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

[Daniel Gilbert M]

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

You have windows 10 right ??

I told you to
right click on desktop
display settings
advanced display settings
display adapter properties

you should get a window like this



instead you right-clicked properties to your GT-630 via device manager. They are not the same.
This shows more details

Do as follows

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

 

[Krystianpants]

Make sure memory remapping in bios is enabled.

And make sure you have 64 bit drivers installed for your motherboard components.

 

[Daniel Gilbert M]

View attachment 112668

I can see that the Internal Graphics is disabled.
Have you checked your BIOS yet to see if any memory is being reserved for internal graphics ?
Just disable the internal graphics from BIOS settings and boot the PC again and check RAM.

 

[Sakdichote Totiam]

I can see that the Internal Graphics is disabled.
Have you checked your BIOS yet to see if any memory is being reserved for internal graphics ?
Just disable the internal graphics from BIOS settings and boot the PC again and check RAM.

I went into BIOS settings but couldn't find anything similar to your instructional pictures.
Instead I found this.

Init Display First. It was set to PEG before so I changed it to PCI Slot. After a restart I checked RAM, still 4 GB usable. Should I revert it back to PEG?

 

[Daniel Gilbert M]

It was set to PEG before so I changed it to PCI Slot. After a restart I checked RAM, still 4 GB usable. Should I revert it back to PEG?

Change it back to PEG
Have you gone through all the menus and sub menus of your BIOS ? (not just advanced bios settings, all of them) and check if there is an option to disable internal graphics ?

 

[Sakdichote Totiam]

Change it back to PEG
Have you gone through all the menus and sub menus of your BIOS ? (not just advanced bios settings, all of them) and check if there is an option to disable internal graphics ?

Yes, I've gone through each and every one of them. Okay, back to PEG now.

 

[Daniel Gilbert M]

do not goto control panel and right click properties on 630

could you post a screenshot of the window you get when

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

you will get a window similar to this

 

[Sakdichote Totiam]

do not goto control panel and right click properties on 630

could you post a screenshot of the window you get when

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

you will get a window similar to this
View attachment 112685

It's the middle window, there. I posted it before, just saying.

 

[Sakdichote Totiam]

It should be in there right? Advanced BIOS Features, right? Well, I can't find it there, nor in Standard CMOS Features, nor in MB Intelligent Tweaker. PC Health Status has only temperature warning and fan settings, and Power Management Setup only has things like voltage settings, and whatnot.

 

[Daniel Gilbert M]

Ahh i didn't see the middle window before (seems like you edited and added it later)

Anyways I think the GT-630 is taking up an extra 2GB from your RAM (that setting is managed by the OS) making it a total of 4GB of graphics memory (shared + dedicated).

The video memory manager of Windows will give priority to putting things in dedicated video memory until you run out. After that it will use the shared memory. (this is decided by the OS).
The reason it is called 'shared memory' is that it is available to either (RAM or GPU) , when they need it.

I don't think you would be able to turn that off.


Yup it should have been there inside that menu (BIOS).

 

[Sakdichote Totiam]

Thank you, though.

 

[Krystianpants]

If it's a pci graphics card you want it set to PCI anyways. chances are the motherboard may still have an hdmi port for intel graphics, or amd graphics in your case. Since you do have a shared memory card that is definitely the issue. Now you can disable shared memory in bios if there's an option. If not you can type msconfig in run or cortana and then go to boot, advanced options and see if maximum memory is checked. Not sure if unchecking will solve the issue as bios would take priority likely, just an idea. Usually it's unchecked.

 

[pankaj981]

Anyways I think the GT-630 is taking up an extra 2GB from your RAM (that setting is managed by the OS) making it a total of 4GB of graphics memory (shared + dedicated).

This may not be completely right though the OS does reserve memory for other peripherals on the machine. A card that has 2GB dedicated memory won't consume 2GB of RAM memory from the OS. For example, I have a 1GB DDR3 GT520 on my desktop and even though the Direct X properties shows 1.6GB video memory, W10 System properties still shows 4GB available on a 4GB configuration. Another example would be the 3GB GTX670M on my MSI GT60, if I check the Direct X properties it shows about 5GB available for video but on W10 system properties, it does show 11.9GB available out of the total 12GB. 2GB memory consumption for a dedicated video card is kind of weird, not for on-board shared graphics though.

