My 4gb ram showing up as only 3.12gb ram, why?

Question

Hi i just bought 2 x 2gb sticks of ram for my desktop. When they are installed however it is saying i only have 3.12 GB of memory instead of 4gb. I thought maybe it was an error with one of the sticks of ram so i have put just one in at a time and it says in system that i have 2gb when each one is installed individually. Can anyone tell me where the rest of the ram is going? The max i can have on my harddrive is 4GB. Thanks

Answer 1

You're probably running a 32bit operating system.

32bit operating systems cannot recognize 4GB of RAM

If you want to get the FULL benefit of your ram you must use a 64 bit operating system.

I wouldnt worry though, you're not gonna see that much of a benefit of 4GB over 3.12

Answer 2

this is beacuase your system does alot of things like system applications of security which isnt always diplayed on your desktop.they take up ram.

Answer 3

i have 2 gb of ram on mine but it says i only have 1.744 something. this is because my 256mb graphics card is taking that amount from it. "256". so it doesn't show the  amount of ram i actually have.

and if not then its probs cus u have a 32 bit os.

hope this helped

Answer 4

You don't say what operating system you are using, but... To get Windows Vista to recognize 4 GB you must have:

1. A chipset that supports at least 8 GB of address space.

2. Your CPU must support the x64 instruction set.

3. BIOS must support the memory remapping feature.

4. An x64 (64-bit) version of Windows Vista must be used.

Answer 5

You're either running a very old version of your operating system or its the 32 bit version. You'll have have to buy the 64 bit version or make do with what you've got. But just keep in mind that 64 bit has been known to not be compatible with many applications.

Answer 6

You probably have a 32-bit Windows OS. Whereas some 32-bit systems, such as Linux, can utilise large amounts of memory thanks to PAE, most Microsoft Windows versions cannot.

Most 32-bit Windows systems can only access 4 GB of address space - this usually results in a maximum of around 3 GB RAM.

Answer 7

It is possible that your Video Card uses a small percent of the memory from your RAM. This will make your memory appear to be less than what is installed

Answer 8

Almost certainly because your laptop only supports 3GB of RAM.

It's just the way some laptops are.

3GB is enough for any normal user.

Answer 9

You will have an AMD processor - they take some of the RAM and associate it with the CPU - so it gets taken away from the amount that the OS can allocate

Answer 10

You have a 32 bit OS.  A 32 bit OS can only see ~3.25 to MAYBE ~3.5 gig of RAM.

The actual amount you see will depend on your hardware.

To see more RAM, you have to be running a 64 bit OS.

Answer 11

Do you have a 32 bit OS? 32 bit OS's only utilize up to 3gb

Answer 12

Because some part of your ram are using as a graphic card.I'm sure about it. Don't be afraid. It doesn't matter. 3 gb ram will be enough for everything.

Answer 13

Because windows is currently running the other 0.88Gb,