32 Bit Memory Limits - Help

[Dark_Webster]

With the specs in my system, I have 3GB available with a 512mb card and 3GB with a 1GB card.

It all depends on your system, and the only way I see for you to reduce the graphics card RAM is to have a card with less memory. Simple as that.

 

[Mussels]

He complaining that he has 4GB RAM and only 2GB left to use when his card is installed....that isnt correct as he should have 3GB like me.

I know quiet well you lose RAM for installing cards but he's lost twice as much as he should have; it doesn't make sense to me.

it varies between systems. I think its controlled by the mobo, but i'm not 100% on that.

Sometimes the video memory is locked into the address space (you lose the amount of video ram you have from teh address space, thus eating into your 4GB of available ram) and other times it eats a smaller amount (256MB/512MB)

he SHOULD be limited to 3GB and not 2GB... IMO, one of the memory sticks may have died or something. But he didnt ask about that, he asked about OS stuff so people have stuck to discussing that.

Does all 4GB show in the BIOS? is memory hole remapping enabled?

 

[aCid888*]

he SHOULD be limited to 3GB and not 2GB...

Exactly my point.

 

[Wile E]

/3GB enables PAE by default. If he tried it, he did already try PAE by default.


@Bazooka, is the hardware even 64 bit capable?

He complaining that he has 4GB RAM and only 2GB left to use when his card is installed....that isnt correct as he should have 3GB like me.

I know quiet well you lose RAM for installing cards but he's lost twice as much as he should have; it doesn't make sense to me.

No, if he only had 3GB available to begin with, he would definitely be in the 2's. He added 704MB to his video ram.

But, that doesn't even always matter, different boards handle the address spaces differently. Some take off more than you add, some less. It's a total crap shoot.

Unless you have the same setup, yours cannot apply.

 

[aCid888*]

No, if he only had 3GB available to begin with, he would definitely be in the 2's. He added 704MB to his video ram.

But, that doesn't even always matter, different boards handle the address spaces differently. Some take off more than you add, some less. It's a total crap shoot.

Unless you have the same setup, yours cannot apply.

Its running 32Bit XP - and has 4GB ram installed

It used to have a 320Mb 8800GTS Installed - and during this time the PC had 3GB ram free

replaced it with a super cheap 9400 just to keep it running -

Now the 9400 has 1Gb ram

ever since then the PC only has 2GB ram

I'm still not seeing why he only has 2GB available to him with a single 1GB card installed when before he had 3GB usable and a 320MB card....at the very least it should be 2.25GB available.

Maybe the OP can clarify whats going on and not rage about how much he doesnt want to use 64-bit???

 

[Wile E]

Perhaps he was over simplifying?

Yeah. OP needs to clarify.

 

[BazookaJoe]

 

[Mussels]

I'm still not seeing why he only has 2GB available to him with a single 1GB card installed when before he had 3GB usable and a 320MB card....at the very least it should be 2.25GB available.

Maybe the OP can clarify whats going on and not rage about how much he doesnt want to use 64-bit???

hence my idea about one stick of ram being bad/loose/not detected.

 

[slyfox2151]

hence my idea about one stick of ram being bad/loose/not detected.

yep i agree,

definetly check its pluged in correctly and run a Mem test.




maybe open up CPU-Z and check how much ram that says is installed?

 

[Mussels]

yep i agree,

definetly check its pluged in correctly and run a Mem test.




maybe open up CPU-Z and check how much ram that says is installed?

thats not a bad idea. CPU-Z will show each memory slot and whats in it.

not only can he tell how much is detected, he can find out which slot it is as well.

 

[qubit]

There simply is no easy, quick way out of this... you either have to change hardware or change OS, to get what you want.

+1 Mussels.

@BazookaJoe

There's no way to BIOS flash the card to see a smaller amount of RAM: the BIOS simply reads the quantity from the hardware. And don't go breaking any RAM modules off like that dumb suggestion above (it was a joke, right?). That's the fast way to destroy your card and turn it into a bad paperweight.

The situation is as Mussels said, unfortunately.

 

[BazookaJoe]

OK it has 4 X 1GB Super talent RAM clips installed - these are permanent fixtures.

It HAD an 8800GTS Installed (320MB) During this time Windows had ~3GB available system memory INSIDE the active OS. All 4 Super talent chips where physically Installed.

Then the 8800GTS Died - and I had a scrap 9400GT (1GB) lying around so I Installed that, and ever since then the OS reports only 2GB ram available to the system (ALL 4 Super talent Chips Still Installed)

EDIT : The 8800 Is very faulty - but it can boot to desktop - if I remove the 9400 - put the 8800 back and boot I have 3GB available again, and if I return to the 9400 I only have 2GB available again - why not leave the 8800 IN the PC? because its very unstable - it had a little bit of a thermal meltdown when it's fan failed - and now although it SOMETIMES boots successfully its very unstable and crashes after a few minutes - or if ANY 3D type graphics attempt to happen.

Bios reports full 4 GB installed and dual channel working perfectly. All ram chips test OK individually.

The machine has some hardware in it with no proper 64Bit drivers, so I would prefer NOT to use 64Bit OS.

I don't have a problem with 64Bit OS but I'm presently looking to FIX the problem rather than running away from it. Hence my question remains "Does anyone know of a way of TWEAKING 32BIT WinXP to fix this problem", and NOT "how do I install a different OS".

I already know how to install a different OS, but I am specifically trying to address the issue WITHOUT doing that. If this is still confusing to some people, then lets just say it's a personal challenge to discover something new. An intentional attempt to do something the hard way in order to try and broaden my understanding of how things work, and how to work with them.

