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Posted on Jun 03, 2008
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4gb on msi k8n neo-4 F

I installed 4 x 1Gb of ram.
The system/bios say 3 Gb installed, Vista Ultimate say 4Gb installed.

Does the system use the full 4GB or only 3GB?

  • pejegess Jun 05, 2008

    Thanks,
    That's all a needed to know.

  • Anonymous Dec 12, 2021

    RTM at MSI, go there and read the manual on our exact PC.
    the echo is here,. 2004 old 18 years old.

    https://www.manualslib.com/manual/293428...

    nForce™4 Ultra chipset
    no longer supported at all. was in 2008.
    windows XP then.
    XP 64bit does not gain more RAM !
    32bit is limited to 2 to the 32nd power address space (math logic)4GB.
    THE CHIP STEAL UP TO 750MB FOR VRAM.

    Socket-939 for AMD K8 Athlon 64 FX /
    north bridge limits Nforce4
    Athlon 64 (Socket939)

    the limits are,
    BIOS limits, allowed some Ram DDR1 not allowed
    Chipset limits (MMC)
    and OS XP limits.
    page 9 (RTM)read the manual.

    Supports dual channel, eight memory banks DDR 266/333/400, using four 184-
    pin DDR1 DIMMs
    Supports a maximum memory size up to 4GB
    Supports 2.5v DDR SDRAM DIMM

    that means 2x2GB=4 max
    and that means
    3.2GB max due to VRAM thief.


    it is very simple math 4GB - Vram = 3.2gb THE GPU HAS NO VRAM SO STEALS IT FROM DDR

    nFORCE CHIP DATA SHEETS AR NOW GONE
    18 YEARS GONE AND OLD. 2004.

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2 Answers

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Hello pejegess,

If your OS is reading the 4Gb, it will be running the 4GB even if the bios is only seeing 3GB. You may just need to update the firmware on your motherboard but I suggest that you just leave it as is since the OS is recognizing the 4GB.

Sincerely,

Agent Xiong

  • 2 more comments 
  • Anonymous Jan 21, 2022

    NOT TRUE AT ALL. XIONG.
    THE CHIP SET STEALS ram VIA
    the only thing that matters
    is
    OS task manager , see memory tab read
    it will not lie to you.
    you do know that bios can round down right
    and 3.25GB is shows and 3GB right,???
    and is 750MB vram thief via PCI bus.
    the task manager does not lie to you
    hit shows every byte used or free.
    bolt.
    look again. and see.

    on many PC put in larger vram GPU card
    and stolen memory goes to tiny 25MB./
    no kidding MMC doea all that.

  • Anonymous Feb 14, 2022

    the chipset shows 3.2GB max. of 4 physical.
    some apps may and did round down 3.2. to 3(silly to do that and lazy, rounding...)
    learn how PCI memory shared resources work. Intel.com data sheet covers it.

    your generic GPU chip just stole main RAM to make Vram.

  • Anonymous Feb 14, 2022

    the PC boots and reads the DDR SPD chip
    and adds up RAM sees 4GB (bios does this)
    then sees the IGPU chip there stealing up to 700MB of ram using PCI bus for VRAM usage (video ram).
    then BIOS tells the booted OS who much the ram is available to use, main,. 3.2GB
    it depends on the theft,
    some iGPU use less or more, and is not in your control at all.
    but on mine if a new 4GB GPU card is inserted, the stolen memory goes way less.
    so buy a GPU card and be happy.

  • Anonymous Mar 05, 2022

    the GPU chip has no vram.
    so to get vram the PC asks for DDR memory to get VRAM. called stealing PCI memory in the chipset data sheet., and does and steals from 4GB to 3.2 (and 3 if rounded down is yours did)
    all old PCs did that.

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