RAM???

[EirePlane]

I've been having a lot of problems with my computer's performance lately and decided to run my belarc advisor to try and find the problem. I knew i had a problem with the amount of RAM i had installed but i didnt realise there was so much missing

Memory Modules
96 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'A0' has 128 MB
Slot 'A1' is Empty

there is a whole 32MB of ram going unused on my system!!
Does anyone know if there is any way of putting it to use without buying new parts or anything?

Thanks in advance
Mitchel

P.S. and i forgot to mention, there has to be minimal chance of wrecking the comp (its the family one)

[C]

Is there any chance you have 32Mb integrated graphics?

My Laptop nominally has 512mb RAM. It also has 64mb ATI integrated graphics card. Hence, if you look on Belarc, or any system specs it will say 468mb RAM.

I suspect this is what you're seeing...

Charlie

[EirePlane]

It doesn't actually tell me. I know for a fact though that there are no added graphics cards or anything. eveything is running off the motherboard.

Main Circuit Board
Board: First International Computer, Inc. AM39L PCB 0.x
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 07/08/2003

[Delta_]

The graphics card on the motherboard will use the memory.

Seperate graphics cards will use their own memory and CPU (called a GPU) because it is much faster than system RAM.  However to cut costs integrated graphics are used on low-end systems.  This means the graphics all come from your motherboard and the memory used for the graphics is system memory and it uses your CPU aswell.

[EirePlane]

okk, thanks for the advice. looks like i'll just be buying more RAM until i get my other comp up and running or using it for spare parts

P.S. if i take the ram out of my other comp and fix it in this one, will it damage this comp if it is the wrong type or will it just not be read. and if it does work, will i need to alter the BIOS or anything?

[congo]

Where on earth did you find that mainboard? Never saw one before......

That board has an AGP slot so you can disable the onboard Video when you buy a "real" graphics card. By disabling the onboard graphics in BIOS or by jumper setting, you will recover the missing RAM.

Next time you buy a mainboard, I advise to get one with no onboard graphics if you are serious about gaming simming performance.

Your 32mb of missing RAM isn't going to really help you at all however, as your RAM is nowhere near enough.

2 x 512mb PC3200 DDR400  Modules (matching) is what I recommend you buy if you buy any RAM, this way it may be suitable if you upgrade that mainboard and CPU to something better. The PC3200 modules will underclock fine to 333mhz on your machine.

The other machines RAM? Maybe. If it fits, it will probably work, but if the ram on the other machine is slower, it will run at the slowest sticks speed. Assuming your bus speed of 133mhz is really 266mhz DDR, We should assume you have PC2100 RAM at the moment, which is the slowest type of DDR RAM available.

Consider that any amount of ram less than 512mb is going to cause a shortfall and system bottleneck. You have 2 slots only. There is no place in your machine for less than a 256mb ram module if you want it to work correctly.

You only need to alter the BIOS settings if you RAM doesn't auto configure to the correct and desired speed by default.

I'm not sure about your VIA KM400 Chipset, but some boards will run the Front Side Bus at 266mhz DDR and the RAM at 333mhz DDR seperately. This can be good or bad for overall speed and needs to tested in each configuration to see what's best.

If you buy more ram and keep the onboard video in use( god forbid) without buying a dedicated video card, then you may be able to up the amount of shared system RAM from 32mb to 64mb, effectively doubling your video memory.