# 4GB of RAM installed, but windows XP only shows 3GB



## Techie19

Hey guys,

I just built a PC for a friend. I installed 4GB of RAM (4x1GB), the motherboard supports a total of 8GB :grin:. Well, the problem is that Windows XP Home only shows 3GB in control panel :4-dontkno. I checked and the BIOS sees all 4GB. Why is this? Why does the BIOS see all 4GB but Windows only recognizes or shows that only 3GB are installed.


----------



## 10pmStalker

you need 64 bit windows to take advantage of 4 or more GB


----------



## Techie19

10pmStalker,

is this the only way? does this mean that one of the 1GB RAM sticks are pretty much useless in the mobo?


----------



## Xsoftware

It's not usless if you get a 64-bit edition of windows, but baisically, yeah, its useless.


----------



## AlienMenace

windows xp 32 bit will acually see 3.25gb. that is the limitation of 32 bit OS, 64 bit will see 128gb of ram amd use every bit of it. I have windows xp x64 with 6gb of ram.
And you have to have a 64 bit processor to have 64 OS


----------



## vladimirb

Hey mate,
Is your PC compatible with 64-bit OS???
If it is, do not return RAM... Maybe you will soon switch to 64-bit version...
If no, then either you can give it to a friend, sell it, or return it to the store...
But you can not have more then 3,25GB on 32-bit windows XP Home or Professional...


----------



## TheShadowFl

Techie19 said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> I just built a PC for a friend. I installed 4GB of RAM (4x1GB), the motherboard supports a total of 8GB :grin:. Well, the problem is that Windows XP Home only shows 3GB in control panel :4-dontkno. I checked and the BIOS sees all 4GB. Why is this? Why does the BIOS see all 4GB but Windows only recognizes or shows that only 3GB are installed.


What is the motherboard? What kind of ram?

If it's DDR2 you MUST install it in matched pairs. 
Even though not all of the 4 gigs is seen by Windows XP-Home, you DO NOT want to remove one of the sticks. Your performance would suffer greatly if you do. Leave it!

You did right in the first place, by giving XP all the ram it can use.

Y'all have a great day now, Y'hear?
The Shadow


----------



## bhahar84

Yes, I agree with TheShadowFl. You might want to leave the 4th ram you have on the computer, as it will be used by your XP to the max, eventhough it can't make full use of it. By any means, 4GB is the highest memory can be used by the XP, but of course you can't see 4GB on your PC. It will be always less than the real size :smile:


----------



## Hxrxld

It only shows less than your real size because some of it goes towards your video card...


----------



## peterhuang913

Simple answer: 32-bit OS sees up to 4GB. Total RAM you can see is 4GB - video card ram, that's the total addressing space it has.

Simple solution: Get 64-bit OS or just use it as is.


----------



## Techie19

Sorry I haven't come back in a few days, been busy with work and family. I guess we'll leave the fourth RAM stick installed for now because it is Dual Channel DDR2 RAM, an as TheShadowFl said, its gotta be installed in pairs. Maybe my friend who I built the computer for will get a 64-bit OS later on. And yes it can support a 64-bit OS. The CPU is an AMD Athlon X2 4850e, socket AM2. 2.5GHz. The mobo is an ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition.

As far as to Hxrxld, the video card is not using any of the physical memory because it has its own memory. Its a XFX, PVT84JYAJG GeForce 8600 GT, PCI Express x16 512MB. but then again, I should have listed this from the beginning. 

Thank you guys for all the replys and help.


----------

