1 gig of ram, Vista shows 998 MB

is this normal?

 

Run Cpu-Z 4th tab over "memory" what does that say? if it says 998 problem, what video card do you have.

 

It could be that the integrated graphics card (if you have one) is taking some memory from your RAM because you don't have enough dedicated video RAM.

 

My Laptop has Integrated Graphics and it shows .99GB of ram. When I have 1GB of Ram.

The reason is what Sam Said. You don't have enough Dedicated Video Ram (If you have any at all with Integrated) so it takes from the System ram.

 

I recomend the CPU-Z because I have similar suspicions as Sam, but 26MB is an odd #. My system reports a different amount because of GPU, CPU-Z reports correctly it goes straight to hardware not threw Windows I think.

 

Hi, thanks for the replies. I just downloaded CPU-Z. It also reports 998 MB for memory.

I have an integrated X3100 card.

26 seems like a low number for the graphics card to be using. I'd be expecting more. But since CPU-Z is reporting 998 also, I'm kind of nervous. (26 megs is nothing, but I'd still like all my ram being used on a brand new PC)

 

If you wanted to have all your system RAM available, then you should've gotten a laptop with a dedicated graphics card. The X3100 is not a card, it is a chip and it uses system RAM for the framebuffer.

 

I understand. I have no need for a dedicated card. I was aware that the X3100 would be using my system RAM when I bought it. I just wanted to know if that was the reason my system reports 998. If the reason is the integrated graphics, then problem solved.

 

Something weird I noticed. I opened up the X3100 Driver Settings and saw that the graphics memory in use was 134 MB. It says Physical Memory available is 997. However, I then turned on Aero and the graphics memory in use raised to 176 MB. I don't think my 26 MB has anything to do it with the X3100.

 

There aren't any other system devices that use system memory (other than for DMA), so it has to be the graphics chip.

 

amitface I agree with you but to confirm go back to Cpu-Z 5th tab over is called "SPD" click it, towards the top is Memory Slot Selection should be showing "Slot #1" what does it show below (amount of RAM), now use the drop down click "Slot #2" what does it show? If these don't show the right amount of Ram I suspect you might have a problem, bad Ram. But post a question about the X3100 and do other people have the same thing happen. to find out if normal.

 

It adjusts the memory size according to it's needs. It is a bit like Hyper memory that ATI uses... Don't worry about it. Vista also reports memory differently. e.g. On my dedicated 128mb x700 it says I have some weird figure about 950MB video memory in 3DMark.

 

Don't worry about it at all.
It's OK.

 

It is a little strange because I have the X3100 GPU but CPU-Z's memory tab is reporting the full amount of RAM (3072MB = 3GB in my case).

John

 

I have 2 GB = 2047MB
I have dedicated video RAM.
Maybe you have integrated video (with ram shared)

 

Thanks for the replies everyone.

FullThrottle, I checked the slots. The first does indeed say 1024 MB ram. The second is empty, but that's because my second stick is in the mail.

I consider this issue solved. Thanks everyone