Windows 7 showing more ram than installed?

[Ascendant]

Ok, when I had 2gb of ram installed, windows 7 was showing me that I had 4gb installed and 2gb usable. Figured maybe it was just showing me how much total I could add in, and since the usable amount was right, wasn't too worried about it.

Just upgraded to 4gb of ram now, but windows is showing I have 6gb installed and 3.25 available. Now the 3.25 makes sense to me as it's just capping out due to being 32bit, but showing me 6gb installed? I'm at a loss here. Just look for yourself...

My bios is showing me that 4gb is installed, so it seems to be an issue with windows, not my mobo. Not really sure what to do at this point though to fix this. Doesn't seem to be causing any problems right now, especially considering my ram scored a 7.1 on the "windows experience index", but want to make sure this won't end up causing issues later on. Suggestions?

ok, very confused now... i swapped around my ram and noticed that if i mix and match the ram, it seems like 2 of my ram cards are recognizing themselves as "2gb" each in windows, and the other 2 are recognized correctly as 1gb. in my bios however, the ram is coming up as 1gb each for all of them and also windows 7 is only able to use them as 1gb each. seems as if the 2 showing themselves in windows 7 as 2gb each were programmed incorrectly? confusing how my bios recognizes the correct amount for all of them, yet windows is reading 2 of them wrong?

 

[MindoverMaster]

Fire up CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

That should tell us what is going on. The index is crap. Someone can get a lower score simply by having a lower gfx card.

 

[joelm3103]

Fire up CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

That should tell us what is going on. The index is crap. Someone can get a lower score simply by having a lower gfx card.

Don't think he was implying anything to do with his index and it's ratings, he's just concern about his RAM and why is it showing a incorrect number as labeled. Also check the software posted in MoM's post above, then check the memory tab and see what it says.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Just sayin'

 

[Trotter]

Maybe it is adding the virtual memory?

 

[Ascendant]

Maybe it is adding the virtual memory?

nah, cause it's only doing it for 2 out of the 4 ram sticks, and they are all the identical model. it really does seem like they were just programmed wrong somehow.

at this point i just left the 2 in my computer that i know are correct and put in a RMA with newegg to get new ones. i mean i'd keep them if i knew they were actually packaged wrong and were 2gb, but since my mobo recognizes them correctly as 1gb, there's just something wrong with them. odd though, i have yet to find anyone else ever posting about an issue like this. guess it's an extremely rare thing.

 

[MindoverMaster]

That happens. I had to RMA a few sticks of RAM. I always got them back working fine. They all work to this day. The oldest being a DDR stick.

 

[Ascendant]

well, just got my new ram in today, and having the same exact issues with it as well. i did notice that this ram looks just like the other ones that are reading incorrect, while the 2 that are reading correct look slightly different. not sure if this is older sticks or what the issue is, but either way it seems like windows 7 can't read them correctly, but my bios is picking it up fine and they are both functioning correctly. should i just keep them and say forget it or is this something that could potentially cause issues down the road?

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

I don't see where you downloaded CPU-Z and ran it, took screen shots, and posted what it's reporting on the SPD and Memory tabs...

 

[Ascendant]

I don't see where you downloaded CPU-Z and ran it, took screen shots, and posted what it's reporting on the SPD and Memory tabs...

This is with all 4 ram sticks that show the wrong amount of ram each (2gb each rather than 1gb). All slots show the same exact numbers, except for the serials of course.