Vista shows 2.5GB when I have 3GB installed, but only 2GB when I have 4GB installed?

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prancyelton

New Member
I have an asrock 939 dual sata2 motherboard and an AMD 64 3800 cpu, I have run xp fine for years but thought I would upgrade to Vista,
I got Vista Ultimate 32bit and then found about the ram limit on 32 bit OS, but for some reason I get more ram showing up in vista when there is less in the motherboard?
When i have 3 x 1gb stick in it shows up as 2.5GB ram, but when I put 4 x 1gb sticks in it takes it back down to 2gb (which is what it showed when I only had 2 x 1gb sticks in)
I then installed vista ultimate 64 bit and all 4GB showed up fine ( I did this to check it wasnt the ram that was faulty) I would have kept 64 bit but I couldnt find any wifi drivers to work so I have gone back to 32bit ultimate.
Is there anything I can do to get the right amount it should be when i have 4gb in?
Do you think the system will run quicker with 4gb in even though it only shows 2gb or should i take a stick out so it shows 2.5gb?
Ive looked on a lot of forums and it seems most people can get 3gb showing when 4gb is in so any ideas why its not working for me?
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    AMD 64 3800+
    Motherboard
    ASRock 939 Dual Sata2
    Memory
    4gb Ideal 3200 400Mhz
    Graphics card(s)
    Radeon 3680
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19" HP w19ew
Re: Vista shows 2.5GB when I have 3GB installed, but only 2GB when I have 4GB install

prancyelton said:
I have an asrock 939 dual sata2 motherboard and an AMD 64 3800 cpu, I have run xp fine for years but thought I would upgrade to Vista,
I got Vista Ultimate 32bit and then found about the ram limit on 32 bit OS, but for some reason I get more ram showing up in vista when there is less in the motherboard?
When i have 3 x 1gb stick in it shows up as 2.5GB ram, but when I put 4 x 1gb sticks in it takes it back down to 2gb (which is what it showed when I only had 2 x 1gb sticks in)
I then installed vista ultimate 64 bit and all 4GB showed up fine ( I did this to check it wasnt the ram that was faulty) I would have kept 64 bit but I couldnt find any wifi drivers to work so I have gone back to 32bit ultimate.
Is there anything I can do to get the right amount it should be when i have 4gb in?
Do you think the system will run quicker with 4gb in even though it only shows 2gb or should i take a stick out so it shows 2.5gb?
Ive looked on a lot of forums and it seems most people can get 3gb showing when 4gb is in so any ideas why its not working for me?
Click to expand...
PAE :)
(physical address extention) and also the pagefile increases as the ram increases, solution : vista 64x
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build
    CPU
    Intel Q6600 @ 2.8GHz
    Motherboard
    Evga NF78-CK-132-A 3-Way SLI
    Memory
    8Gb DDR2 Corsair Dominator @ 1066Mhz 5-5-5-15
    Graphics card(s)
    EVGA 560 GTX SC FTW 1GB
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC888 7.1 Audio, Logitech G35 7.1 Surround Headset
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell S2409W 16:9, HDMi, DVI & VGA
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 7200rpm 250Gb SATA, Samsung 7200rpm 750Gb SATA, WD 7200rpm 1TB SCSI SATA.
    PSU
    Xigmatek 750W Quad sli quad core 80% eff
    Case
    Antec 900 Gaming Case
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9700-NT NVIDIA Tritium, Dominator RAM cooler
    Mouse
    Razor Lachesis Banshee V2 Blue, 4000DPI
    Keyboard
    Logitech generic keyboard
    Internet Speed
    16Mb Sky bb
    Other Info
    Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows, Wireless Xbox 360 Pad, Wireless Xbox 360 Les Paul Guitar
Re: Vista shows 2.5GB when I have 3GB installed, but only 2GB when I have 4GB install

I had real problems getting everything i use to work on x64,so if I do stick with 32 I will be better off with 3GB rather than 4GB?
Or is there a way around driver signing on x64?
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    AMD 64 3800+
    Motherboard
    ASRock 939 Dual Sata2
    Memory
    4gb Ideal 3200 400Mhz
    Graphics card(s)
    Radeon 3680
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19" HP w19ew
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