How Much Memory is my system using?

[zubb99]

I am running XP Pro SP2 on an Asus A8V Deluxe motherboard that has 4 DDR DIMM slots. The board is capable of running "Dual Channel". I have 2 identical PNY-1GB modules in the slots designated for "Dual Channel". In the other 2 slots I have 2 identical Kingston - 512MG modules. Depending on how I verify my memory, I get different results. This is what the various checks show:

1- When I boot, the American Megatrend post lists
3072 MB OK
Dual Channel DRAM 128 Bit Mode
2- System Properties shows: "3.00 GB of Ram"
3- System Information shows: "Total Physical memory- 2.048.00 MB"
4- Task Manager shows: "Physical Memory (K):"
Total 3144940
Available 2179680
System Cache 2478020
5- Belarc shows: "3072 Megabytes Installed Memory"
but lists only: Slot 'DIMM0' has 1024 MB
Slot 'DIMM1' has 1024 MB

To top it off, when I run the "Crucial" website Memory Test, it tells me:

6- "Currently installed memory: " 2GB and the Crucial visual shows 1GB of PC3200 in 2 of the slots and the other two as EMPTY

Even though I know I have 3GB of RAM installed, I am not sure if my system is actually using 2GB or 3GB of RAM. I would appreciate any comments regarding these discrepancies.

 

[jonisaksson]

I suspect this is a Bios issue, and the problem of recognizing different memory modules. I would log it with ASUS. Their support is usually excellent, and I have had several instances where they have modified the bios to correct issues I have found.

But personally I wouldnt mix different memory models on the same board, whether you get the right memory usage or not. As they will have different timings, which is bound to cause performance issues.
Memory is so cheap these days that you are better off buying another pair of the PNY-1GB modules or the kingston if you so like.
I suspect you may even get better performance running with just 2 gb

 

[Tedster]

ASUS is quite picky with memory brands. Read: https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic65114.html