new RAM not recognized

I just installed 2GB (2x1GB) of RAM into my system which already has 2x1GB.
When I click system properties it says I have only 3.25GB of RAM.
Why wouldn't my system see all of it?

 

What is the chipset of the mainboard you have or the make and model?

Many of the Intel mainboards have a chipset limit on memory. The 945G chipset is limited at 3.25GB.

 

How I check the chipset? It is rated as 4GB max according to Dell, but where do I look?

THanks

 

Expand System Devices in the Device Manager. It usually identifies the chipset.

 

Not sure I'm looking at the correct thing.
I have a dual core Pentium D.

Two things which look like chipsets are listed:
Interl 945G and Intel 82801G

 

I think the 82801 is the onboard graphics chip. It seems to be on most Intel boards. The 945G is the identifier though. Your board accepts 4GB of RAM to allow it to run in dual channel mode but the chipset is only able to address up to 3.25GB.

 

So is it worth buying the 4 or just limit to 3.25 physical install?

 

With the 4GB installed by way of 4 1GB sticks you get 3.25GB. The alternative would be to have 2 x 1GB and 2 x 512MB sticks and have just 3GB. If you already have the 4 x 1GB installed, I would just leave it.

 

That was my original setup. But in order to maximum speed with my new install I bought the 2x1GB since my board supposedly could fit 4GB. It can, but only physically. Should I just return the new RAM and stick with th 3GB then? Does RAM ever "get old"? The 2x512MB were purchased with the system in 2006.

 

I didn't see anything about having 2 x 512 sticks.

Your current configuration gives you 3.25GB of RAM. If you return the new RAM, but they probably won't take it back once it's installed, you will be reducing your available RAM by 256MB.

The call is yours, I would leave it at the 3.25GB.

 

Guess I will just leave it. Kind of a sales scam on Dell's part, good thing I didn't spring for 4GB of their overpriced RAM when I got the system.

 

I haven't heard such a thing but maybe Intel will come out with a BIOS update that will allow the board to see the full 4GB in the future. I understand that the issue is addressing.

 

It's neither a chipset nor an Intel limitation, this occurs with any 32-bit operating system.

Depending on your hardware, especially gfx card(s) installed, you might be able to use anywhere between about 3.5 and 2.2GB of RAM (probably less if there are 2x gfx cards of 1GB or more).

http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2008/07/21/3092070.aspx

Go with the 4x1GB in dual channel mode, it'll be faster than 3GB single channel and .25GB more than 2x512 + 2x1GB

 

There is a deduction for the onboard graphics shared RAM but there is also a limit to the memory the 945G chipset can address. I have a Thinkpad (Win7 64bit) that has the same problem. I did a lot of research to discover it. I'll try to find the link to the info on the Intel site.

 

I've read to set my virtual memory page file to a fixed size about 1.5 times the physical memory. Do I reference the actual 4GB or the 3.25GB that the processor "sees?" Is this a good guideline?

 

1.5x RAM is just a guess from way back at how large to set the swapfile; the maximum you can have on a 32-bit system is 4092MB min and max anyway. How big it really needs to be is down to the way the computer behaves when it's under highest load. If you don't really stress out your PC by multitasking with many large programs, you could probably fix it to 1 or 2 GB. Running Dxdiag will give you the figure for the swapfile in use.

It's important to try to ensure that the fixed swapfile is in one contiguous part, use Pagedefrag for this. It should always be as close to the outer part of the disk as you can make it too, set it up as soon as Windows is installed or it gets very hard to move it

 

Most of the time things are fine, but I have one video editing program (Magix Movie Edit) which always seems to stress out the system. Would 4092 be a problem to leave all of the time? Is Dxdiag a program or a system tool - I can use that during video editing to examine the swapfile.

I set up the first partition (250 of 1TB total) of my new HD for XP and all applications. So it should automatically be on the outer part, or do I still need to run that application?

 

4092GB won't be a problem (though I've seen people write that larger swapfile sizes can be - I've yet to find any real evidence for that claim). Dxdiag is a system tool for checking DirectX, it's really a byproduct that it shows the amount of swapfile in use; to check the swapfile a second time, close and restart it, it's not a 'live view' tool.

