Unexpected Increase in Memory

[novablast]

I can't find an explanation for this anywhere with Google, so i'm hoping someone here might have an answer to this....good problem I guess. I have four DDR pc3200 sticks in my asus a8ae-le mobo (1 GB, 512mb, 256mb, 256mb). The most recent is a 1 gb ultra stick. After I first installed it about ten days ago, my computer was at 2.18 gigs. I thought nothing of it, I was just satisfied to be over 2 gigs. Now, I just checked my specs, and it's at 2.25 GB's?! What causes this? If it matters, I recently installed a 256 mb Sapphire Radeon x1650 256 mb 64 bit video card and a new 400 watt hec power supply (up from 250) so I could run Guitar Hero . And also, when I installed the 1 gig of memory I put ultra memory coolers on the 1 gb stick and the 512 stick. Any theories? Also, i'm aware that xp has some issues with hibernation on rigs with high memory. Is it reasonably safe for me to hibernate? I installed the hotfix for that "api" issue. Sorry if i'm asking too much. Thanks for your time. Screenshots attached below.

 

[CobaltViper]

I think it takes your physical RAM and then adds the memory you have designated to be used as RAM from your HDD.

 

[kimsland]

Thanks CobaltViper, for the suggestion, but I don't know about this.
You're talking about physical Ram and Virtual Ram (Page file) but in this case, I expect the pagefile has not been adjusted.

I suppose novablast, there's only one true reading of Ram, and that's in system Bios (CMOS actually)
It's the same deal with putting in 4Gig of Ram on an Xp 32bit machine, Xp will only see 3Gb. So the reading of Ram is not actually absolute, within Windows.

I hope that answers your question

 

[novablast]

Yea, you're right. I didn't make any manual changes to the page file. I let the system manage its size. Right now its at 2302mb. And I can understand that it's up to what is recognized by BIOS, but what caused the sudden change from 2.18 to 2.25? I'm beginning to think that its that maybe my old psu wasn't giving enough power to one of my memory sticks, and now the new one is. Or, the 256mb of memory in the video card is somehow being added into the mix. Eitherway, the 2048mb of ram I have, plus the 256mb of memory of my video card comes to 2304mb, so where would 2.25 come from? This is pretty crazy lol but i'm glad that it mysteriously went up rather than down.

You're talking about physical Ram and Virtual Ram (Page file) but in this case, I expect the pagefile has not been adjusted.

I suppose novablast, there's only one true reading of Ram, and that's in system Bios (CMOS actually)
It's the same deal with putting in 4Gig of Ram on an Xp 32bit machine, Xp will only see 3Gb. So the reading of Ram is not actually absolute, within Windows.

 

[kimsland]

. .

there's only one true reading of Ram, and that's in system Bios (CMOS actually)

 

[SNGX1275]

I'm beginning to think that its that maybe my old psu wasn't giving enough power to one of my memory sticks, and now the new one is.

Don't think so.

Or, the 256mb of memory in the video card is somehow being added into the mix.

If you had onboard video prior to installing the new card that is why. The onboard borrows RAM from the system. So you take your physical RAM and subtract what the onboard video was using to get your RAM total according to Windows.

Eitherway, the 2048mb of ram I have, plus the 256mb of memory of my video card comes to 2304mb, so where would 2.25 come from? This is pretty crazy lol but i'm glad that it mysteriously went up rather than down.

2034/1024=2.25