Low usable RAM??

Alienwares · Mar 22, 2015

I am running 3 matching sticks of Gskill Ripjaws 4gb DDR3. Which should give me at least 16gb of usable RAM. But I happen to notice in my System screen in Windows it says I only have around 4gb. What gives? Im pretty sure at one point i was seeing 16GB usable but that was before I had OS issues and had to reinstall Windows, which is 7 Ultimate 64bit. Here is the screenshot.

Janus67 · Mar 22, 2015

Give this a shot and see if this fixes it:

http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/fix-the-maximum-amount-of-memory-usable-by-windows-7-64-bit/

Alienwares · Mar 22, 2015

no luck.

Alienwares · Mar 22, 2015

No matter how many times I change it to 16384 and save it it will jump back to 3984.

Alienwares · Mar 22, 2015

Well this time it took a little higher but not much.

Badbonji · Mar 23, 2015

How much RAM does the BIOS say you have? Also have you tried physically reseating all modules?

satrow · Mar 23, 2015

"3 matching sticks" = 12GB.

Alienwares · Mar 23, 2015

Badbonji said:
How much RAM does the BIOS say you have? Also have you tried physically reseating all modules?

BIOS says i have 16gb

Alienwares · Mar 23, 2015

satrow said:
"3 matching sticks" = 12GB.

According to the Asrock manual when using paired RAM it has the ability to multiply. For example 4gb + 4gb = 12gb plus my third 4gb stick = 16gb

Mr.Scott · Mar 23, 2015

Alienwares said:
According to the Asrock manual when using paired RAM it has the ability to multiply. For example 4gb + 4gb = 12gb plus my third 4gb stick = 16gb

You're joking right?
LOL.
Show me.

Alienwares · Mar 23, 2015

Mr.Scott said:
You're joking right?
LOL.
Show me.

I guess I am, remember I am a noob, and this is my first build. I was misinformed about what dual channel memory and matching pairs does. I now see after looking at the manual myself that it just allows it to process faster. Still does not explain why i show 16gb installed and only 4gb usable.

satrow · Mar 24, 2015

Possibly a bug in the BIOS where 3x sticks + dual channel checked = 4x sticks?

It might be best to set the BIOS back to defaults and check again. If it then shows 12GB, continue into Windows and check there.

Alienwares · Mar 24, 2015

satrow said:
Possibly a bug in the BIOS where 3x sticks + dual channel checked = 4x sticks?

It might be best to set the BIOS back to defaults and check again. If it then shows 12GB, continue into Windows and check there.

Thanks. I'll try that tomorrow.

ATMINSIDE · Mar 24, 2015

Have you tried the system in dual-channel mode?
Meaning, two sticks in the proper slots to pair them, instead of three sticks.

Badbonji · Mar 25, 2015

So did you try reseating the modules? I have had an issue in the past with an older PC where I had 8GB (6GB usable) and reseating them fixed it back up to 8GB (one must have not been correctly seated). I am wondering if the same has occurred here.

Alienwares · Mar 29, 2015

Badbonji said:
So did you try reseating the modules? I have had an issue in the past with an older PC where I had 8GB (6GB usable) and reseating them fixed it back up to 8GB (one must have not been correctly seated). I am wondering if the same has occurred here.

No I haven't even been on the computer all week. Been working like a mad man and just bought another truck. I will try it tonight before I try to play combat arms.

Alienwares · Apr 7, 2015

Badbonji said:
So did you try reseating the modules? I have had an issue in the past with an older PC where I had 8GB (6GB usable) and reseating them fixed it back up to 8GB (one must have not been correctly seated). I am wondering if the same has occurred here.

I tried reseating them and now i show to only have 3.0 GB usable. Im my bios it shows dual channel enabled with A1 slot having 8GB A2 having 4GB and B1 having 4GB. All three sticks are matching 8GB 1866 sticks. Im at a loss now.

Alienwares · Apr 7, 2015

ok now im making some progress. I rearranged the sticks and i now show to have 7.98GB usable but still a total of 16GB total. Where is my other 8GB?

satrow · Apr 8, 2015

Alienwares said:
ok now im making some progress. I rearranged the sticks and i now show to have 7.98GB usable but still a total of 16GB total. Where is my other 8GB?

You only have 3x4GB sticks, there is no other 8GB.

Try 2x sticks in the A channel in dual channel mode first, then test the same 2x sticks again in B channel. If you get the same 8GB showing in both paired slots, both of those RAM sticks are fine, as are all 4x slots.

Now try all 3x sticks but not in dual channel mode...

The object being to test all combinations, then for you to decide whether 2 in dual channel (8GB) is better or worse than 3 in single channel (12GB). and whether you want/need to add a 4th matching 4GB stick to allow 16GB in dual channel.

Alienwares · Apr 8, 2015

satrow said:
You only have 3x4GB sticks, there is no other 8GB.

Try 2x sticks in the A channel in dual channel mode first, then test the same 2x sticks again in B channel. If you get the same 8GB showing in both paired slots, both of those RAM sticks are fine, as are all 4x slots.

Now try all 3x sticks but not in dual channel mode...

The object being to test all combinations, then for you to decide whether 2 in dual channel (8GB) is better or worse than 3 in single channel (12GB). and whether you want/need to add a 4th matching 4GB stick to allow 16GB in dual channel.

Actually i have 3 8GB sticks. I removed them yesterday to reseat them and discovered that they are 8GB 1866 DDR3. I see what your saying though, ill rearrange them again next time i power down and see what i get.

Low usable RAM??

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