Video editing can usually be improved by installing a discrete graphics card, only worth doing if it's a regular task for the PC though.

Use Pagedefrag just to ensure that the pagefile is in 1 piece (when you create or modify the size of it, file and free space fragmentation levels will decide where and how many pieces it's (re)created in).

 

I just installed an EVGA nVidia GT240 graphics card. Not high end, but it is an upgrade for my old system and can work with the 350W PSU.

I will use page defrag, but I first want to determine how many pagefiles is a good idea. I have my 1TB HD split into 3 logical drives (C for OS and applications, D for Data, E for backup). I was thinking of putting a 4092 min/max on C and D. Is this a good or bad idea? Should I put it on E too or is that overkill? Or better to make it 2GB but put a second one on D and/or E?

 

Don't put a swapfile on any partition other than the first one on any physical drive. The data access will be faster.

How much RAM does Windows see with the GT240 installed?

 

I got that second pagefile idea from this page (part B):
http://tweakhound.com/xp/xptweaks/supertweaks5.htm
Not good advice?

The GT240 512MB is installed and I am seeing the 3.25GB out of 4GB.
I've done enough googling since you told me about it that I guess it seems there is no way around it...

 

From part B of the Tweakhound guide:

(my bold)

So 1 swapfile per hard drive (if needed), and on the first partition on the drive. Got it now?

So that gives you an effective 7.25GB of memory (physical + virtual). That should be enough until you've saved enough for a full upgrade to a 64bit rig with 6GB + of RAM .

 

So like this?

DISK 1 (using my new 1TB HD)
partition 1 (C): OS and Applications and swapfile (default)
partition 2 (D): Data and My Documents and Print Spool Folder
partition 3 (E): Duplicate backup of data on same disk

DISK 2 (using my old 160GB HD)
single partition: second swapfile #2 and backup of all data

And I can set each swapfile to be 4092 min/max?

I am not dependent on the old HD but may as well put it to use as a backup for my backup and a second swapfile. If that HD suddenly fails, will it crash the system? I can always take it out and change settings, yes?

 

Better would be 2 partitions on the 2nd drive, #1 at 4.5GB for swap only, #2 for data/backup, you could set both pagefiles to 4092, though for 97% of people, that would seem overkill.

If the 2nd drive does fail, it probably won't crash the system unless Windows is accessing something from it (like data to/from the swapfile). I'd really prefer you just to connect it say, monthly, just to save your data to.

 

Sorry for the delay in getting back here guys. I haven't had the time to review all the documentation on the Intel site regarding the memory limits yet but a brief search explained that the 945G chipset uses a 32bit addressing scheme that can not be changed. The chipset does not allow memory remapping. It supports a 64bit processor but will still address memory in 32bit mode. With the automatic reservation of memory for PCI and various other resources, the board will show typically somewhere between 3.0GB and 3.35GB of RAM with a 32bit or 64bit operating system depending on the resources available on the board. This all seems to be unique to the 945G chipset.

If anyone has a solution to this, I would really like to find it. My ThinkPad is limited to 3.0GB.

 

So all the references to second page files is really for high performance users? No system performance advantage?

I will just use my old drive as backup for my backup. Since it is an internal drive, will it slow down system performance to leave this SATA drive connected all of the time?

 

The only performance advantage would be when Windows uses the swapfile from the second hard drive - if the hard drives are close to the same speed. This is primarily because there are normally Windows background tasks (logging and housekeeping etc.) running much of the time on the System drive, and the 2nd drive would access the data a little faster.

So, if you had 2 drives of equal speed, setting the only swapfile to the 2nd drive (first partition) may give a slight performance boost over having 2 swapfiles or a single swapfile on the System drive. Would the boost be noticeable? Probably only with a stopwatch.

Using 2 swapfiles would give you more scope to run heavy background software, perhaps leading to greater productivity if the PC has tasks to run that are 'set and forget'. It's a very rare scenario.