Windows 7 Ultimate x64 - Installed memory 4GB (3GB usable)

Anonymous
2009-11-05T13:43:36+00:00

I have installed Windows 7 Ultimate x64. In System Properties, Windows tells me I have 4Gb RAM but only 3Gb is usable, displayed in the following format:

Installed memory (RAM): 4.00 GB (3.00 GB usable)

Previous to this installation, I had Vista Ultimate x64 installed and that always showed 4GB and all of it was usuable. What is it about Windows 7 that has changed this? If this is indeed a problem caused by BIOS settings, I have not altered them in any way so does this mean that Windows 7 changes the BIOS settings at the point of install?

I do not believe this to be related to some memory being allocated to my Graphics Card, it already has 512MB of dedicated memory. Why would Windows 7 assign it another 1GB of RAM, giving me a total of 1.5GB graphics memory? As I said, this was NEVER a problem on Vista Ultimate x64.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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Anonymous
2009-11-16T03:11:56+00:00

Hello AshK86,

Thank you for posting on Microsoft Answers Forums.

Can you list what model motherboard, processor and graphics card you are using?  The “Hardware or BIOS reserved” is pointing towards the type of motherboard you have.  I know you said you didn’t see this with Vista, but let’s make sure we rule it out just in case.

Regards,


Edgar

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-02-25T02:24:58+00:00

    If you are already running a 64-bit os, you can just go to msconfig, boot, advance options and uncheck maximum memory, your problem is solved.

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-02-19T17:06:38+00:00

    I was having such an issue but I found it was my graphics card eating up the 1 gb of shared memory....

    Windows 7 Usable memory less than installed memory

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-02-17T18:36:00+00:00

    ok same issue, have tryed all above and finely went in to bios and enabeld remaping.

    Installed Physical Memory (RAM)             4.00 GB

    Total Physical Memory  4.00 GB

    Available Physical Memory          3.35 GB

    Total Virtual Memory     8.00 GB

    Available Virtual Memory             7.30 GB

    Page File Space 4.00 GB

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-02-05T20:43:18+00:00

    I am so relieved to find this thread.  I have been trying to customize google searches to narrow down this issue for 2 days.

    My issue:

    IBUYPOWER laptop (6GB RAM -- 1 GB 280GTXM)

    Installed windows after sending in for repair (4GB usable -- 1 GB + 2GB Shared 280GTXM).

    Now my RAM is the bottleneck and making my games stuttery.  I will try these fixes listed on the page tonight.  I have verified my BIOS does not have dedicated memory mapper/manager, and that OOOOOOLD SCHOOL "AGP APERTURE" idea hasnt been relevant in about 9 years.

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