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.

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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
    2009-12-22T19:42:43+00:00

    On my Bios the option is called AGP Aperture. Current set at 128mb which is recommended by most mfgs.

    I have PCI Express Video Card.

    What about Bustmaster and allocate IRQ to VGA??? These have any relevance?

    Is it not possible to hear a engineer's explanation on this. Why do they need Virtual memory of 6gb? And why all this memory sharing?  The card has 256mb on board.

    Another thing....

    ANYONE have an intel core 2 duo and yet you see AMD64 listed in various spots of the operating system?

    Muxster

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  2. Anonymous
    2009-12-22T18:06:04+00:00

    If your graphics card is showing as sharing memory that is pretty much the reason Windows shows only 3GB usable.

    What you need to do is to go in the BIOS (options/menu may changes based on the BIOS/Motherboard vendor)

    Inside one of the shipset options look for "Frame Buffer size" or "video buffer size" or something similar.

    It should have an option to choose values ranging from 64MB to 1GB to set aside as your shared memory.

    Drop it down to a lower value or disable the shared memory if you have a seperate graphics adapter.

    MaxSumesh

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  3. Anonymous
    2009-12-22T14:43:14+00:00

    Andre, the mainboard is the HP 30C1 KBC Version 68.32

    Intel Chipset GM965

    Southbridge 82801HBM (ICH8-M)

    It does not have the memory remapping feature in BIOS.

    DaveC

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  4. Anonymous
    2009-12-22T06:54:08+00:00

    K, I found a solution... weird though...

    I was using MSCONFIG to make sure windows started with all four cpu cores (i.e. msconfig / Boot / Advanced Options / number of processors).

    I guess I also selected use max memory option as well.

    In windows Resource Monitor 1026 MB was set aside for "Hardware Reserved"

    I unselected the "use max memory" and now Win7 reports the full memory and the Hardware Reserved dropped to zero.

    Hope it helps someone else.

    This did not work for me.

    I have raised this issue with the company I purchased my PC from. They were unable to help me but have contacted Acer on my behalf. I was told on 10 Dec that they would reply within a few days. As of now 22 Dec 09 I have had no contact from them.

    See more at http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7hardware/thread/7c00de9d-d584-445b-93d4-934e94608544

    Out of interest why should unticking use max memory work? Logically to me I should be ticking it.  (Which I have tried numerous times too)

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