Having a RAM issue

[TyGray]

Ok, My computer supports dual channel ram so i bought 4-1gb sticks and installed them. When I check in bios it says that I have 1024 mb per slot, but in windows it shows me that I only have 2.87gb.

mb- intel d915pbl
ram- kingston 533mhz pc4200

I'm not sure if i'm running on that full 4gb and its just not showing it in windows or if its making me run short for some reason.

Thanks

 

[Slaymate]

What operating system are you using? Is it a 64-bit version?

 

[TyGray]

no, actually i had vista running, with some pesky spyware problems so i decided to go back to xp and its actually doing the same thing on both, 32bit

 

[Trotter]

32-bit will only recognize 3.5GB of RAM. From that, it will minus your graphics card's RAM and the amount being used by Windows.

 

[LM-Tech]

Yeah you have to be running 64bit OS to recognize 4gb or more.

 

[TyGray]

ok then, whats the easiest way to find out if my system is 64 bit compatible? As I said my board is d915pbl and the processor is p4 3.4ghz HT

 

[TyGray]

actually I realize I could probably research this myself or if its even worth it, but now i'm having a hard time figuring out what processor exactly is in my computer since I built it like 4 years ago. I ran a scan and this is what I got on the processor:

CPU Name : Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.40GHz
Code Name : Model 3, Stepping 4
Current Clock Speed : 3400Mhz
Serial Number : BFEBFBFF00000F34
CPU ID : X86 Family 15 Model 3 Stepping 4
Socket Designation J2E1

 

[Trotter]

Run CPU-Z. It should tell you.
CPUID

 

[LM-Tech]

On vista you just need click properties on "My computer" and it should tell you below where it tells you how much ram you have installed, on XP if im not wrong its on Control Panel under System Information. I dont think CPU=Z would tell you if your OS is 32-Bit or 64-Bit

 

[Trotter]

I dont think CPU=Z would tell you if your OS is 32-Bit or 64-Bit

The OS is 32-bit, as 64-bit XP is pretty rare.

CPU-Z will tell whether or not the CPU is 64-bit. I think it may be, but there's not enough details to be sure.