Rcvd Outlet X410, only Recognizes 3G RAM

"Journey" wrote in message
...
I received my "scratch and dent" XPS 410 today. I couldn't find any
scratches or dents on it.

There is a problem that I can't figure out. Google may be my friend
but I thought I'd ask here too.

The system has 4G RAM. Vista reports 3G RAM. I opened the case and
there is 4G RAM.

I took 1G RAM out. On bootup, I had to hit F1 because system said RAM
changed. Even though I took 1G RAM out, and even though a RAM change
was detected, Vista still reported 3G RAM.

As expected, I put the 1G RAM back, the system reported a RAM change,
but Vista still reported 3G RAM.

Any help / insights are appreciated. Thank you.


If I understand correctly, 32-bit operating systems have a maximum memory
address space of 4GB, part of which will be allocated to various resources,
like the PCI bus and the videocard. The only way you're going to get full
use of 4GB of RAM is to migrate to a 64-bit operating system.

-phil

Phil wrote:

snip

If I understand correctly, 32-bit operating systems have a maximum
memory address space of 4GB,

True

part of which will be allocated to various
resources, like the PCI bus and the videocard.

I guess, don't know the details here.

The only way you're going
to get full use of 4GB of RAM is to migrate to a 64-bit operating system.

Don't follow you here. If the computer has 4GB of RAM, then a 64 bit OS
makes no difference because PCI devices, video cards, etc., must still
be mapped into the 4GB.

I got curious what the new limit was with 64 bit memory:

The emergence of the 64-bit architecture effectively increases the
memory ceiling to 264 addresses, equivalent to 17,179,869,184 gigabytes
or 16 exbibytes of RAM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit

Don't follow you here. If the computer has 4GB of RAM, then a 64 bit OS
makes no difference because PCI devices, video cards, etc., must still be
mapped into the 4GB.

Yes but the total addressing limit on a 64-bit OS is greater than 4 GB so
the
RAM that was moved above the 4 GB mark can still be used. With a 32-bit
OS, any RAM moved above 4 GB is not seen at all and is wasted, not used
for buffers or anything as some here have suggested.

Tom Lake

Tom Lake wrote:
Don't follow you here. If the computer has 4GB of RAM, then a 64 bit OS
makes no difference because PCI devices, video cards, etc., must still be
mapped into the 4GB.

Yes but the total addressing limit on a 64-bit OS is greater than 4 GB so
the
RAM that was moved above the 4 GB mark can still be used.

What RAM moved above the 4GB mark? How does one move RAM, anyway?