# I have 512mb RAM. Why does it say 448mb?



## WhiteRabbit (Sep 6, 2006)

I have 512mb RAM. However, it says in Conrol Panel - System that I have only 448mb of physical RAM. I checked the sticker on the RAM stick, and it says it's 512mb.

That's a 64mb difference.

I used to have 1024mb of RAM, but I had to return one of them. It had errors, according to memtest. Anyway, I remember that when I used to have 1024mb of RAM, Control Panel - System said I only had 960mb of physical RAM.

That's still a 64mb difference.

Trying to do some research, I read somewhere that Windows XP takes about 64mb of RAM. Which explains why there's always 64mb of RAM missing.

The thing is, why don't other systems hide this 64mb of RAM? Another guy had 1024mb of RAM, but in his Control Panel - System it says 1023mb of RAM.

My problem with this is that I have a game which requires a minimum of 512mb RAM. But when I run it, it says that I don't have enough physical memory. I read the dxdialog and it reports that I have 448mb of RAM, so maybe it's telling the game I only have 448mb, and so it closes when it realizes I don't have enough RAM.

Is there a way for me to have Windows detect that I do have a full 512mb RAM, rather than 448? I think this might alleviate the problem of the game not running.

By the way, that other 512mb of RAM is going to take 3 weeks to have it replaced... which is why I have to stick to 512mb for a while.

Thanks!


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## Fr4665 (Nov 18, 2004)

its propably your onboard video card using the ram. what kind of system do you have ? motherboard video card etc etc etc.


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## WhiteRabbit (Sep 6, 2006)

AHA! You're right. There is an onboard videocard.

The card I'm using is an ATI X700. The onboard video is an NVIDIA GeForce 6100, which I don't use.

I remember when I was fooling around the BIOS settings, I saw an option to change the amount of RAM used by the 6100.

Can I simply just change the setting to 0 RAM? Or is there a way for me to maybe disable the 6100?

In case you need to know, here are my specs:

Athlon 64 3000
MSI K8NGM2 with on board NVIDIA 6100
ATI X700 256mb ddr2
512mb RAM
80 gig Maxtor HD

Thanks!


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## Fr4665 (Nov 18, 2004)

yes you can turn of the 6100 in the bios look around again where you can set the ram for the 6100 to be used and there should be an option to turn it off.


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## WhiteRabbit (Sep 6, 2006)

Got it! Found the option and disabled it. Now it says 512mb on System, and the game is running perfectly!

Thank you very much!


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