# 12gb ram 7.99gb usable. why?



## killerchef04

i have a x58 ftw3 mobo, intel core i7 960 cpu, and 12gb triple channel corsair dominator ddr3 1600 ram
windows says i have 12gb memory installed but only 7.99gb is usable. how can i use all 12gb?


----------



## Okedokey

Update your BIOS>


----------



## killerchef04

bigfellla said:


> Update your BIOS>



ive done that


----------



## Okedokey

Hmm thats a tricky one, you have a 64bit OS I assume, you have the latest drivers and Windows UPdates.  The latest BIOS.  Is there something in BIOS that relates to memory remapping?


----------



## Aastii

When you say usable, if you go to task manager (Shift + CTRL + Esc) and go to the performance tab, what does it say under Physical Memory for Total, Cached, Available and Free?


----------



## killerchef04

bigfellla said:


> Hmm thats a tricky one, you have a 64bit OS I assume, you have the latest drivers and Windows UPdates.  The latest BIOS.  Is there something in BIOS that relates to memory remapping?



yea, ive been playing around with it, but same result. ive tried almost every configuration, resetting the bios. reseating the ram. ive been on a couple different sites that say this is a common problem with the x58 motherboards.


----------



## dtiao7eb

i'm assuming you're using 6 sticks of ram for the triple channel. you might have a dead stick since you are getting 8gb of ram. one dead stick means that whole channel isn't running so you'd lose 4gb of ram. i'd try checking each stick before you mess with bios  i ordered some g skill ram a few weeks back and send hours figuring out why i could only use 8/12gb of ram. then i found out one (which happened to be the last stick of ram i tested) to be DOA


----------



## killerchef04

Aastii said:


> When you say usable, if you go to task manager (Shift + CTRL + Esc) and go to the performance tab, what does it say under Physical Memory for Total, Cached, Available and Free?



total 8183mb
cached 2165mb
available 6519mb
free 4645mb


----------



## killerchef04

dtiao7eb said:


> i'm assuming you're using 6 sticks of ram for the triple channel. you might have a dead stick since you are getting 8gb of ram. one dead stick means that whole channel isn't running so you'd lose 4gb of ram. i'd try checking each stick before you mess with bios  i ordered some g skill ram a few weeks back and send hours figuring out why i could only use 8/12gb of ram. then i found out one (which happened to be the last stick of ram i tested) to be DOA



no im using 3 4gb sticks, how would i test it?


----------



## Des_Zac

Just take one out at a time, you know, take out, test, re-seat, repeat.


----------



## killerchef04

Des_Zac said:


> Just take one out at a time, you know, take out, test, re-seat, repeat.



just tried that, took one out turned it on and it said 8gb 3.99gb usable. tried all three same thing. i dont think its the ram.


----------



## Shane

Look in your Bios for "Memory Remap" OR "Memory Remapping"...enable it if its there and apply changes.

See if this makes any diffrence.


----------



## killerchef04

Nevakonaza said:


> Look in your Bios for "Memory Remap" OR "Memory Remapping"...enable it if its there and apply changes.
> 
> See if this makes any diffrence.



i couldnt find it.


----------



## Okedokey

Memory Remap is called Memory Low Gap in the BIOS. This is located under the Memory Feature in the BIOS under Frequency/Voltage Control


----------



## killerchef04

bigfellla said:


> Memory Remap is called Memory Low Gap in the BIOS. This is located under the Memory Feature in the BIOS under Frequency/Voltage Control



oh let me try that.


----------



## killerchef04

bigfellla said:


> Memory Remap is called Memory Low Gap in the BIOS. This is located under the Memory Feature in the BIOS under Frequency/Voltage Control



didnt work


----------



## dtiao7eb

did you update your bios/firmware? be advised, some websites break down each driver in different sections. so check the website for a ram fix of some sort or just download all the latest drivers/bios update available for your mobo


----------



## S.T.A.R.S.

Don't know if you already tried,but...does BIOS report you have 12 GB of RAM or 8?  If it reports all 12 then your RAM sticks are fine.Usually in the BIOS you have options to either regulate RAM frequency manually or put BIOS to do that automatically.So find that and see what all options you have and let us know.


----------



## Darren

Reset your BIOS to factory defaults. I had that same problem when I built my computer. After quick reset in the settings it restarted my computer and recognized all of it.


Worked for me.


----------



## killerchef04

S.T.A.R.S. said:


> Don't know if you already tried,but...does BIOS report you have 12 GB of RAM or 8?  If it reports all 12 then your RAM sticks are fine.Usually in the BIOS you have options to either regulate RAM frequency manually or put BIOS to do that automatically.So find that and see what all options you have and let us know.



base memory 639k
extended memory 8387584k
total memory 8388608k
im guessing that its only reading 8gb

the bios options are
memory frequency 
memory spd
channel interleave setting
rank interleave setting
memory low gap

and then all the parameters


----------



## S.T.A.R.S.

I see that your total memory showed by the BIOS is 8 GB of RAM.
If your motherboard does support 12 GB of RAM memory then one of your RAM sticks is bad and needs to be replaced.


