Why is it showing that I have 6 GB of RAM but only 4 GB usable?

[Sakdichote Totiam]

In System Information it shows that I have 64-bit Operating System. Why is it showing only 4 GB of RAM is usable, out of 6 GB available? And how to enable it to fully use the whole 8 GB, please? Because I had in stalled 8 GB of RAM to this machine. Thanks in advance!

There is this conflicting idea to take into account, too. I navigated to support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/827218 and the auto detect tells that I have 32-bit OS.
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However, when I went to check by myself, by right-clicking on 'This Computer' icon and selecting Properties. Under system, it says that I have x64 based processor, and 64-bit OS installed. Here, you can also see that I have highlighted that there's 6 GB of RAM available, but only 4 GB usable—this is the main problem to which I am seeking help to resolve.
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And this here is a snipped screenshot from 'System Information, well, it also says here that I have 64-bit version of the OS.
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One more thing, though. This 'Windows.old' folder, which appeared after I reset the PC via Setting > Update & Security > Recovery > Reset this PC > Get Started, is taking up 15.9 GB of space. Can I delete this folder without jeopardising the system?
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[boss126]

Onboard video using the other 2gb ?

 

[Sakdichote Totiam]

Onboard video using the other 2gb ?

Nope, I have NVIDIA GeForce GT 630, which holds 2048 MB (2 GB) of memory in itself, for that matter. But thank you, since you reminded me of it, I have updated the display adapter's driver to its latest version. However, that didn't solve the problem. Thank you again for trying.

 

[pankaj981]

Save your Windows 10 key using any key finder program and perform a clean install (if possible).

 

[Sakdichote Totiam]

Save your Windows 10 key using any key finder program and perform a clean install (if possible).

Ultimately, I'd like that to be the last option—if there is any other.

 

[pankaj981]

Have you tried updating the chipset drivers?

 

[nycny]

In System Information it shows that I have 64-bit Operating System. Why is it showing only 4 GB of RAM is usable, out of 6 GB available? And how to enable it to fully use the whole 6 GB, please? Thanks in advance!

There is this conflicting idea to take into account, too. I navigated to support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/827218 and the auto detect tells that I have 32-bit OS.
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View attachment 112579
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However, when I went to check by myself, by right-clicking on 'This Computer' icon and selecting Properties. Under system, it says that I have x64 based processor, and 64-bit OS installed. Here, you can also see that I have highlighted that there's 6 GB of RAM available, but only 4 GB usable?this is the main problem I am seeking help to resolve.
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View attachment 112580
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And this here is a snipped screenshot from 'System Information, well, it also says here that I have 64-bit version of the OS.
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View attachment 112581
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One more thing, though. This 'Windows.old' folder, which appeared after I reset the PC via Setting > Update & Security > Recovery > Reset this PC > Get Started, is taking up 15.9 GB of space. Can I delete this folder without jeopardising the system?
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View attachment 112582
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Windows 32 bit only supports up to 4G ram.

 

[pankaj981]

Windows 32 bit only supports up to 4G ram.

You quoted his post without reading it?

 

[Zulfigar]

Nope, I have NVIDIA GeForce GT 630, which holds 2048 MB (2 GB) of memory in itself, for that matter. But thank you, since you reminded me of it, I have updated the display adapter's driver to its latest version. However, that didn't solve the problem. Thank you again for trying.

Back to this though actually, do you have an onboard GPU that you might want to deactivate as it's using 2GB of your 6 GB of ram? Another option, which costs a bit, is go out and get 8 GB and see if it uses 6 GB out of 8 GB, or does 4 out of 8 (if it is 4 usable out of 8, then you might actually have a 32-bit OS installed).

 

[illegaloperation]

Check for bent pins on the processor.

If some of the pins are bent, not all of the RAM can be accessed.

 

[pankaj981]

Check for bent pins on the processor.

If some of the pins are bent, not all of the RAM can be accessed.

How does bent pins on the processor slot affect RAM? Jeez

 

[pankaj981]

It's like having a faulty connection. If it's not connected or doesn't completely stay with circuits touching, it can cause the hardware to malfunction. It's like having damage to a charging port, the phone won't charge if there is the slightest disconnect in hardware points.


Sent from my iPad Mini 3 using Tapatalk.

I get that. Come on! Processor slot is not the same as memory slots! A bent processor pin will prevent your bios from even booting.

 

[Sakdichote Totiam]

Have you tried updating the chipset drivers?

Gonna try it now.

Back to this though actually, do you have an onboard GPU that you might want to deactivate as it's using 2GB of your 6 GB of ram? Another option, which costs a bit, is go out and get 8 GB and see if it uses 6 GB out of 8 GB, or does 4 out of 8 (if it is 4 usable out of 8, then you might actually have a 32-bit OS installed).

I'll find a way to try this, thanks!

Check for bent pins on the processor.

