RAM question

Hope I am in the right place for this question...
Where did my Ram go????
My computer is supposed to be 512MB of ram but when I look at the System Properties it says 480MB of Ram.
System Properties information is:
eMachine W2785
AMD Athlon(tm)XP 2700+
2.16GHz 480 mb of RAM

On the front of the tower on a sticker it says that it is 512MB of RAM where is the rest of my RAM??

I have 2 computers and my other computer is an HP and I checked the system properties for that one and it does show the correct MB of ram in that computer (512MB).

 

Maybe it is shared with the video? Does that thing have onboard video?

 

Quick reasearch shows some sites quote 32mb video. Emachines says "VIA S3 UniChrome™ 3D Graphics (1 AGP 8x slot available)"
so guessing 480 + 32....

 

Whats onboard video??
How do I pinpoint what it is shared with if it is shared with anything??
I am running WinXP Home Edition SP2
My machine came with Power DVD preinstalled.

 

I do show a S3 graphics when I do a search for it.
I would like to know how to be able to see where all my MB of Ram is going if possible.

One other thing on the front of my tower it says 512 MB DDR for optimized performance. What does DDR mean???
Thanks for all the help..

 

DDR SDRAM (double data rate SDRAM) is synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM) that can theoretically improve memory clock speed to at least 200 MHz*. It activates output on both the rising and falling edge of the system clock rather than on just the rising edge, potentially doubling output. It's expected that a number of Socket 7 chipset makers will support this form of SDRAM.
*Synchronous DRAM speed is measured in MHz rather than nanoseconds. You can convert the RAM clock speed to nanoseconds by dividing the chip speed into 1 billion ns (which is one second). For example, an 83 MHz RAM would be equivalent to 12 ns

During boot, enter BIOS and see if the is a setting for legacy video (i think thats how most bios call it) and it may have the amount that the motherboard sets aside for video.

How to tell: Part Duex - Turn the PC around & look at the back - is the video connector gathered with 'all' the other ports? (in a tower it would be vertical)
Or is the video connector horizontal, on the 'bottom' half of the pc? (where the slots are)

Start> Run > type in DXDIAG <enter>
Hit <NO>
3rd tab Display shows how many MB are in Video Ram.

But 480 + 32 adds up to your 512.

 

hehe that's good

 

foogoo
Thanks I fully understand now where the rest of the MB is at.. kind of just freaked me out at first to see that I am supposed to have 512MB but the system properties only showed 480MB.. Thanks again...

Why is a preinstalled PowerDVD good? I admit I don't use it so am not fully aware of its strengths, weaknesses, or what it is fully capable of doing..

 

your welcome. also if that machine does indeed have an agp slot, you could install a video card & possibly disable onboard video & get all your ram back. something to look into...