Computer memory question?
Post Fiend
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 14,413
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From: Sarnia, Ontario, CANADA!
If you want to find out for sure, you can take the RAM out again and see what it says with just the 256 MEGS. Then you will know for sure. But I am like 95% sure it is your video card.
-Matt
-Matt
Elder User
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 866
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From: North Carolina
Yes, a on board video card will use RAM, but will not subtract to how much you have. For example, if you have 1GB, you have 1GB whether or not the OBVCard takes up 16 MB or not. It should show the correct amount. Try going into BIOS setup and looking in there.
Edit: Also, the bigger RAM stick should go into slot 1, the smaller in slot 2. Since they are both 256, I would put the new one in slot 1 and the old one in slot two. Also try just using the new RAM stick and see what RAM shows up in BIOS Setup or system properties.
Edit: Also, the bigger RAM stick should go into slot 1, the smaller in slot 2. Since they are both 256, I would put the new one in slot 1 and the old one in slot two. Also try just using the new RAM stick and see what RAM shows up in BIOS Setup or system properties.
Post Fiend
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 14,413
Likes: 3
From: Sarnia, Ontario, CANADA!
Originally Posted by 78Explorer
Bryan,
I thought that's what I said (not as in-depth)....but I was disagreed with so I left it at that. Thanks for your clarification.
Scott
I thought that's what I said (not as in-depth)....but I was disagreed with so I left it at that. Thanks for your clarification.
Scott
-Matt
Lead Driver
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,140
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From: Oak Harbor, OH
He has an on board video card that has no memory of it's own. This is very common these days. The sytem bios automatically allocated 4 to 64 megs of ram to the video card depending on the needs of the program running. Most people never notice. It may also help to install just the new stick and see what happens.
Elder User
Joined: Apr 2004
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From: North Carolina
Lead Driver
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,140
Likes: 4
From: Oak Harbor, OH
I've got the Radeon 9600SE, that is awsome. I wanted the 9800XT but didn't have the $400 to shell out...
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Brett Foote
Elder User
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From: S.W. Oregon
Originally Posted by bvoncannon
Edit: Also, the bigger RAM stick should go into slot 1, the smaller in slot 2. Since they are both 256, I would put the new one in slot 1 and the old one in slot two. Also try just using the new RAM stick and see what RAM shows up in BIOS Setup or system properties.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Jul 2004
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There is no problem. Recall that 1MB = 1,048,576 bytes. 488 x 1,048,576 = 511,705,088 bytes. Most computers will show the available amount of memory in terms of Kilobytes, and therefore will usually display something like "511,705k RAM installed" on boot. For whatever reason your computer displays the actual number of megabytes. We tend to think of 1MB = 1,000,000 bytes, so that's where the discrepancy lies.
If a stick of memory actually had 512MB, then we'd get 536,870,912 bytes of memory. Since most component manufacturers realize that the average joe doesn't know what a megabyte actually consists of, they just take the number of bytes on a chip, divide it by 1,000,000 and claim that's the capacity of the chip (or hard drive).
Look at the properties screen of your hard disk and you'll see the same thing. A 120GB drive will actually report to be ~111GB in Windows (no, this is not because of the slack space on the drive either, slack space would consume part of the 111GB available). Same thing is going on there as well.
Bart
If a stick of memory actually had 512MB, then we'd get 536,870,912 bytes of memory. Since most component manufacturers realize that the average joe doesn't know what a megabyte actually consists of, they just take the number of bytes on a chip, divide it by 1,000,000 and claim that's the capacity of the chip (or hard drive).
Look at the properties screen of your hard disk and you'll see the same thing. A 120GB drive will actually report to be ~111GB in Windows (no, this is not because of the slack space on the drive either, slack space would consume part of the 111GB available). Same thing is going on there as well.
Bart
Last edited by Bart99GT; Nov 15, 2004 at 06:36 AM. Reason: edited information
Senior User
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Also no two hard drives or memory (or processors) are exactely alike space-wise, therefore there is some difference in how much it really has on it. for example: my processor is 2600mhz, but shows up as 2598mhz. Also the server at my job has a 250GB hard drive, but it is actually 246 GB. there is no problem, it is just normal to have these variations when the componets are manufactured, don't worry about it, it doesn't mean that much and won't really change how the computer runs, although people do get upset when they paid for 512mb of ram and actually only get 502
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