New RAM

[walkinman86]

Hi

I just added additional RAM to my Dell E520. It's a 32 bit system so I bought 2 cartridges of 2gb, each of DD2 PC5300 from Crucial. I figure 4 gb is all the system will recognize.

The rig runs a **** of a lot better, (surprise, surprise...), but I noticed when I went to system in the control panel, that the machine is only recognizing 2.99 gb of the new RAM.

Why is that? does it make any difference in the computer's performance, and if so, is there anything I can do to rectify the situation?

I appreciate any input any of you fine ladies and gents can give me

 

[Fat.Clown]

You are running 32 bit version of windows.you can find more info on this in our windows sub forum

 

[KSoD]

Windows reserves a set amount of space for hardware allocation. Since you have a 32 Bit OS you will not recognize the full 4GB. The rest of the space is reserved for the hardware you are running this includes your video card.

So roughly 750MB is reserved for hardware allocation. The rest is missing due to your video card. Be it used as onboard or a video card that is the rest of the space.

If you want the full amount used, you will have to reinstall Windows and use 64 Bit. That is if you have a CPU that can support it and you have a retail version of Windows that will allow you to reinstall with the 64 Bit version. But since it is a Dell that means it is OEM. That doesn't allowed for the last part to happen without buying a new copy of Windows.