3.96 usable memory?

[Roy Smith]

If you have 7.87GB available, you are clearly running 64-bit Windows
7. The OP didn't say, but he may be running 32-bit (although 3.96GB is
a very high number for 32-bit Windows 7).

Yes I am running the 64-bit version of Windows 7. Though the thing is
if the OP had bought this PC and hasn't modified it in any way, then
would Dell sell it in it's current configuration with a 32-bit OS
knowing that it would require a 64-bit OS to use all the memory?


--

Roy Smith
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Thunderbird 5.0
Sunday, July 31, 2011 2:25:27 PM

 

[Ken Blake]

Yes I am running the 64-bit version of Windows 7. Though the thing is
if the OP had bought this PC and hasn't modified it in any way, then
would Dell sell it in it's current configuration with a 32-bit OS
knowing that it would require a 64-bit OS to use all the memory?

That's a good point, and you're probably right. Again, with 3.96GB
usable, 32-bit Windows didn't seem possible, but I mentioned it just
for him to be sure.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

That's a good point, and you're probably right. Again, with 3.96GB
usable, 32-bit Windows didn't seem possible, but I mentioned it just
for him to be sure.

The 3.96GB sounds like what you should expect to see from a 64-bit OS
running with 4.00GB of RAM. I ran with 4GB for awhile on both 64-bit
Linux and Windows 7, and that's the amount I used to see. The 0.04GB was
probably just some reserved memory. So it looks like this system is only
really seeing 4GB of RAM for use.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Bob I]

The OP has subsequently said it's 64-bit W7 Ultimate.

Yousuf Khan

Perhaps OP could look at this bit.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978610

 

[Paul]

Perhaps OP could look at this bit.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978610

Agreed, but the thing is, the "3.96GB" value is telling us
something. The "usual" limit, such as the 3.5GB value in that
KB article, is due to some allocation being set aside for
system busses. It's obvious, that 3.96GB makes no such allocation,
and there is a tiny reserved amount for something else.

If it was "memory license induced", we'd see 3.0GB, 3.5GB and
some other canonical values. 3.96GB is not one of those
values. And that's why I'd be looking at /maxmem instead.

Paul

 

[Unk]

Hi Guys,

I just caught this over on a customer's Windows 7 Home edition
in Control Panel, System:

Installed memory (RAM) 8.00 GB (3.96 usable)

What is "usable" all about?

Many thanks,
-T

1 good Stick of 4 GB less video sharing, and 1 BAD stick of 4 GB??

Goldmemory Test
http://www.goldmemory.cz/

Hiren's BootCD (Bootable, and has memory testers available)
http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

Microsoft WinDiag
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

MemTest
http://hcidesign.com/memtest/
www.memtest.org

Unk

 

[Todd]

Sorry, that does NOT compute; if the customer is affected by downtime,

I did say that. They would have a bad time with the downtime.

and he really need more than 3 GB of RAM,

I did *not* say that. They are using only about two GB at the worst.
The customer is working just fine.

he/she should never had gottena cheap computer.

I concur

You get what you pay for, do not come here whining about it.

Who was whining? The customer does not even know she has
a problem. She is working just fine.

Unless there is a MAXMEM statement, or a bad contact on the SIMMS,
obsolete BIOS, bad config, the MBO is bad, and need to be replaced.

If I wanted to be a purist, I'd have Dell replace the whole
stinkin' thing. But, the customers is not affected by the problem
so it is better to leave well enough alone. (Their way of
thinking is to just go to Wal Mart and buy another $400
abomination if this one fails. Problem solved.)

Vic, maybe you misread me. I was asking if anyone knew what was
going on. I was not really looking for a fix, although I did
very much appreciate those that were offered. And, I did get
an extraordinary answer that explained everything:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19328089.aspx

Thank you for your input,
-T

 

[Paul]

I did say that. They would have a bad time with the downtime.


