# New RAM not showing up in system properties



## k2skier (Sep 30, 2008)

I just installed 2X1GB of PC6400 DDR2 for a total of 4XGB of Corsair XMS2, I checked system properties and it shows 2.5GB. I checked it in BIOS under standard CMOS features and it shows 4094m of extended memory and 4096m of total memory. 

I ran CPUID, 
under the mem tab; 
DDR2, 4096mb, 
400mhz, 
FSBRAM 5:6, 
5-5-5-18
CR 2T

SPD tab show all four slots with 1GB each.

Do I need to reset CMOS? Or is it OK (functioning)?
I've installed RAM on many other PC's and it always shows up in system properties for me and I have never rest CMOS; how important is this?

I don't have a floppy drive, can I run memtest86 without one?


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## manic (Aug 2, 2005)

With a 32bit operating system you can only use 3gigs of ram to 
begin with. If bios is seeing it, the only thing I can think of, is its
a windows thing. Imho you are better off with 2 gigs of ram running
in dual mode, versus trying to cram 4gigs of ram into a machine that
will only use 3gigs maybe, and not be in dual mode, but single.
You will utilize the full speed of the ram in dual if the board supports it
which most do nowadays.
On 64bit os's that Ive worked on that had 4 gigs of ram, ddr3 I was
not overly impressed by the performance of all that ram, in other words
I really didnt see much if any improvement over using 2gigs. But I wasnt
doing any video editing, or something really ram intensive, mainly
gaming machines.


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## k2skier (Sep 30, 2008)

After MIR this extra 2GB will cost me $15. Will it slow anything down having extra in it? My mobo is a Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L, which will support 4GB of ram.


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## manic (Aug 2, 2005)

If it runs in dual mode at the fsb its supposed to, all is good. When you
fill up all of those slots, its very likely you will have a voltage conflict,
even if you have exact matches of sticks. If its not running in dual
mode I would try just 2 sticks of ram in the appropriate slot, you will
utilize the full potential of ram in dual versus single mode.


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## k2skier (Sep 30, 2008)

Thanks for the info. New Egg is great, let me return with no restock fee and NE paid for return shipping. For my needs 2GB will be plenty anyway. This may need to be posted in the OC forum but, is it worth my time to increase the voltage from 1.8 to 2.1 to go from 5-5-5-18 to 4-4-4-12?
Will tightening the timings give me much (any)of a performance boost for middle of the road use (not gaming or doing video editing on this machine)?


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## manic (Aug 2, 2005)

I dont mess with the latency timings unless I have to. But if the
ram is supposed to run at 2.1 volts, I make sure to set it to 2.1 volts
in bios. You may throw this post over the overclocking, I know you can
get better speeds by tweaking the latency, Im not the one to talk
to about that..


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