jwhyrock

Hi there. I'm new to the forums and hardly a pc guru. I'm literate and can handle myself around some hardware/software tinkering. I recently upgraded to 6gb RAM and a faster dual core AMD processor 3.0ghz. I did this so that I could play the games I do with max settings/60 fps solid. I was pretty close under XP with 2.0ghz processor and 2gb RAM. I tried Vista 64 and it was a disaster, insanely slow installations, crappy performance in all apps etc. Don't go all defensive for Vista I'm just saying what my experience was. I decided to give XP 64 a try and it's been awesome. I noticed, however, in the BIOS it is only recognizing some of the RAM as usable. I will post a link to an in depth forum I found on the subject. This may have less to do with 64 as it does with my chipset etc, but I wanted a second opinion. I have tested all sticks in the different slots in mobo and they are fine. Here is a breakdown of what RAM the computer recognizes and what it considers usable: w/ 6gb RAM - 6144 recognized 5119 usable (approx 17% missing) w/ 5gb RAM - 5120 recognized 4095 usable (approx 20% missing) w/ 4gb RAM - 4096 recognized 3327 usable (approx 19% missing) Here is the address for the in depth article that goes into more detail (I would have posted there, but the thread is closed) - http://blogs.msdn.com/hiltonl/archive/2007...am-problem.aspx Any further insight or discussion would be great. If that's just the way it is with the RAM that's fine. I am still trying to figure out if I'm running where I should be with fps/performance. I have Lost Coast Half Life which has a performance test & also 3dMark06 so I will run those and post here when I do. Glad to be here on the forums. Thank you!