Most of RAM unavailable in Windows after upgrade

We have a CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme 1096 bought new in 2011:

CyberpowerPC Desktop PC Gamer Xtreme 1096 Intel Core i7 960 (3.20 GHz) 6 GB DDR3 2 TB HDD ATI Radeon HD 5770 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - Newegg.com

It was delivered with Windows 7, a 2-TB conventional hard drive, and 6 GB RAM in the form of three 2-GB DDR3 modules. The motherboard is an MSI MS-7522.

Recently we upgraded it by replacing the hard drive with a Samsung 860 Evo SSD, and the RAM with four 4-GB DDR3 modules, being careful to place the memory modules in the correct slots per the motherboard user guide. We also did a clean install of Windows 10 Pro v1909.

Windows and the SSD run fine, but Windows reports some of the RAM as not being usable. The BIOS shows 16 GB.

In About Your PC, Windows reports:
Installed RAM 16.0 GB (2.99 GB usable)

In Task Manager > Performance, Memory total is shown as 3.0 GB.

In msconfig > Boot > Advanced options, the "Maximum memory" box is unchecked. If I check the box, select "16384" as maximum memory and reboot, the change is ignored and About Your PC still shows 16 GB total RAM, 3 GB usable.

Based on an online article, I went into the BIOS and looked for iGPU/internal graphics/onboard graphics or a multimonitor setting to disable them, and also to look for a memory map setting or render standby setting to enable them. However, I found no settings labeled with any of the above words in BIOS. (However, there are a lot of BIOS settings, including a MEMORY-Z section, that use other terms. It was unclear if any of them could be relevant.)

Any suggestions on what to try next?

Remove all the RAM sticks. Then plug just one stick in at a time and boot the computer on each one individually. One of them will be bad.

Also, did you install Windows 10 64bit? 32bit Windows will have a maximum RAM usage of 2.99GB.

NavyLCDR said:

Remove all the RAM sticks. Then plug just one stick in at a time and boot the computer on each one individually. One of them will be bad.

Tried this, and results for all the sticks were identical. If any one stick was inserted into the correct slot for a single stick, Windows reported "Installed RAM 4.0 GB (2.99 GB usable)".

Also, did you install Windows 10 64bit? 32bit Windows will have a maximum RAM usage of 2.99GB.

Yes. Under About Your PC, Windows reports:

System type: 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Other ideas?

This seems unlikely, but the CyberpowerPC Desktop PC Gamer Xtreme 1096 uses an X58 chipset (3 channel memory).

I doubt that installing 4 DIMMs would cause the effect that you're seeing, but it may be worth trying 3 in the correct slots.

You may have to replace the RAM using a triple channel kit. I didn't spot a QVL (qualified vendors list) for the PC, but there are still triple channel DDR3 kits available. Examples: New, Triple Channel Kit, 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM, 12GB (3 x 4GB), Desktop Memory, Memory, Components - Newegg.com

bobkn said:

I doubt that installing 4 DIMMs would cause the effect that you're seeing, but it may be worth trying 3 in the correct slots.

You may have to replace the RAM using a triple channel kit. I didn't spot a QVL (qualified vendors list) for the PC, but there are still triple channel DDR3 kits available.

Thanks for the comments. Sorry for the delayed response, but we were working some issues on other gear.

We've tried a couple of things. First, Windows was acting a little flakey on this PC, so just to ensure that the 3 GB RAM limit was not an OS issue, we swapped out the SSD for a blank one and did a fresh install of Ubuntu Linux. It too is reporting 2.99 GB RAM.

We then tried installing 3 of the new 4GB DIMMs in the correct slots, but this made no difference -- still 2.99 GB reported.

Finally, we removed the new 4GB DIMMs and reinstalled the 3 original 2GB DIMMs that came with the PC. This should have led to it showing 3 x 2GB = 6GB as it did originally before any of these hardware/software changes. Strangely, it's still reporting 2.99 GB now.

So I'm not sure what could be causing this. I can't find settings in BIOS that would deal with this. I wouldn't mind checking out a triple channel kit, but I wouldn't want to spend the money until we can at least get the PC back to recognizing all of its original 3 x 2GB DIMMs.

The alternative I guess would be just to leave it as-is with 3GB RAM and avoid running any resource-intensive apps on it.

Porthos said:

Fyi. The compatible ram is listed here.https://storage-asset.msi.com/file/t.../TR10_1804.pdf
DDR3 L is what is needed.

Do you have the final bios released for it BIOS ver.: 8.F ?

Thanks, I'll check out the compatible ram. Re the BIOS, unsure off the top of my head, but it's probably not the final version. So I'll have to check out how to do that upgrade.

Meanwhile, though, I'm still mystified why Windows 7 would report 6GB on this PC with the original 3 x 2GB DIMMs, and then after the HDD was replaced by an SSD and tried with both Windows 10 and Linux, the same original three DIMMs now only show up as 3GB. Some BIOS setting?

According to your CyberpowerPC Desktop PC Gamer Xtreme 1096 Intel Core i7 960 (3.20 GHz) 6 GB DDR3 2 TB HDD ATI Radeon HD 5770 original specs: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit CyberpowerPC Desktop PC Gamer Xtreme 1096 Intel Core i7 960 (3.20 GHz) 6 GB DDR3 2 TB HDD ATI Radeon HD 5770 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - Newegg.com
Memory: 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1333 > Memory capacity: 6 GB DDR3 > Memory Slot (Total): 6.
--- Does that mean the original maximum memory for your system is 6GB?

“In About Your PC, Windows reports: Installed RAM 16.0 GB (2.99 GB usable)”
--- With 16GB, are there beep codes when booting up?
--- Maybe a message to press F1 or something similar to continue booting up?
--- Does your system have a diagnostic program available upon booting up?

One more thing
Fix Windows 10 not using full RAM
Fix Windows 10 not using full RAM - Troubleshooter
I believe you have tried just about everything in there but what caught me eye is
3.Then click on Advanced options and uncheck Maximum Memory option then click OK.
I checked my Windows 10’s and both of them are unchecked.
--- Uncheck yours, don’t enter anything.
--- Shut down.
--- Start back up and see if that’s helpful for you this time.

MeAndMyComputer said:

Memory: 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1333 > Memory capacity: 6 GB DDR3 > Memory Slot (Total): 6.
--- Does that mean the original maximum memory for your system is 6GB?

It was delivered with 3 x 2GB dimms for a total of 6 GB, occupying three of the six slots. The user manual discusses which slots to use for the number of dimms to be installed. I was curious if there was anything about a setting to enable triple-channel mode, but haven't been able to find anything.

“In About Your PC, Windows reports: Installed RAM 16.0 GB (2.99 GB usable)”
--- With 16GB, are there beep codes when booting up?
--- Maybe a message to press F1 or something similar to continue booting up?
--- Does your system have a diagnostic program available upon booting up?

No beep codes or message to press a key to continue. Haven't been able to find a bootup diagnostic program.

Fix Windows 10 not using full RAM
Fix Windows 10 not using full RAM - Troubleshooter
I believe you have tried just about everything in there but what caught me eye is
3.Then click on Advanced options and uncheck Maximum Memory option then click OK.
I checked my Windows 10’s and both of them are unchecked.
--- Uncheck yours, don’t enter anything.
--- Shut down.
--- Start back up and see if that’s helpful for you this time.

Yes, I've tried most of that. I haven't upgraded the BIOS as of yet -- will have to see if I can get my hands on what I need to do that.