I did *not* say that. They are using only about two GB at the worst.
The customer is working just fine.



I concur


Who was whining? The customer does not even know she has
a problem. She is working just fine.


If I wanted to be a purist, I'd have Dell replace the whole
stinkin' thing. But, the customers is not affected by the problem
so it is better to leave well enough alone. (Their way of
thinking is to just go to Wal Mart and buy another $400
abomination if this one fails. Problem solved.)

Vic, maybe you misread me. I was asking if anyone knew what was
going on. I was not really looking for a fix, although I did
very much appreciate those that were offered. And, I did get
an extraordinary answer that explained everything:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19328089.aspx

Thank you for your input,
-T

Hmmm. So after looking at this for a while, it *seems* the
installed quantity shown here, is either coming from DMI
or from the SPD on each DIMM. This is an example of someone
else, with a DIMM not making contact.

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/6581/wtfn.png

The weirdest one, was a system with 6GB installed and 3GB
reported working, which suggests a channel wasn't making
contact (meaning, the CPU needed to be re-seated).

That's something to keep in mind I guess, that the installed
is just the sum total of the nominal capacity (SPD value), versus
something the BIOS has tested.

If you booted that Studio XPS 8100 then, it would probably
say "4GB" while the BIOS screen was showing. Then, in resmon
in Windows 7, it would show a huge "hardware reserved" and
"8GB" installed.

The end result is, it just makes resmon, that much less useful
for debugging. That "hardware reserved" can come from more
than one source.

Paul

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

Vic, maybe you misread me. I was asking if anyone knew what was
going on. I was not really looking for a fix, although I did
very much appreciate those that were offered. And, I did get
an extraordinary answer that explained everything:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19328089.aspx

Thank you for your input,
-T
[/QUOTE]
Hm. When I read that thread, I see Dell just replaced it with one that
reported 8G in all places - no actual explanation of why the earlier
system hadn't been doing so. (The thread then wanders off into
discussing McAfee.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Our sun is one of 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of the
billions of galaxies populating the universe. It would be the height of
presumption to think that we are the only living things within that enormous
immensity. -Wernher von Braun, rocket engineer (1912-1977)

 

[Twayne]

In

Yeah, but did you notice how much ram was installed? The
OP's pc had 8 GB, but yet only 3.96 is usable? I have 8
GB on my system and have 7.87 GB available for Windows to
use. So where did he lose over 4 GB of ram?

Yes, I did notice, but without knowing a lot more things it'd turn into a
circle-hop to see if it was credible information or not - many things could
account for all that RAM being used, including but not limited to VMs and
other things that might be hooked in.
I have an 8 Gig laptop win 7 laptop next to me here, just cold booted,
and it shows in the order of 3.16 Gig free with 3841 Gig available, 980
cached. Commiit is at 2 Gig, 29905 handles, 1205 threads, 101 processes, all
but 2 of 8 (i 7 processors) working, idling at about 10%. Those are each
pretty well level-loaded also. Of those, there will be firewall, AV, VPro,
networking and several other tasks in the background. Right now it's showing
me as the only user signed on, all else is idle except normal background
tasking and scanning.

Actually I'd say your numbers are a bit low unless you only use the machinie
for surfing and mail and haven't much else running. Like I said, windows
tries to utilize as much memory as possible, in order to give the appearance
of being faster than it is. My prefetch is probably larger than the average
bear too because I have some heavy number-crunching apps.

In addition, different RAM analyzers can come up with vastly different
results, too as they get more and more detailed with win 7. In particular,
they need to know about win 7.

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[Twayne]

In

Perhaps OP could look at this bit.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978610

Good reference; thanks.

An observation: Readers shouldn't expect "live" readouts to be constant -
they will vary over short periods of time as you watch them. It's normal.

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[Char Jackson]

In Roy Smith <[email protected]> typed:

Yes, I did notice, but without knowing a lot more things it'd turn into a
circle-hop to see if it was credible information or not - many things could
account for all that RAM being used, including but not limited to VMs and
other things that might be hooked in.