----------



## pwlljakob

BIOS limitations, I remember i had an old HP that only allowed 46 MB of memory...


----------



## S.T.A.R.S.

46 MB only?!?!?!
Wow...that is not enough even for me.And I do not need more than 512 MB lol,but 46 is just............WOW XD


----------



## killerchef04

S.T.A.R.S. said:


> I see that your total memory showed by the BIOS is 8 GB of RAM.
> If your motherboard does support 12 GB of RAM memory then one of your RAM sticks is bad and needs to be replaced.



it supports 24, i guess ill have to see which one is bad


----------



## killerchef04

S.T.A.R.S. said:


> I see that your total memory showed by the BIOS is 8 GB of RAM.
> If your motherboard does support 12 GB of RAM memory then one of your RAM sticks is bad and needs to be replaced.



just tried finding the bad ram, when i took one out and went back into the bios it said i only had 4gb switched around the ram to find the bad one, same result for each one. when there are two in it only sees one if there are three in it only sees two. im wondering if i should try different ram.


----------



## pwlljakob

S.T.A.R.S. said:


> 46 MB only?!?!?!
> Wow...that is not enough even for me.And I do not need more than 512 MB lol,but 46 is just............WOW XD



It was an old Pentium 66 overclocked to 133 MHz (66 MHz Originally) And standard 16 MB ram but it was only upgradable to 46 MB...


----------



## cabinfever1977

I can't believe nobody went on newegg and read the reviews on this board, i read the reviews,like 50 people received dead boards,20-30 people had sata III ports or pci-x slots stop working, 10-20 people had memory issues where the board would only read half there memory, and alot of boards lasted less than a year.

I would buy a new board,but not the same one,lol, o and read the reviews first.


----------



## Kesava

killerchef04 said:


> i have a x58 ftw3 mobo, intel core i7 960 cpu, and 12gb triple channel corsair dominator ddr3 1600 ram
> windows says i have 12gb memory installed but only 7.99gb is usable. how can i use all 12gb?



The only way I can think of that you'd be able to use 12GB is to run a whole lot of programs at once, preferably programs with memory leaks.

You could try loading up like 20 games at once and a whole bunch of other software and encode a couple of videos at the same time and you should get somewhere close to using 12GB ram.

Honestly though I think programs with memory leaks, such as the older version of Firefox are your best bet, other than that I have no idea how you'd manage to use up 12GB of ram. I doubt I could even if I tried.


----------



## claptonman

killerchef04 said:


> just tried finding the bad ram, when i took one out and went back into the bios it said i only had 4gb switched around the ram to find the bad one, same result for each one. when there are two in it only sees one if there are three in it only sees two. im wondering if i should try different ram.



Put one stick in at a time and try to boot. If it boots every time and recognizes all the RAM, you have a bad slot.


----------



## S.T.A.R.S.

If all your RAM slots do recognize the RAM,but cannot use more than 8 GB then your motherboard is not working properly and your only way to have 12 GB of RAM memory is to replace that motherboard with the one that actually works properly.




Cheers!


----------



## Gungoose86

WOW, I'm having the same issue, the same EXACT issue. I never realized it until I was looking on Nvidia GE Force Experience under >my rig, and it stated I had only 7.99 Gb useable even tho my installed Memory was 12 Gb, and yes indeed I do have the X58!

I now regularly check My Computer>Properties and it seems after I play games with alleged memory leaks (like the Bioware games) I have this missing RAM. If I go into the BIOS and load optimized defaults and then F10 to save, I get ALL my RAM back. But I shouldnt have to do this...

I'm wondering if like killerchef04 mentioned that the X58 is defective, but then the Bioware games have notorious Memory leaks. Wish I knew 100% what the cause was, bc I really like the mobo and was gonna get an Asus Rampage III Black x58 and a Core i7 990x CPU for my upgrade, but now I don't know.


----------



## beers

Five years later 

I'd test slot per slot with each stick.


----------



## Intel_man

The last time I had usable ram less than installed was due to ram failure.


----------



## Darren

Intel_man said:


> The last time I had usable ram less than installed was due to ram failure.


I've had it due to incorrect timings and speeds being automatically set by my BIOS. Manually set and fixed.


----------



## Gungoose86

Darren said:


> I've had it due to incorrect timings and speeds being automatically set by my BIOS. Manually set and fixed.



Oh!
Bc like I wrote, when I load optimized defaultsand save with F10, I have the full 12 Gb! But after I play certain games, or maybe just from using Internet Explorer or just a regular restart it goes back to 7.99 useable. Maybe like u said I 'll have to manually set it to 12 Gb? Could u pls provide instructions on how to manually set?
Thx guys for helping me with this old as F#%K topic! lol


----------

