64 bit OS but stuck with 3GB RAM....help!

[mjavid]

Hi all,
I installed 2 x 2 GB RAM and I'm using Win 7 64 bit. Why is only 3GB available in windows when BIOS shows 4GB installed????

Is it because no memory mapping option is available in my BIOS?

Is there any modded BIOS I can use?

My laptop is a HP DV6000 series (dv6307tx). BIOS is F.2e (latest). The laptop uses an Intel 945pm chipset and has a NVidia GeForce Go 7400 card. According to Intel product information, the 945 pm chipset supports a max of 4 GB RAM. Various sites state 2 GB is max, but thats obviously wrong since I'm typing this with 2GB + 1GB running right now.

 

[manko]

Well, I have a 945 motherboard with Win 7 x64 and have the same issue. The 945 counts the video memory towards the 4GB, even if you have a discrete video card (which I do). So, if you had a 2GB video card, you'd only have 2GB usable system memory even with 4GB RAM installed.

Time for both of us to upgrade.

 

[alent1234]

Probably a chipset issue. The lower end ones can address less memory

 

[WackyDan]

Older system. Old chip sets like the 945 can not support over 4Gb of system memory. Installing a 64bit OS does nothing to resolve that.

You are seeing only 3Gb as there are system hardware registers that take up some of the memory and it will not be reported to the OS... so some systems show only 3Gb, and some 3.25Gb, etc....

 

[mjavid]

You are seeing only 3Gb as there are system hardware registers that take up some of the memory and it will not be reported to the OS... so some systems show only 3Gb, and some 3.25Gb, etc....

Does that mean that there is no advantage in installing 2 GB + 2 GB over 2 GB + 1 GB?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Does that mean that there is no advantage in installing 2 GB + 2 GB over 2 GB + 1 GB?

Depends. Usually, there still is a small interleaving advantage. Sometimes there isn't. (Some low end machines were locked into single-channel mode to increase reliability with sketchy RAM.)

But it's probably not worth the expense of digging up DDR for those older systems.

 

[corkyg]

... But it's probably not worth the expense of digging up DDR for those older systems.

Yep! We're talking a 5 to 7 year old laptop. Start saving up for a new one.

 

[WackyDan]

Does that mean that there is no advantage in installing 2 GB + 2 GB over 2 GB + 1 GB?

There is a small advantage to having 4Gb of physical RAM instead of just 3Gb. RAM is generally cheap.