wilkes

32bit is 4,294,967,296. Where 3GB is 3,221,225,472. What to know where the extra 1GB went? This might help a little http://blogs.msdn.com/hilto...

32 bit operating systems WILL NOT use over 3gb's of ram so anything over that is a waste. you need to upgrade to a 64 bit operating system if you have a 64 bit processor. as for what the ram that isnt showing up you could be sharing the memory with your video card if your on a laptop.

let me rephrase that, it's still being used, just not showing up?

so it's there, just not showing up?

Even on a system with 32 GB RAM, 32 bit editions of Windows will display less than 4 GB of memory. Install the 64bit version to see the extra.

Recently upgraded & noticed in system that it says

Installed memory (RAM): 5.00 GB (2.87 GB usable)

Why is the rest not usable?

did a clean install of windows 7, from vista 32bit