You may have noticed that your Windows 7 may show that the usable memory may be less than the installed memory (RAM)!
For instance, your Windows 7 32-bit, may report that there is only 3.5 GB of usable system memory when 4 GB of memory has been installed.
Or, a Windows 7 64-bit computer may show only 7.1 GB of usable system memory when 8 GB of memory may be installed.
The indicative Usable memory is a calculated amount of the total physical memory minus “hardware reserved” memory.
To view the installed memory and the usable memory in Windows 7:
- Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties.
- View the Installed memory (RAM) value under System. For example, if it displays 4.00 GB (3.5 GB usable), this means that you have 3.5 GB of usable memory out of 4 GB of installed memory.
The reduction in available system memory depends on the configuration of the following:
- The devices that are installed in the computer and the memory that is reserved by those devices
- The ability of the motherboard to handle memory
- The System BIOS version and settings
- The version of Windows 7 that is installed
- Other system settings.
There are several additional situations that could cause the usable RAM to be less than expected.
Physical memory allocation and memory status in Windows 7 may interest you if you are looking for more on this!
If you have liked this post, you might want to check out some more, on topics like Features, Memory.
