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unreal
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Win7 Pro 64-bit and RAM

Thu Nov 15, 2012 11:57 am

i just installed a Win7 Pro 64-bit on a new drive in my machine which has 4GB of RAM. However, windows is telling me that only 2.67 GB is usable. I thought that the main feature of a 64-bit OS is to use the full RAM available.

Could it be related to my motherboard which is old the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe ?

Am I doing something wrong?
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Re: Win7 Pro 64-bit and RAM

Thu Nov 15, 2012 12:04 pm

I suggest you check this thread: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=51827

Short answer: 64-bit OS support depends on the motherboard and the BIOS settings. (CPU too, but the fact that you were able to install it at all confirms that your CPU supports it.)
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UberGerbil
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Re: Win7 Pro 64-bit and RAM

Thu Nov 15, 2012 12:29 pm

This is probably the only post in that thread you need to read, unless you want to know more about the gory details.
The key point: your motherboard needs to support "memory remapping" or "hoisting" and it needs to be turned on in the BIOS. To even have this option you may need to flash a later BIOS if the one in your board is a fairly early one. However, the option may not be exposed, or it may not be available at all. It clearly isn't turned on now, so you need to go look in your BIOS and see if you can see something like that (unfortunately it gets named various things and put in various places). If you can't find anything, and there's a newer version of the BIOS for your board available, flashing that might give you the option (or it may just silently turn it on without exposing it in the BIOS menus). However, it's also possible that this board just does not support this feature, period. Only somebody else who has already tried all this with that particular board, or something definitive in specs or a FAQ at ASUS, can tell you for sure.
 
unreal
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Re: Win7 Pro 64-bit and RAM

Thu Nov 15, 2012 1:35 pm

Thank you for the answers. I read the other thread and somewhat understand what needs to be done. My mobo supports up to 8GB of RAM so i assume it would work. but I guess I have to either update the BIOS or turn on the mapping/hoisting on.
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