Have 2 X 2 gig sticks for 4gig ram but vista32 only uses 2.3 gig.

I know that vista 32 bit will not use all of the 4 gig ram I have, but I thought it would use 3 gig of it. Anyone know why it's only using 2.3 gig of ram? I do have windows 7 64bit I'm going to install soon, but in the mean time I would like to know why it's just using the 2.3gig. Thanks

 

Do you have onboard video as that will use part of your RAM.

 

augiedoggie is right. Your onboard video is using part of your RAM.

 

I would expect 2x gaming graphics cards to have this kind of effect but not an onboard video chip.

Start > Run > dxdiag > can you post screenshots of the first and second tabs, please?

 

I do not have onboard video. I use 2 geforce 460 cards in sli.

 

I do not have onboard video. I use 2 geforce 460 cards in sli. I tried to paste a screen shot (done with snipping in vista) but I couldn't paste it into this post.
My dxdiag for system showed memory: 2302 MB Ram
My dxdiag for display1 showed total memory: 1888 MB (as did dxdiag display 2)

 

A screenie would help here I believe. Run CPU-Z and post the results.:confused

 

That explains it.

Mark Russinovich goes into great detail explaining this in his "Pushing the Limits of Windows" series, the following is a quote from him.

 

Well, that does explain it. I purchased windows 7 which I'm going to install when I get my new 10,000 rpm hard drive. That should take care of the problem since windows 7 is 64 bit. Thanks for the info.

One last thing. How would I get a copy of what cpu-z showed on to my post? I wasn't able to copy and paste.

 

Take a screenshot of the results screen (Print Screen button on your keyboard takes a snapshot of the current screen and saves it to the clipboard).

Then, paste it into MS Paint (or your favorite image editing software) and edit it down (trim out the rest of the screen if you want) and save it as a JPG.

 

The OP has Vista which has the 'Snipping Tool', much easier than taking a 'Print Screen' IMO.

 

Never used it, I'm stuck in old school... I guess it's time to change my habit with that.:major