Half RAM allocated to "Hardware Reserve"

CountMike said:

I have almost same configuration and this is what it looks like here:
Attachment 66658
May be important that I'm using BIOS, not UEFI.

OK so I do see UEFI all over the place on this mobo. could that be something I am missing? I don't even understand what that is and how it is different than BIOS.

CountMike said:

UEFI /EFI, (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a standard firmware interface for PCs, designed to replace BIOS (basic input/output system).
What is UEFI? - Windows Help

In essence it's BIOS but not in ROM on the chip but on a special partition on BOOT drive. Old time BIOS (Legacy BIOS) provides just enough function to boot to that partition which takes over after that. Part of it stays in RAM so it could be modified on the fly. It also provides graphical interface for BIOS. On this MB it's pretty fundamental so I don't use it, except for looks there's not much to be gained.

How can I check if I'm using it? also can I switch back and forth between them to see if it makes a difference?

ALSO UPDATE: I bought 2 more sticks of GSKILL RAM. It is now still halving the RAM, shoving 8GB into hardware reserve, effectively cutting 16GB in half. So now I'm running 4 sticks of 4GB. Now I can use 8GB....... but half is still shoved in hardware reserved. LOL WTF

CountMike said:

You can see UEFI partition in Disk Management.

So can this be changed or no? Also do you think this could be a cause? Any other ideas?

CountMike said:

Well, did you check if you have that EFI partition ? also disk has to be in GPT not MBR, you can see all that in Disk Management.
In the BIOS, under Advanced Management there is a setting for EFI CD/DVD BOOT OPTION.
Options are NON-EFI. EFI and AUTO.

My drive with my OS on it is on my SSD. It is a NTFS file system. Other than that I don't see anything about EFI. Ill take a screenshot maybe you can guide me through it.

PatATC said:

My drive with my OS on it is on my SSD. It is a NTFS file system. Other than that I don't see anything about EFI. Ill take a screenshot maybe you can guide me through it.