RAM Issues: not enough!!!

Hi everyone,

I'm not a PC guru, but I hope someone can help me...

I have Win7 32-bit and decided to stay like that for the moment.
My laptop came with a 2GB RAM, which for my use (photo editing) is a little short. I often get an error message from my software informing me that there is not enough RAM. So I decided to get an extra 2GB RAM thinking that it would give me a total of at most 3.6GB of RAM.

To my surprise, the whole upgrade is leaving me with only a total of 2.50 GB usable, according to my system info.

My question: is that the max I can get out of my system, or is there something I can actually do?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Berlioz, welcome to the forum! 32 bit Windows (or any other 32 bit OS) can only use roughly 3.25GB of your installed RAM. It doesn't have anything to do with your computer, it's the fact that a 32 bit OS cannot address 4GB RAM.

Now, out of that 3.25GB of usable RAM, your video card has to have at least 256MB on a modern computer, who knows, you may have a 512MB one, that would leave you with about 2.75GB RAM for your OS to run.

There is one thing you can do, provided the computer can run it. Install a 64 bit OS, using the same key that's located on back or bottom of the computer. The iso file is X15-65733.iso. I'll return with the link for it.

But before you do anything, go the the Free Software Database on this forum, and download Macrium Reflect, an excellent free backup program, and backup what you have. Be sure to create a rescue disc. That is, if you're not using a backup program already. If so, use that one. However, you need a complete image of your drive, so that you can revert if anything goes wrong.

Also, before doing anything, you'll need to find as many 64 bit drivers as you can for it. If Windows 7 drivers aren't available, Vista ones will usually work.

EDIT: Do a Bing search on "x15-65733.iso, it'll be the very first link. It's a perfectly legal download (3.0GB), burn it with an app such as ImgBurn at a slow speed (8x or less would be preferable). Make sure that you check the option to verify the disc after it burns. Also make sure that you use the very same key that you're currently using. Just to make sure of the key, download Belarc Advisor or SIW (both in the Free Software Database on this forum, along with ImgBurn). Your key will be shown upon running the program.

I hope that my post has been helpful to you. Got to go to dinner now.

Best of Luck,
Cat

Thanks for your clear explanation Cat!
It looks like my PC can take 64 bit. I'll give it a try then!