Why does my computer say that I have 3.25gb of ram when i have 4x 1gb rams installed?

Question

Shouldnt I have a total of 4gb of RAM?

Answer 1

its just like a hard drive. u never get the full amount of space cuz the computer uses a little part for itself and the rest is upto ur needs

Answer 2

You should but it's another quirk or function of windows. Windows is a 32bit OS it won't see more than 3gb...

You would need a 64bit version of XP or vista to "see" more than 3gb of ram.

This is assuming you have a windows OS.

Answer 3

it might b how many rams u have used

Answer 4

3.25 may be your max, i don't know.

I've got 1024 RAM max and two 512 sticks and it says 0.99G of ram.

Try dxdiag and properties of My Computer.

Answer 5

Your ram is dedicated so that means that some of your ram goes to your graphics card. You can check the BIOS and possibly change how much RAM goes to your graphics card.

Answer 6

Here is one of the better explanations I've ever seen:

http://blogs.msdn.com/hiltonl/archive/20...

You might try the /PAE switch (hint: don't just change your boot.ini, add a new entry to it)

Answer 7

Some systemboards will not read over a certain amount of RAM, your board possibly only supports about 3Gbs that's hwy even though you physically have 4 it will only read 3. you might be able to get t*t to read 4 if you upgrade the BIOS, this may work depending on the board you have

Answer 8

You have a 32 bit operating and 3.25 is the most it can use. Mine is the same, I put 4GB in it but 3.25 is what shows up since that's all it can use.

Answer 9

Because each of your ram chips doesnt actually have 1gb of ram on it. Its something a little bit lower than that. Its the same as a hard drive. When it says its a 500gb HD, its actually something a little smaller.

Answer 10

Usually when you buy something that has a certain amount of GB, in your case 4, there is usually space taken up by system files and whatnot put on by the manufacturer that are necessary to be on it. So yes, there is that much space but some of it has to be taken up. It's similar to when you buy a bag of chips and theres some air in it already.  

Answer 11

Your computer cannot support the full four gb. Check online about the tech specs on your computer and find out how much memory it can support.

Answer 12

Your 4GB of ram is detected, its just that other 75 mb of ram is dedicated towards your graphics card. So only 3.25 is usable.