Re: System Properties question: RAM

"K. Stonefield" <KStonefield@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5CAFC85D-6E35-47B0-8A3F-F2A0CC9AB3DF@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks Patrick!

According to my computer's specs, 1024MB was installed but System
Properties
says 384MB of RAM, so I was concerned.

Where exactly are you looking? On this XP Pro system, which has 2 gig RAM
installed, the General tab shows - 2 gig, the installed amount. There are
other places that *do* show the amount available - but free RAM is wasted
RAM, Windows should be allocating it.

Power down your system (not restart), turn it back on and go into the BIOS.
How much memory does it list? You may find that part of the RAM is not
being recognised, or that there is less installed than you think.

The place to check this is outside the OS, and that means in the BIOS. If
it isn't recognised there, Windows has no chance of seeing it.

So my graphics cards use that much memory? Wow.

Such chipsets are often in the 64 to 128 meg range, and 384 plus 128 is 512,
half the amount of memory you think is installed.


If I were to upgrade my RAM to its maximum of 4GB, would that help speed
things up?

The amount of RAM installed doesn't actually speed your system up, it can
only keep it from slowing down as you load things into memory. And 4 gig
is wasted on a 32-bit OS, as memory above about 3.2 gig can't be used.
Windows uses the address space above that point, to 4 gig, for mapping
hardware addresses, so RAM that might be in that area is simply ignored.
So, there's pretty much no point in installing more than 3.

On many systems and for many users, 512 meg is plenty on an XP system, and 1
gig should be fine.

HTH
-pk


--
Thanks,
K.
In the field of stones...


"Patrick Keenan" wrote:

"K. Stonefield" <KStonefield@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ACBF6D43-5961-4BB0-AD05-5C6DF617E23B@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
When I click Start > right-click My Computer > choose Properties, I see
my
computer's properties.

My question is regarding the information at the bottom of the General
tab.

For the amount of RAM, is the amount shown the amount of RAM I have
left
or
the amount installed?

I ask because I thought it was the amount installed but a computer
technician told me it's how much I have left.

It's the amount installed *and* available for use. And that is a
reference
to systems that have graphics chips that use "shared" memory - these are
often chips on the motherboard, as opposed to graphics cards that you
install. All graphics chips and cards need some memory, and these ones
don't have any of their own, so they "share" the system RAM.

These "shared" graphics cards use part of the RAM that you've installed.
So, if you've got a system like this, and there are many, and you've
installed, say, 1 gig of RAM, you'll see that Windows reports somewhat
less
than 1 gig is installed. The difference is the amount that the graphics
chip "shared", meaning "took", for its own use.

HTH
-pk



--
Thanks,
K.
In the field of stones...





.

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