Usable memory is a static (calculated) value, in the same way that
installed memory is a static value. The amount of usable memory
doesn't change as a result of applications being loaded.

 

[Twayne]

In

Usable memory is a static (calculated) value, in the same
way that installed memory is a static value. The amount
of usable memory doesn't change as a result of
applications being loaded.

Uhh, I don't think "usable memory" is the same as "installed memory";
they're two differenht things and usable memory in fact will change while
you watch it. It might clear things up a lot to read some definitions of the
various types of memory and which apply solely to RAM and/or RAM and the
pagefile and so on.

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[Seth]

In

Uhh, I don't think "usable memory" is the same as "installed memory";
they're two differenht things and usable memory in fact will change while
you watch it. It might clear things up a lot to read some definitions of
the various types of memory and which apply solely to RAM and/or RAM and
the pagefile and so on.

Usable memory doesn't change. You're thinking of Available memory. That
fluctuates constantly. Useable memory is the value shown when you right
click the "Computer" icon and choose properties. it is inside parenthesis
right next to the installed memory value. My latest machine just setup this
morning (Dell Latitude E6420 with Windows 7 Enterprise x64) is sitting at
Installed 4.00GB (3.88GB usable). Those numbers won't change until I put
more memory in (next week). But the number that changes often is "available
memory", as seen on the Performance tab of Task Manager.

 

[Char Jackson]

In

Uhh, I don't think "usable memory" is the same as "installed memory";

No one said they were the same thing.

they're two differenht things and usable memory in fact will change while
you watch it.

As Seth pointed out, you're thinking of Available memory, which does
fluctuate continuously. "Installed" and "Usable" memory are static
values that don't change until you physically add or remove memory
from the system.

It might clear things up a lot to read some definitions of the
various types of memory and which apply solely to RAM and/or RAM and the
pagefile and so on.

Indeed. ;-)

 

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

No one said they were the same thing.


As Seth pointed out, you're thinking of Available memory, which does
fluctuate continuously. "Installed" and "Usable" memory are static
values that don't change until you physically add or remove memory
from the system.


Indeed. ;-)

Heh!

 

[Ed Cryer]

No one said they were the same thing.


As Seth pointed out, you're thinking of Available memory, which does
fluctuate continuously. "Installed" and "Usable" memory are static
values that don't change until you physically add or remove memory
from the system.


Indeed. ;-)

Usable memory can be affected by an integrated graphics card.
You'll often see things like this;
Installed Memory 3.00 GB (2.75 GB usable).
In other words, 250 MB is dedicated to graphics. And that amount can be
modified in the BIOS settings.

Ed

 

[Char Jackson]

Usable memory can be affected by an integrated graphics card.
You'll often see things like this;
Installed Memory 3.00 GB (2.75 GB usable).
In other words, 250 MB is dedicated to graphics. And that amount can be
modified in the BIOS settings.

Ed

And? The claim earlier in the thread was that Usable memory fluctuates
as programs are launched. Available memory fluctuates, but Usable (and
Installed) are not affected by launching programs.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Usable memory doesn't change. You're thinking of Available memory. That
fluctuates constantly. Useable memory is the value shown when you right
click the "Computer" icon and choose properties. it is inside parenthesis
right next to the installed memory value.

Funny thing. On my computer I only see installed memory, nothing in
parentheses after.

I guess that means that the two numbers are the same on this computer
(4.00GB, if anyone cares). Win 7 Pro 64-bit.

 

[Char Jackson]

Funny thing. On my computer I only see installed memory, nothing in
parentheses after.

I guess that means that the two numbers are the same on this computer
(4.00GB, if anyone cares). Win 7 Pro 64-bit.

Mine is Win 7 Ultimate 32bit. "4.00 GB installed (3.25 Usable)".