the Antivirus, the Sound Card Application, the Instant Messaging on Startup, etc. etc. etc. this is what I have 'left over' to use.
  Lastly I don't think you understand / educated in memory allocation standards. Virtual memory is the idea that instead of you using up all your memory opening 20 tabs of youtube videos you want to watch and your computer suddenly CRASHING, we instead 'borrow' some storage space on the hard drive, and SWAP out when we need some extra 'memory' to process all the things you want to do on the computer. Unfortunately this is VERRRYYY SLOW way and causes the issues you believe the computer is 'freezing' or 'taking too long, but is better than running OUT of memory and 'crashing' the PC.

 

[Crossvxm]

Is your windows 10 64bit? or 32bit?

64-Bit

 

[Crossvxm]

look at the task manager and under the memory tab, see the rest is in hardware reserve.

go into bios and see how much ram it see.

All RAM is there ironically.

 

[Crossvxm]

I.... Windows 10 shows me that I have 12GB, of which 6.95GB is usable. .....Why am I being shown more RAM than I have, yet less than what I have is usable?
....
-8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro 2133MHz RAM (Grey)...

Okay first off can you screen shot what it is your seeing because your not making much sense here.

• 
  You have 8GB installed, yet your saying W10 says 12GB???? I think you are way off here.
  As for the 'usable' - that is meaning AFTER I loaded Windows, the Drivers, the Antivirus, the Sound Card Application, the Instant Messaging on Startup, etc. etc. etc. this is what I have 'left over' to use.
  Lastly I don't think you understand / educated in memory allocation standards. Virtual memory is the idea that instead of you using up all your memory opening 20 tabs of youtube videos you want to watch and your computer suddenly CRASHING, we instead 'borrow' some storage space on the hard drive, and SWAP out when we need some extra 'memory' to process all the things you want to do on the computer. Unfortunately this is VERRRYYY SLOW way and causes the issues you believe the computer is 'freezing' or 'taking too long, but is better than running OUT of memory and 'crashing' the PC.

Sorry for the late reply, the Reply button disappears for me on mobile after the first time I use it, so I had to wait to use my PC.

If I didn't know how RAM works, I would have no knowledge on the fact that virtual memory exists. I don't disable it unless I have perhaps 32GB of RAM (trust me, I haven't gotten there yet). It is the first I have ever seen of this. Most complain that Windows is showing less RAM than they actually have installed, I'm befuddled by the exact opposite 12.0GB INSTALLED (6.95 USABLE). See the pic I added (my camera was a bit more faster than a screenshot). Somehow it is now at 7.95 usable.

 

[Tom Tancredi]

1) Go into BIOS and check how many 'RAM' sticks and what each one reads as for it
2) Get a tool like SPECCY to tell you specifically what 'it' sees of how many RAM sticks you have

While possibly the board is 'damaged' that it is reporting more RAM than you have installed to Windows, I found a few times it was due to the WRONG type of RAM being used (i.e. Timing is off or incompatible). Have you checked the Gigabyte Manual / Website to confirm THAT specific model number of Corsair RAM is approved? I personally had a devil of a time of one set of Corsair RAM which was fully 'compatible' with the similiar model number Corsair RAM but because the manufacturer didn't put it into the Mobo HW / BIOS it wouldn't work correctly (wierdness like what your getting).

That aside I like to note, that 6.95/7.95 Available (out of 8GB) would be correct if you deduct your IGP (even if you have a dedicated card) RAM set aside in BIOS for it.

 

[Crossvxm]

1) Go into BIOS and check how many 'RAM' sticks and what each one reads as for it
2) Get a tool like SPECCY to tell you specifically what 'it' sees of how many RAM sticks you have

While possibly the board is 'damaged' that it is reporting more RAM than you have installed to Windows, I found a few times it was due to the WRONG type of RAM being used (i.e. Timing is off or incompatible). Have you checked the Gigabyte Manual / Website to confirm THAT specific model number of Corsair RAM is approved? I personally had a devil of a time of one set of Corsair RAM which was fully 'compatible' with the similiar model number Corsair RAM but because the manufacturer didn't put it into the Mobo HW / BIOS it wouldn't work correctly (wierdness like what your getting).

That aside I like to note, that 6.95/7.95 Available (out of 8GB) would be correct if you deduct your IGP (even if you have a dedicated card) RAM set aside in BIOS for it.

Sorry again for the mega late reply. In the BIOS, all shows up normal. While testing large games that are really RAM abusive (No Man's Sky for example), everything seems to be working normally at its 8GB limit. I was curious as I have never seen this occur. If all is well, then I don't mind it much. It was more concerning when it was at 6.95GB usable. After messing with the BIOS (I made sure that the iGPU was disabled for one), it is at 7.95GB which is the way it should be.

 

[Tom Tancredi]

[

Sorry again for the mega late reply. In the BIOS, all shows up normal. While testing large games that are really RAM abusive (No Man's Sky for example), everything seems to be working normally at its 8GB limit. I was curious as I have never seen this occur. If all is well, then I don't mind it much. It was more concerning when it was at 6.95GB usable. After messing with the BIOS (I made sure that the iGPU was disabled for one), it is at 7.95GB which is the way it should be.

YEP because 1GB was set aside as I initially noted, by the APU, automatically, for the Graphics because you don't HAVE to have a seperate GPU to have a 'computer'. So that is where it gets the memory for the onboard GPU (built into the APU).

The problem was though you were showing screen shots of 12GB installed when you have 8GB per even BIOS and visual inspection. That isn't possible UNLESS you have a bad Mobo/BIOS OR (most commonly) put in the wrong MODEL RAM into the board that the BIOS doesn't properly comprehend.

 

[Crossvxm]

[

Sorry again for the mega late reply. In the BIOS, all shows up normal. While testing large games that are really RAM abusive (No Man's Sky for example), everything seems to be working normally at its 8GB limit. I was curious as I have never seen this occur. If all is well, then I don't mind it much. It was more concerning when it was at 6.95GB usable. After messing with the BIOS (I made sure that the iGPU was disabled for one), it is at 7.95GB which is the way it should be.

YEP because 1GB was set aside as I initially noted, by the APU, automatically, for the Graphics because you don't HAVE to have a seperate GPU to have a 'computer'. So that is where it gets the memory for the onboard GPU (built into the APU).

The problem was though you were showing screen shots of 12GB installed when you have 8GB per even BIOS and visual inspection. That isn't possible UNLESS you have a bad Mobo/BIOS OR (most commonly) put in the wrong MODEL RAM into the board that the BIOS doesn't properly comprehend.

The motherboard's memory support shows VERY few RAM modules supported. Most of what it supports are older model DDR3s, and did I mention VERY FEW ram modules? I'm used to better motherboards which usually are ready for almost any RAM, this one of the first older, plain motherboards I have ever dealt with. Looking at the manual, I see no mention of CL11 RAM, which may also be why one of the settings in the latency is 1 less than the other. I may buy one of these older RAM sets, but I'd hate to downgrade as these sticks are some of the stablest 2133MHz sticks out there Thanks a lot for your help.