RAM problem

[Illathen]

hey again guys

just plugged 4 sticks of OCZ reaper 5-5-5-15 latency memory into my GIGIBYTE GA-P35-DS4

problem is when checking through control pannel the computer only recognised 3.25g of memory instead of 4G.
tried changing the modules round and i can get it to recognise 3 or 3.25 even if they are in different slots so its not a module problem.
i checked through the bios pages and on "PC Health Status" is has a red message saying

DDR18v Fail

part of the system voltages, anybody have any idea what could be causing this or how i can up the voltage to the memory enough to get it to recognise all of it.

i have a thermaltake 1200w toughpower so psu aint a problem here.

thanks

 

[captaincranky]

One More Time.....

If this is a 32 bit OS, that may be as much as it will recognize, ever. Actually DDR2 is 1.8 Volts (not 18. Volts). It seems as though the board is saying the voltage is off. It's more than likely under the "advanced" tab in BIOS.

 

[Illathen]

yes this is a 32bit XP
i didnt change anything but now it says the 1.8v is ok unfortunatly it still only says 3.2GB of memory.

my mobo supports upto 8 gig are you sure that this is the maximum 32bit xp will recognise?

 

[captaincranky]

2 to the 32nd power is 4 GB.....

4 gigabytes is the largest number that can be described with 32 places of binary math. The OS must keep available addresses for hardware and it does so by ignoring RAM addresses. The only reason a board would be able to even present more than 4GB of address space to the OS is by virtue of the BIOS being 64 Bit enabled. (Actually 33 places in binary math is 8 GB). A 32 bit BIOS won't even show 4GB to the OS for it to ignore.

 

[Illathen]

ok thanks
would i be best off removing two gigs? or just leaving all 4 in, it seems pretty stable anyway.
il be upgrading to vista in a month or so so i can use it then i imagine if i buy the 64bit version.

 

[captaincranky]

Anybody's Guess, I suppose......

Windows (32 bit) only allows programs to use 2 GB of RAM anyway. In theory, it should use the other available gig for it's own purposes. I have an Intel G965WHMK board with 3 GBs installed. The only program that comes close to using it all is Nero, when burning a full DVD. Problem is, when it hits the Windows "wall" (at 2 GB) it returns an "out of memory" error, thereby ruining the disc in the process. Bizarre, yes? Yet it never runs out of memory on my other 2 machines, which have 1 GB and 1.5 GB of installed RAM. I haven't played with huge files in Photoshop on the machine, so I don't know how that would go, at least it wouldn't ruin a DVD blank. There is a command line "fix" called "the 3 gigabyte switch", which when invoked allows up to 3 GB for use by the programs. I'm not a gamer, so I really can't say how more than 2 GB of memory would work for that purpose. I suppose leaving it in until it gives you a reason to take it out, seems like a plan. It doesn't hurt anything, except in my case Nero. There is so much on the web in terms of testing varying amounts of memory for speed and whatnot, but the consensis is that after 2 GB, the point of diminishing returns really kicks in hard. With XP (32 bit) being the OS in use. You may never have enough memory for Vista.