Windows 7 64bit and 4 gigs ram.

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demon angel

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Hi guys.
I am so ticked off with my system.
I installed my 4th gig of ram today and i noticed firstly that the bios picks up 3.125 gigs from the original 3 gigs.
I boot into windows 7 and and check the specs and it tells me that 3gb of 3.5 gigs are usable.
The app CPUZ shows that my pc does indeed have 4gigs of ram installed.
I have a Biostar 945p-a7a mobo and have googled this problem and my problem would occur if i was using a 32 bit os.
I am using a 64bit os and have updated the bios, set the ram in msconfig and cannot find a setting within my bios that would shed light into this problem.
I also retested my pc with windows experience index and since i added the extra gig i still get a 5.9 rating.
My machine is getting on abit and am only going to upgrade the pc to i7 next year.
Is there anything i have missed?:confused:

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
Why you get a better rating though?

More memory won't really speed your pc up unless it you are using more than you have :D. what cpu you got?
 
killadoob said:
Why you get a better rating though?

More memory won't really speed your pc up unless it you are using more than you have :D. what cpu you got?
Click to expand...
I went from 5.4 to 5.9, jumping from 2gigs to 3gigs.
So i was expecting to get out of the 5 range with 4 gigs.
Since a 32bit os only uses a maximium of 3.5gigs i figured i would use the 64bit version and then i could go beyond 3.5 and use my 4gigs.
I have an aged E6600 Core2duo cpu.*blushes*
 
I agree with killa here, 90% of the time its your SATA HDD that limits your total score to 5.9. My systems 2nd lowest score is 7.3, I get 5.9 on my HDD. As for your particular problem, check that all the memory modules are the same brand and timings. If you are using matched pairs its better, unmatched can cause problems. Also are they all the same speed? Remember that cross matching speeds will cause issue too. Maybe the older ram is not the same speed as the newer?

My guess here is you probably have a 667 ram module in there somewhere, and the rest are 800, or you have one 800 and the rest are 1066? Probably explains your slight improvement on the index rating. What is your current lowest score anyway? Ram or HDD?

Also noted your remark on setting your ram? Its similar to OverClocking, well actually its the same thing. You have to basically set your multipliers and timing withing the bios, sometimes its hidden. Can't recall now what keypress to push, that unhides the menu.
 
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demon angel said:
set the ram in msconfig
Click to expand...
eh? What on earth does msconfig have to do with how much ram is detected? Messing with msconfig is likely to cause more problems than resolve problems. Its a troubleshooting tool, not a config tool despite the name.

Anyway, rubbish mobo/bios is likely to be the cause. Check for a setting that decides whether OS or bios does the detecting hardware. Can't remember the name...some stupid acronym. Switch it to OS.

If its not the mobo/bios then you are reading the taskmanager stats wrong. Chances of cpu-z showing more installed than taskmanager are very low because since vista sp2 installed includes everything even if it not addressable.

You've got a 512mb gfx right?

If you don't get it sorted shout at biostar.
 
IRG said:
I agree with killa here, 90% of the time its your SATA HDD that limits your total score to 5.9. My systems 2nd lowest score is 7.3, I get 5.9 on my HDD. As for your particular problem, check that all the memory modules are the same brand and timings. If you are using matched pairs its better, unmatched can cause problems. Also are they all the same speed? Remember that cross matching speeds will cause issue too. Maybe the older ram is not the same speed as the newer?

My guess here is you probably have a 667 ram module in there somewhere, and the rest are 800, or you have one 800 and the rest are 1066? Probably explains your slight improvement on the index rating. What is your currrent lowes score anyway? Ram or HDD?
Click to expand...

Thats the next thing i want to tackle, my current hdd is a sata 1 drive, which gives me a pathetic 5.4 rating.
I have now added a 1TB sata2 hdd with a 32mb cache into my collection and am planning to install to it to get a better rating.
As for the ram, they are all the exact same apacer modules.
Why would cpuz pick up 4gigs and not windows 7 64?
 
demon angel said:
Hi guys.
I am so ticked off with my system.
I installed my 4th gig of ram today and i noticed firstly that the bios picks up 3.125 gigs from the original 3 gigs.
I boot into windows 7 and and check the specs and it tells me that 3gb of 3.5 gigs are usable.
The app CPUZ shows that my pc does indeed have 4gigs of ram installed.
I have a Biostar 945p-a7a mobo and have googled this problem and my problem would occur if i was using a 32 bit os.
I am using a 64bit os and have updated the bios, set the ram in msconfig and cannot find a setting within my bios that would shed light into this problem.
I also retested my pc with windows experience index and since i added the extra gig i still get a 5.9 rating.
My machine is getting on abit and am only going to upgrade the pc to i7 next year.
Is there anything i have missed?:confused:

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

It's a memory hole. Your chipset can only address 4GB of RAM; this includes all RAM such as VGA, RAID controllers etc. Because the motherboard is using the upper 4GB address space to map devices, your OS cannot see or use it. It is similar to the 32bit OS problem, where the OS can only address 4GB - but now the limitation is on the chipset. Sorry :(
 
Ok, Ctrl + F1 in bios to un-hide extra menu settings. And as for better index rating on HDD... Only going to get better if you Raid and if you have faster drives like the Cheeta's or even better Solid State.
 
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HavocXphere said:
eh? What on earth does msconfig have to do with how much ram is detected? Messing with msconfig is likely to cause more problems than resolve problems. Its a troubleshooting tool, not a config tool despite the name.
Click to expand...

In windows 7 under msconfig, i had to manually set my core2duo to use both cores.
It was set to 1 by default.
Also under msconfig, windows 7 set my ram to 3gigs and i checked to box to get it to read the maximum which was now 3.587.
I love msconfig!
I do have a 512mb GFX card though, and did send an email to Biostar about my problem but as i read on internet forums, they take months to respond if at all.
 
Conradl said:
It's a memory hole. Your chipset can only address 4GB of RAM; this includes all RAM such as VGA, RAID controllers etc. Because the motherboard is using the upper 4GB address space to map devices, your OS cannot see or use it. It is similar to the 32bit OS problem, where the OS can only address 4GB - but now the limitation is on the chipset. Sorry :(
Click to expand...

I fear this too!
 
IRG said:
Ok, Ctrl + F1 in bios to un-hide extra menu settings. And as for better index rating on HDD... Only going to get better if you Raid and if you have faster drives like the Cheeta's or even better Solid State.
Click to expand...
IRG, this is my last hope!
Gonna reboot and see now.
 
Just googled your mobo, she be old!!! 533 / 667 support only and a max of 4gig :( I fear it is the mobo that is letting u down .... again... its old ;) I would not invest any more money on that rig! Save for bigger and better! I aslo fear you wont have any extra settings for the mobo in the bios. But good luck with it. I'm out here! get some Zzz's
 
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IRG said:
Just googled your mobo, she be old!!! 533 / 667 support only and a max of 4gig :( I fear it is the mobo that is letting u down .... again... its old ;) I would not invest any more money on that rig! Save for bigger and better!
Click to expand...

Yeah i just wanted to give the ol grandaddy abit more life before it goes to the dump.
That bios trick didn't work either.[Age related i guess]
BTW 3 years ago, the only thing i skimped on was this cheap a@@ mobo!
I really wasted money on this gig, i could have bought 4 blow up killer whales for the pool!;)
 
I don't think extra settings will help - you need a board that can see 8gigs, then you can use 7.5 - or one that can see 16gigs, then you can use 15.5....
 
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