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4 Gigs of RAM on ASUS Server PC only showing 2.75?

K

knifemyglitter

Senior member
Hi there,
I have an ASUS Server motherboard called the DSBV-D and 4 gigs of fully buffered DIMMS. There seems to be an option under my BIOS that reads 4 GB PCI Hole Granularity and has various size option from 256mb to 2 Gb. I'm pretty sure that this reserves ram for some pci function, and i have it set to 256. Now, im using XP Pro SP3 32-bit and i know i'll only ever see 3.5 GB of RAM because of the memory addressing, but when i go to the system tab, it only reads as 2.75 Gb. That is NOT GOOD. Im running this PC for my studio as a Pro Tools HD workstation, so i need as much ram as i can get for it. Is there a way to get windows to recognize more? what am i doing wrong? will installing more ram fix this problem?

-Kevin A.
 
Having as much as 3.5GB is rare. Machines I have seen average 3 to 3.2 GB usable. Depending on your hardware, 2.7 is definitely conceivable. The best way to see more RAM is to go 64Bit.
 
unfortunately Pro Tools HD software is only compatible with XP 32 or Vista 32...why? i have no idea. But thats the main problem. are there any other alternatives to get it to see more memory?
 
Originally posted by: knifemyglitter
unfortunately Pro Tools HD software is only compatible with XP 32 or Vista 32...why? i have no idea. But thats the main problem. are there any other alternatives to get it to see more memory?
Click to expand...

That sucks. One of the biggest culprits is your video card, the less memory it has on it the less the pci hole needs to be. But I doubt you want to downgrade that...
 
Get different software. I'm surprised a professional package doesn't support professional computers. Do you need a good gfx card? What you're doing is sound processing, right? Maybe get a card with 128mb of ram, but you won't really be able to recover too much more memory.
 
Originally posted by: knifemyglitter
any other thoughts?
Click to expand...

Any similar packages that do support 64bit machines? Your really stuck here until they release a 64bit version and you can upgrade.
 
You could try running a 64bit OS and a Virtual Machine with the amount of RAM you need. a 64bit copy of Vista or Win7 with 6 or 8GB of ram running Virtual PC or Virtual Box. You could have an install of XP with 4GB of RAM giving it the maximum it could use. Of course, the best solution is to upgrade your software to a level that supports 64bit Operating Systems.

Edit: Never Mind, I just saw what application you are trying to use. I'm not sure VM would be a good solution for it.
 
Install mac on your computer? IF you have access to that version of protools...

also i have heard of a way, method or mode or something in 32bit windows to give access to all the ram??? I forget what its called
 
also i have heard of a way, method or mode or something in 32bit windows to give access to all the ram??? I forget what its called
Click to expand...

No, there is no way at all to make 32-bit Windows use all of your memory.
 
you need 64bit, i also have 4GB of ram and just upgraded from vista 32 to 64, it only saw 3GB before the re install and now can use all 4GB. AFAIK no 32 bit OS can use 4GB of ram you need 64bit.
 
I'm normally absolutely against trying to make a server OS support desktop use, but...

If your app will run under Windows Server 2003 then the Enterprise version will see more than 4 GB on a 32-bit system (assuming a supported chipset, & if you're running FB-DIMMs you're probably fine).

I've run as much as 10 GB on 32-bit Server 2003, so if you absolutely cannot go 64-bit that's where I'd look. Keep in mind that a company may not officially support 64 but there is a good chance it will work just fine. If nothing else it's worth a try, you have nothing to lose.

Viper GTS
 
AFAIK no 32 bit OS can use 4GB of ram you need 64bit.
Click to expand...

Well that's wrong too, only Windows clients are limited in that way. Windows Server Enterprise, Linux, FreeBSD, etc 32-bit can all use >4G of memory. MS chose to artificially limit their 32-bit Windows clients.
 
Originally posted by: knifemyglitter
There seems to be an option under my BIOS that reads 4 GB PCI Hole Granularity and has various size option from 256mb to 2 Gb. I'm pretty sure that this reserves ram for some pci function, and i have it set to 256.
Click to expand...
No, it controls the granularity of the PCI hole remap. It doesn't change the size of the PCI hole itself. That is dependent on the hardware and firmware.

This board is going to have large PCI MMIO requirements no matter what you do. Its got at least two PCI bus segments, possibly three; one for PCI conventional, and another for PCI-X. Typically, PCI-X is limited to a maximum of two slots per bus segment. If that is the case here, a third segment will be implemented for the third PCI-X slot. Then you have PCI Express, six RAID capable SATA ports, and dual Gbe LAN on top of it.

2.75GB sounds about right for a board with this many devices and PCI bridges, whether or not you have even put anything into the slots that may grab additional address space. You can try to play around with the memory hole granularity options, sometimes these settings are poorly described and can be counter-intuitive. e.g. it may seem that 256MB would be the best choice for minimizing impact on useable RAM, but that may not actually be true.

Also look for memory hole remap feature and make sure its set to DISABLE, if present in the BIOS, and make sure you have the latest BIOS.
 
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