Goat Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Just recently I decided to upgrade my gaming PC's CPU and memory. Before I had bought the memory for my PC I had only 3GB of memory total. I figured I would get 2x 2GB memory sticks making my total PC memory 7GB and give my PC a great boost in speed. After successfully installing the processor and the memory sticks I had noticed in my system properties that only 3GB of RAM were recognized. I have the M4A785-M motherboard which is compatible with up to 16GB of memory. I then searched in my system information and discovered that in each memory bank that i had occupied with memory was recognized and totaled to 7GB of memory but still, only 3GB was recognized on my system. The only thing I can think of is that with my OS being 32-bit Windows XP is the overall problem. Like I stated, the memory sticks that i had purchased are functional but just not recognized. If someone could help me out I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Goat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diK Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Yeah 32 bit versions of windows only allow for 4GB so your going to have to get a 64 bit OS to achieve the results you want. Also, are all of your memory sticks the same? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goat Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 Thanks for helping me out with this problem. I thought it was the OS but wasn't quite sure that was the problem. And, all of my memory sticks are DDR2 RAM but i'm pretty sure some are manufactured by different companies if thats what your asking. thank you again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diK Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Sorry I wasn't more clear on that. Yeah, I was asking if they were the same make model with the same timings. I built a computer with a bunch of spare parts I had laying around and I mix matched some ram and it only utilized the matching sticks. You were right though because once you put in just one of those sticks it brings it to 5GB and xp is just saying "umm wtf do I do with this extra hardware". Honestly, I would prob just take out the 3 GB of ram you had in there originally and use the new ram. 4GB is plenty of ram for sure. Then once you have a bit of extra money just buy another pair of the same memory you just bought and then bring it up to 8GB if you really need it. Of course your still going to need a 64 bit operating system so it can handle this set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enigma# Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/231766-45-windowsxp-recognizing Windows XP Professional 32-bit is limited to 4GB of address space. If you have 4GB of RAM installed, it will not show 4GB within Windows. What you'll probably get is the size of your pagefile subtracted from the 4GB. technically there are other variables in play such as memory mapping from your BIOS (and video card) but regardless, in some systems you will see 4 GB, some you won't. Shorthand of doing is: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366796%28v=vs.85%29.aspx In regards to mixing memory, most motherboards don't seem too picky about who manufactured the memory but rather the memory profiles. The memory profiles are loaded at POST and if they differ significantly (or can't find a matching one) it will load one only. However, it's technically a bit 'better' to not have 'mixed' memory. Read this for further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_presence_detect In regards to have to having a 64 bit operating system, it is technically possible to have a 32-bit operating system handle n>4 GB. PAE is not just limited to 4 GB and even Windows Server 2003 32-bit operating systems can pick up 64 GB - 128 GB no problem. As well, 4 GB is the maximum memory assignable to a thread (process) in Windows; so even if Windows reports n<4 GB, you won't be able to utilise it in one single process (not sure how important that is) I would however suggest against staying with an older operating system (Windows XP {Server 2003}) and upgrading if you can, seeing as you upgraded the memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetiredTacos Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Upgrade to a 64 bit o/s or return the memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerpTurtle Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 i dont think mixing memory like that is good , you should only dual or triple in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enigma# Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 i dont think mixing memory like that is good , you should only dual or triple in my opinion. Per se, it isn't the best to mix memory but the idea is that from a standpoint of memory profiles, mixing RAM isn't really a significant issue. Memory voltage is also a factor on that aspect. Dual, triple or even quad channel memory gives at most arguably a small difference in performance. From what I understand, synthetic benchmarking will show a greater gain with dual < triple < quad, but from an everyday usage perspective, marginally better at most IMO. Do what Terry said, if you want to utilise your four gigabytes of memory, return the other four and buy Windows Home Premium x86-64 in place of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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