Wheres my memory gone?

[H2SO4]

I believe stew2 is referring to "shared" system memory, not the type of addessing loss to MMIO that you're thinking of.

In other words, the video card eats RAM because it literally doesn't have any of its own built in. It's a cheap 'n' nasty solution mostly used in embedded video situations.

 

[stew2]

So my whole point is based on your statement below - which appears to be saying that he will lose system RAM, even if he is below the 4gig threshold. If that's what you're saying, I'm saying you're wrong. Sorry

Hay that no problem. That was what i saying :huh:. I dont use onboard graphics but i thought ...... well its probably wrong lol.

If thats the case then why would 2 gigs of ram show up as 1.6.

EDIT: so H2SO4 am i right, kind of lol

 

[H2SO4]

EDIT: so H2SO4 am i right, kind of lol

Walking into the crossfire is always a silly thing to do

Let's be diplomatic - I think you're both right, except that you're talking about different mechanisms. Shared video memory (look up "AGP aperture" as well) can eat RAM irrespective of whether the box has 4.0GB or not.

Sygnus is also quite correct in his explanation of MMIO range masking, which is a different limiting factor altogether.

Whether any of this is directly related to the OPs issue, I don't know. We'd need a detailed memory report from the box to see what's going on.

 

[stew2]

EDIT: so H2SO4 am i right, kind of lol

Walking into the crossfire is always a silly thing to do

Theres no crossfire its an open debate lol. Il through my hands up and surrender if im wrong Its just that iv always thougt if your onboard graphics uses 256mb of ram and say you have 2 gigs of ram installed then in windows it would show up as 1.75gigs.

But hay a possible easy solution to this is to buy a graphics card

 

[H2SO4]

Yeah, the memory amounts being discussed are all paltry by modern standards when you can walk into a store with $50 and walk out with RAM quantities which would have risked being burnt on a stake for witchcraft even a decade ago. Throwing money at it is probably the right approach here IMHO.

Sygnus is right in saying that a 32-bit system can never exceed its 2^32=4GB upper addressing limit, and all memory must be mapped somewhere within that space. However, "shared memory" cards (almost always embedded) have little memory of their own, or literally none at all, which is why the respective BIOSes will allocate a portion of primary RAM to be used for video purposes. This is all at the lower end of the video card market, or to give it's correct technical name the "s###ty obsolete c##p" segment

At the opposite end is the MMIO masking issue where there's so much memory it won't all fit into 4GB-worth of addresses. The system already has 4GB of RAM, plus the user spends $ on a video card with 0.5GB or even 1GB of video memory, and something's got to give. The card's memory ends up "masking" a portion of the RAM (that portion ends up doing nothing but generating a little heat every so often). Then the user discovers the discrepancy and decides that 64-bit is The Way Of The Future So They Can See All Their RAMZ.

 

[stew2]

Couldnt agree more

I'l probably be flamed for this but i wish microsoft had just released the x64 version. It would have stopped most of the questions being asked now and by this stage companies would have been forced to devolep x64 drivers and programmes or risk being left behind.

 

[sygnus21]

Let's be diplomatic -

As opposed to "un" diplomatic? :huh:

I thought stew2 and myself were having a conversation.

Thanks

 

[skunksmash]

Let's be diplomatic -

As opposed to "un" diplomatic? :huh:

I thought stew2 and myself were having a conversation.

Thanks

now now sygnus, this thread is ''open to all''....







SK

 

[sygnus21]

I'll be "diplomatic" and say ok.

 

[H2SO4]

You seem upset. I'm sorry if I somehow contributed to that and it certainly wasn't my intention to offend you, or anyone else, in any way. I thought I might be able to help clarify the technical differences in what you two were saying, and in doing so perhaps help the OP.

 

[rive0108]

Let's be diplomatic -

As opposed to "un" diplomatic? :huh:

I thought stew2 and myself were having a conversation.

Thanks

Hey Sygnus

H2S04 is really good at troublshooting, and is very, very knowledgable. I would definitely take every contribution he makes, and consider it.

 

[sygnus21]

You seem upset. I'm sorry if I somehow contributed to that and it certainly wasn't my intention to offend you, or anyone else, in any way. I thought I might be able to help clarify the technical differences in what you two were saying, and in doing so perhaps help the OP.

LOL. I'm not upset. I just speak my mind and move on

"Diplomatic" seemed a bit "presumptuous" given the context, so I spoke on it. That’s it.

Moving on

 

[sygnus21]

Let's be diplomatic -

As opposed to "un" diplomatic? :huh:

I thought stew2 and myself were having a conversation.

Thanks

Hey Sygnus

H2S04 is really good at troublshooting, and is very, very knowledgable. I would definitely take every contribution he makes, and consider it.

I hear what you're saying, but I never presume anyone is smarter than another. I take every ones contribution in consideration.

Like I told H2S04, I'm not upset. I just say what's on my mind and move on.

The only conflict is that perceived ...and it is not by me

Peace