# windows 7 usuable ram help. **URL:** \ **Category:** NYSpeed Off Topic\ **Created:** [January 16, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/windows-7-usuable-ram-help/208213 "2011-01-16T12:58:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hoggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dbc845/32.png) [@hoggie](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/hoggie)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/windows-7-usuable-ram-help/208213/1 "2011-01-16T12:58:02Z")
hey guys recently i installed windows 7 ultimate 64BIT, yes i confirm 64bit. i have 4 gigs of ram , but showing usable ram is 2.99 gigs. (my sony vaio laptop shows 3.67gigs usable out of 4 which makes more sense) i have total of 1 gig or at least 500-700mb or ram missing i’ve done everything from flashing bios, it just wouldn’t go any higher, prior to flashing bio it was at 2.74 usable gig. after the flash came up to 2.99 gigs now i’ve done my google and youtube trying to figure things out. -i KNOW that i don’t have on board video card so there aren’t any video card to disable that would effect it. -i’ve tried the run-\>msconfig-\>boot-\>advanced option-\>and checked the maxium memory box so i have 1033mb of ram is hardware reserved which im not sure wtf it does. anybody knowledgeable in this area that could give me a few advice or explain to me how this works? thanks in advance!! ![http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac358/jackazzjack/ramhelp.jpg](http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac358/jackazzjack/ramhelp.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Gl1](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/gl1/32/5471_2.png) [@Gl1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Gl1)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/windows-7-usuable-ram-help/208213/2 "2011-01-16T13:17:54Z")
what video card do you have? some of the discrete graphics cards will use your memory too. ---
**Author:** ![97FormulaWS-6](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/97formulaws-6/32/7384_2.png) [@97FormulaWS-6](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/97FormulaWS-6)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/windows-7-usuable-ram-help/208213/3 "2011-01-16T14:22:49Z")
How’s the memory configured in your system? 2x 2G? 4 x 1G? U may have a bad “stick” if it’s a 4x1 setup. ---
**Author:** ![hoggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dbc845/32.png) [@hoggie](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/hoggie)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/windows-7-usuable-ram-help/208213/4 "2011-01-16T16:48:07Z")
well im running 4 monitors, so i have 2 ati/sapphire radeon HD 4650 video cards plugged into the motherboard each video has its own 1 gig ram, and i have ddr3-1333mhz ram 2x2gb other than that im running the sound card that is built in on the motherboard ---
**Author:** ![ZOMGVTEK](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/zomgvtek/32/5063_2.png) [@ZOMGVTEK](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ZOMGVTEK)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/windows-7-usuable-ram-help/208213/5 "2011-01-16T16:50:22Z")
Thats odd… I never saw Windows say 4GB, but 2.99 is ‘useable’… It says the hardware is reserving 1GB of it… Id say theres nothing you can do about it. Ram is super cheap. Deal with the 3, or get a 8GB kit… ---
**Author:** ![hoggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dbc845/32.png) [@hoggie](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/hoggie)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/windows-7-usuable-ram-help/208213/6 "2011-01-16T20:01:37Z")
yeah i might just upgrade add another 4 gigs. also got another buddy saying one of the ram could be bad. can anyone confirm this 1 defective ram could cause this? ---
**Author:** ![mark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@mark](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/mark)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/windows-7-usuable-ram-help/208213/7 "2011-01-16T20:02:05Z")
run msconfig, goto boot tab, advanced, **untick** number of processors and max memory, reboot. im running win7 x64 with 8gig and its very nice. changed my outlook on win7 completely. ---
**Author:** ![Gl1](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/gl1/32/5471_2.png) [@Gl1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Gl1)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/windows-7-usuable-ram-help/208213/8 "2011-01-16T20:26:59Z")
What motherboard do you have? it’'s possible a bad stick could cause this, but unlikely. run memtest86+ [http://www.memtest.org/#downiso](http://www.memtest.org/#downiso) ---
**Author:** ![hoggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dbc845/32.png) [@hoggie](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/hoggie)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/windows-7-usuable-ram-help/208213/9 "2011-01-16T20:32:05Z")
mark, i did all of that didn’t make any difference. =\ yeah i admit win 7 is so nice after using xp for the last 25 years lol. i have Asus P7P55 LX which one should i download for the ram test? ---
**Author:** ![Gl1](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/gl1/32/5471_2.png) [@Gl1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Gl1)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/windows-7-usuable-ram-help/208213/10 "2011-01-16T20:41:18Z")
the cd iso is easiest you may have this problem [http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?board\_id=1&model=P7P55-M&id=20100414151719953&page=1&SLanguage=en-us](http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?board_id=1&model=P7P55-M&id=20100414151719953&page=1&SLanguage=en-us)