 

[neo158]

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.

That's exactly what happened with me on that site. OP I went to that same website in Edge and it showed the exact same thing for me, I have a 64-bit version of Windows 10 but that site shows it as 32-bit so I wouldn't worry. As others have said you need to disable the on board graphics in the UEFI/BIOS and that will give you the full 6GB of RAM.

The only other thing I can think of, I'm not saying you have done this, is that a PAE kernel hack has been applied to a 32-bit version of Windows 10 which may be the reason it thinks you have a 64-bit OS but only 4GB of usable memory.

 

[Krystianpants]

This may not be completely right though the OS does reserve memory for other peripherals on the machine. A card that has 2GB dedicated memory won't consume 2GB of RAM memory from the OS. For example, I have a 1GB DDR3 GT520 on my desktop and even though the Direct X properties shows 1.6GB video memory, W10 System properties still shows 4GB available on a 4GB configuration. Another example would be the 3GB GTX670M on my MSI GT60, if I check the Direct X properties it shows about 5GB available for video but on W10 system properties, it does show 11.9GB available out of the total 12GB. 2GB memory consumption for a dedicated video card is kind of weird, not for on-board shared graphics though.

It is highly dependent on configuration. In scenarios where an extra stick of ram is used outside of the dual DIMM configuration, it is likely because it was added for additional shared memory. Remember memory runs more efficiently if both slots are paired correctly in a grouping. But since extra ram is provided in a single slot configuration it is likely to do it. And msconfig lets you change it. You can either set the amount of memory used manually and then make sure the boot is still set to "normal" instead of selective, or uncheck the maximum memory, though this may set it back if it's left out. I had this happen on an old laptop.

 

[mijacs]

The NVIDIA control panel should tell you.
1. Open the NVIDIA control panel
2. Click on system information (lower left)
3. Scroll the details pane down to see the System video memory.
My desktop shows 0MB if you are curious.

 

[pankaj981]

It is highly dependent on configuration. In scenarios where an extra stick of ram is used outside of the dual DIMM configuration, it is likely because it was added for additional shared memory. Remember memory runs more efficiently if both slots are paired correctly in a grouping. But since extra ram is provided in a single slot configuration it is likely to do it. And msconfig lets you change it. You can either set the amount of memory used manually and then make sure the boot is still set to "normal" instead of selective, or uncheck the maximum memory, though this may set it back if it's left out. I had this happen on an old laptop.

Interesting, I didn't know the msconfig setting.

 

[Krystianpants]

Interesting, I didn't know the msconfig setting.

 

[Sakdichote Totiam]

If it's a pci graphics card you want it set to PCI anyways. chances are the motherboard may still have an hdmi port for intel graphics, or amd graphics in your case. Since you do have a shared memory card that is definitely the issue. Now you can disable shared memory in bios if there's an option. If not you can type msconfig in run or cortana and then go to boot, advanced options and see if maximum memory is checked. Not sure if unchecking will solve the issue as bios would take priority likely, just an idea. Usually it's unchecked.

It is unchecked. The problem still persists.

You can either set the amount of memory used manually and then make sure the boot is still set to "normal" instead of selective, or uncheck the maximum memory, though this may set it back if it's left out. I had this happen on an old laptop.

It was set to selective, I'm changing it to normal now. *Update: just did that, nothing changed.

The NVIDIA control panel should tell you.
1. Open the NVIDIA control panel
2. Click on system information (lower left)
3. Scroll the details pane down to see the System video memory.
My desktop shows 0MB if you are curious.

It looks like this. That total available graphics memory though.

 

[Sakdichote Totiam]

I'm going to try out Q-Flash now and I'll see if the option to configure internal graphics, or memory will show up in the BIOS configuration, and if not, then I guess I'll be clean installing the OS pretty soon. As before I reset the PC, the RAM was actually available for use for the whole 6 GB. My thanks to everyone for your eager display of kind spirits!