I don't want to simply make the problem evaporate by changing OS, I want to try to reach a level of understanding with regards to the problem and the nature of its cause, so great that I can actually bend the situation to my own will.

To put it figuratively, if I am asking "How do I climb the mountain" - Answers such as "Rent a helicopter and get them to fly you to the top" are of no use, as I did not ask how to rent helicopters. I asked how to climb mountains, because I want to learn to climb.

What I WOULD like to do is look at ways of simply causing windows to NOT ALLOCATE 1GB to the video card, either by registry tweak, driver setting, or possibly Flashing the Bios of the card to not register all of its own memory at boot.

The more I look at the 465 - 470 Bios Fix, that unlocks a 465 - to the same stats of a 470 on certain boards, including unlocking physically installed but not previously available Vram, the more I realize that this IS perfectly possible to edit a bios to only register a certain amount of ram, however I lack the experience in video card bios tweaking to successfully do this.

 

[Mussels]

the only way to make windows allocate less ram to the card is to have less ram on the card. since you cant just remove the memory, you cant do that.

the 465/470 mod is a unique one off example of how it works on ONE cards architecture. you don't have one of those cards, so it doesn't apply here.
Yeah you could just find another 9400GT's BIOS with 512MB of ram and flash that onto it, but unless both cards have the same clocks, timings and voltages (and same brand of memory) its simply not going to happen.


you are asking for the impossible.

 

[Wile E]

Did you try nibitor to cripple the card, for shits and giggles? Post a BIOS and I'll see if Nibitor has any options like that.

And crippling it that manner, if possible, will likely also cripple your gpu, as it has to shut down a part of the gpu itself to lock the mem out. Kinda like the way the 465 bios unlocks a part of the gpu that accesses that other ram. It still has to do with the gpu, not the mem.

 

[BazookaJoe]

Did you try nibitor to cripple the card, for shits and giggles? Post a BIOS and I'll see if Nibitor has any options like that.

And crippling it that manner, if possible, will likely also cripple your gpu, as it has to shut down a part of the gpu itself to lock the mem out. Kinda like the way the 465 bios unlocks a part of the gpu that accesses that other ram. It still has to do with the gpu, not the mem.

Worth a try - this 9400 is purely a desktop rendering device, as long as it can do that I'm happy...

Er.. how to post the file?

 

[slyfox2151]

+1 Mussels.

@BazookaJoe

There's no way to BIOS flash the card to see a smaller amount of RAM: the BIOS simply reads the quantity from the hardware. And don't go breaking any RAM modules off like that dumb suggestion above (it was a joke, right?). That's the fast way to destroy your card and turn it into a bad paperweight.

The situation is as Mussels said, unfortunately.

well if he broke the card he would have to buy a new one, thus resolving this problem

 

[W1zzard]

the three ranges are sized:
16 mb
512 mb
32 mb

so it doesnt seem to be your vga card taking all the memory

 

[Tatty_Two]

Agreed, it does not seem to be just the video card eating it up, the BIOS Flash might work though, I seem to remember doing one a long long time ago with some success, I kind of thought that it was the Video BIOS that told the driver where things were at, the driver told the OS?..... not sure on that one.....obviously notwithstanding Memory timings/voltage settings within the Bios, here is a 512MB 9400GT that could be tried, obviously risk remains!

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/36701/XFX.9400GT.512.081120.html

 

[BazookaJoe]

Agreed, it does not seem to be just the video card eating it up, the BIOS Flash might work though, I seem to remember doing one a long long time ago with some success, I kind of thought that it was the Video BIOS that told the driver where things were at, the driver told the OS?..... not sure on that one.....obviously notwithstanding Memory timings/voltage settings within the Bios, here is a 512MB 9400GT that could be tried, obviously risk remains!

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/36701/XFX.9400GT.512.081120.html

Tried It just for fun - did a rough comparison between that bios and mine, and they where very similar, but NvFlash said GPU mismatch and wouldn't write - Oh well - I suppose I'm just out of luck.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Tried It just for fun - did a rough comparison between that bios and mine, and they where very similar, but NvFlash said GPU mismatch and wouldn't write - Oh well - I suppose I'm just out of luck.

You used the force command?

 

[BazookaJoe]

You used the force command?

No.. started getting cold feet when it said GPU mismatch... Do you think its worth a try anyway? (Understanding that it may well brick the thing and if it does, it's really my own fault)

 

[Tatty_Two]

No.. started getting cold feet when it said GPU mismatch... Do you think its worth a try anyway? (Understanding that it may well brick the thing and if it does, it's really my own fault)

The risk is yours to decide, it will always say a mismatch when checking vendor ID's when you try to flash another vendors BIOS, that is what the force command is for, however the risk is yours to take, it works with many, I am sure there is some that it don't, only you can decide if it's worth taking that risk.... good luck if you do! Even if it does work, there is no guarantee that it will give you back 512MB worth of system memory...... although it might.

 

[cadaveca]

have you tried re-installing your OS?

Did you remove the nV driver before pulling the 8-series card, or just pull it and put in the new one? Maybe the OS is stil lreserving mem for the 8-series card that isn't present.

I think W1zz is kinda hinting at the problem...something is reserving the address range, the question is what.

Hence my question about the OS install...

 

[W1zzard]

device manager -> menu view -> resources by type

 

[wiak]

install to 64-bit windows and you wont have a issue related to to little memory