Just bought a new computer with a Intel Duo Core 2 6700 and had 2GB of DDR2 ram in 2 sticks. I installed 4 Gigs more, (2sticks of 2GB each), the bios sees 6144 MB of ram but WinVista only sees 3582 MB of ram. Anyone have an idea of what is wrong?Donald E. Dnovan

Are you running 32 bit or 64 bit Vista? If it's 32 bit, I think that is all the memory you're going to see:http://www.vistaclues.com/reader-question-...-memory-limits/

Thanks for the timely response Janne. Looks like I have wasted my money, the next time I upgrade my processor, I'll probably go to the 64 bit version.

"Looks like I have wasted my money"I don't think you wasted your money. How much memory would you have left to run your OS and FSX if you just bought one gig of memory? Not very much and you would probably see more crashes than you see now. As I see it in the referenced articles, you have over 3 gigs of memory that can still be used by your OS and FSX to operate. Now, if you had bought more than 4 gigs, you would have wasted your money and probably a reason why most OEM's do not sell such systems. The referenced articles provided me with some good laymen type education and I appreciate you making the original question.Best regards,JimIntelCore2 Extreme 6800 CPU at 3.46GHz4GB DDR2SDRAM30" 3007WFP Wide Aspect Digital Flat PanelDual 768MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTXSATA2 RAID 0 with Dual Hard DrivesVista Premium Home EditionCreative X-FI Sound Card1KW Power Supply

>Now, if you had bought more than 4 gigs, you would have >wasted your moneyIsn't that exactly what he said? :)>Just bought a new computer with a Intel Duo Core 2 6700 and>HAD 2GB OF DDR2 RAM IN 2 STICKS. I INSTALLED 4 GIGS MORE>(2sticks of 2GB each), the bios sees 6144 MB of ram but>WinVista only sees 3582 MB of ram.(emphasis mine)He had 2GB to begin with and added 4GB more for a total of 6Gb.

Yes, you wasted your money. But if you intend adding 64-bit Vista you can plonk that extra RAM right in there then, so it's not wasted, just deferred. Whether 64-bit Vista is a waste of money is a whole different question. ;)Allcott

My Vista-64 bit install sees all 4 gig's, no sweat.FSX/SP1 runs great, perfectly stable at high settings. Enable AA in FSX.When 2 gig modules are reasonably priced maybe I'll try 8 gig's. I can always use the extra in another machine if I don't see any improvement.

Hi Don, just to highlight this issue for you, whilst installing a 64 bit operating systems would potentially allow you to make use of the 6 gigabytes you have and very much more than that, note the word I have used "potentially" since even with a 64 bit operating system, if you are running a 32 bit application programme e.g. FSX, FS9 you will be limited to 3.5 Gigabytes or less. To utilize the capability of 64 bit operating systems to access huge RAM, you need to run 64 bit application software with it. I am no expert on the following issue, but I am under the impression that filling all four four RAM sockets can cause of performance drop, since you will have maxed out your RAM with the the two 2 Gigabye sticks installed, if your 2 Gigabyte sticks and your 1 Gigabyte sticks are the same speed rated, I would remove the two 1 Gigabyte sticks. Best and Warm RegardsAdrian Wainer

>My Vista-64 bit install sees all 4 gig's, no sweat.>FSX/SP1 runs great, perfectly stable at high settings. Enable>AA in FSX.>When 2 gig modules are reasonably priced maybe I'll try 8>gig's. I can always use the extra in another machine if I>don't see any improvement.> You will not get any improvement over your present rig by going to 8 Gigabytes since FSX is a 32 bit application programme.re 32 bit application software e.g. FSXQuoteEmulated applications running within the Windows on Windows 64 layer (discussed in more detail later in this article) will not be able to address any more memory than they could on a 32-bit system.UnQuoteQuoteMany 32-bit applications will not be updated for Windows Vista x64 Edition; however, most 32-bit software will still function because of a Microsoft emulation layer. This emulation layer, known as Windows on Windows 64 or WoW64, enables 32-bit programs to run as though on a 32-bit version of Windows by translating instructions passing in and out of 32-bit applications into 64-bit instructions. Emulated programs act as though they are running on an x86 computer and operate within the 2 GB of virtual memory that a 32-bit version of Windows allocates to every process. However, despite Wow64, 32-bit programs on Windows Vista x64 Edition cannot take advantage of the larger 64-bit address spaces or wider 64-bit registers on 64-bit processors.UnQuotehttp://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/5709http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_ff_x64.aspBest and Warm RegardsAdrian Wainer

Thanks for the comeback Adrian, and I think that is a very good idea.Removing a pair of the 1GB sticks I mean. Since installing the pair of 2GB sticks I cannot overclock this C2D E6700 more than 10 percent thereby bringing it up to only the level of a E6800. Before the memory upgrade, I could get easily 20% and never go above 50degrees C on the CPU. That would give me a cpu speed of 3.2Gh.Well we all know that the flight sim is only a tweaking machine to get the most out of our machine. :-)We live and learn!!

>Hi Don, just to highlight this issue for you, whilst>installing a 64 bit operating systems would potentially allow>you to make use of the 6 gigabytes you have and very much more>than that, note the word I have used "potentially" since even>with a 64 bit operating system, if you are running a 32 bit>application programme e.g. FSX, FS9 you will be limited to 3.5>Gigabytes or less. To utilize the capability of 64 bit>operating systems to access huge RAM, you need to run 64 bit>application software with it. >>I am no expert on the following issue, but I am under the>impression that filling all four four RAM sockets can cause of>performance drop, since you will have maxed out your RAM with>the the two 2 Gigabye sticks installed, if your 2 Gigabyte>sticks and your 1 Gigabyte sticks are the same speed rated, I>would remove the two 1 Gigabyte sticks. >>Best and Warm Regards>Adrian Wainer Adrian.Your right with regard to removing some ram.My system is a little different because it's a 2 socket affair.Each socket has it's own dual channel memory memory controller. So with 4 gig I have 1 gig in each channel.Different platform = different memory setup characteristics.If I were to go with 8 gig's I would most likely see a drop in performance, at least for gaming.