If some of the pins are bent, not all of the RAM can be accessed.

I highly doubt that because, aside from what pankaj981 said in the reply above, I have never removed the processor from its respective socket since the day I built this PC.

 

[Tony Clegg]

Another suggestion would be if you have downloaded Win 10 is if you have an alternative HDD to try, install 64 bit Win 10 and see what it reports for memory. This way you haven't lost anything and can always revert back and maybe do a new install on your existing hard drive if the problem goes away.

 

[Daniel Gilbert M]

I have NVIDIA GeForce GT 630, which holds 2048 MB (2 GB) of memory in itself

Even if your Graphics card has dedicated memory, the onboard graphics chip (APU) will reserve memory.

In your case I see you are using an APU chipset. the CPU and GPU are on the same chipset.

The only way to get your full 6GB ram is to disable the on-board graphics from your BIOS settings.

I have on-board graphics which reserves maximum 512mb of space from ram.(You can adjust how much it takes from the ram in bios settings)

My graphics card has dedicated 1gb memory and the on-board gets disabled while the external graphics card gets plugged in.
But still the on-board will take up the reserved memory.

So if i have 4GB of ram and that internal graphics is not disabled, I'll get only 3.5GB usable.

APU and on-board graphics have only 1 difference.

In APU, the GPU chip is embedded with the CPU.
In traditional on-board graphics, the GPU is on the motherboard.

Both reserve memory from ram to work and you can adjust what it reserves or completely disable it in case you have a more powerful external graphics card.

The on-board gets disabled automatically once the external graphics card is plugged in (Unless its in hybrid mode or crossfire mode, which in this case is not possible because NVIDIA and AMD).

Even if it gets disabled the reserved memory will still be taken and you have to disable it from inside the BIOS.

Another situation is that the dedicated graphics card is sharing system memory, in that case you can do nothing about it. It is automatically configured by windows.

I am pretty sure your mobo and BIOS interface will be different, but still I'm posting these pics for you to find something similar easily.

 

[Aziz Abdurachman]

I have NVIDIA GeForce GT 630, which holds 2048 MB (2 GB)

Is it on-board or PCI card? If it's on-board I think your GT 630 use your RAM for it.

 

[travis_valkyrie]

Some javascript elements on that site doesn't work on Edge, but if you try it on IE it will detect the correct OS type. It's an Edge problem.

As for the usable RAM issue, again like others said some of it may be allocated to integrated video memory, which you can disable in the BIOS or set a lower allocation. Another issue could be that your motherboard OEM has not set Memory Mapping option enabled (very common in first releases BIOS), see if you could find this option in the BIOS. Also update your BIOS to the latest firmware possible, sometimes it adds options that aren't there before.

Oh and for the Windows.old folder, that's just your previous Windows version before you upgraded to Windows 10 so it will allow you to roll back to that version if you wanted to. If you delete this folder it'll obviously delete that backup, and there's a proper way of deleting it via Disk Cleanup > Clean up system files.

 

[Daniel Gilbert M]

I have NVIDIA GeForce GT 630, which holds 2048 MB (2 GB) of memory in itself.

Also could you post a screenshot of the window you get when

right click on desktop
display settings
advanced display settings
display adapter properties

 

[Sakdichote Totiam]

I'd quote Daniel Gilbert M but that'd be too lengthy, thus I'll just write my reply without quotation instead.
With your explanations and instructions above I think I have hopes now that this method will fix it, thank you for the time you dedicated helping others. Much obliged.

Is it on-board or PCI card? If it's on-board I think your GT 630 use your RAM for it.

No, it's not on-board. It's external, but it can still use my RAM, right? I'll check BIOS after posting this reply.

Some javascript elements on that site doesn't work on Edge, but if you try it on IE it will detect the correct OS type. It's an Edge problem.

As for the usable RAM issue, again like others said some of it may be allocated to integrated video memory, which you can disable in the BIOS or set a lower allocation. Another issue could be that your motherboard OEM has not set Memory Mapping option enabled (very common in first releases BIOS), see if you could find this option in the BIOS. Also update your BIOS to the latest firmware possible, sometimes it adds options that aren't there before.

Oh and for the Windows.old folder, that's just your previous Windows version before you upgraded to Windows 10 so it will allow you to roll back to that version if you wanted to. If you delete this folder it'll obviously delete that backup, and there's a proper way of deleting it via Disk Cleanup > Clean up system files.

Now it makes sense, I just tried using IE and the site detects that I'm using 64-bit OS.
Here's the screenshot.

And thanks for the peace of mind on that Windows.old folder matter, also thanks for the proper way suggestion, much obliged!

 

[Sakdichote Totiam]

Also could you post a screenshot of the window you get when

right click on desktop
display settings
advanced display settings
display adapter properties

I hope this'll suffice. If you require more information for diagnosis, please tell.