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Hardware Reserved Memory, why

g12601
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Prepare for a long story...

 

I have a dual channel kit of 4gb ram.  Yes I am aware that 4gb is no longer enough and I am currently looking for new ram   My computer has an (A poo) APU, so I bought a gtx 950 to get some memory back. Before the GPU I only had 1.5 GB/4 GB usable, and after i regained .5 GB. Now I went looking around for some solutions and I came across something that had to do with the North-bridge, the thing was in the overclocking section of the BIOS (Motherboard: MSI grenade a68h). After that I gained an extra GB making it 3/4 GB usable and the rest being hardware reserved. After a while the computer started to not like the North-bridge thing I did and so I had to reset the BIOS and went back to 2/4 GB usable. 

 

Could someone explain what hardware reserved memory is, it seems everywhere I look no one knows.

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There are certain parts of your hardware that need memory in order to monitor themselves and the system. Also, if you're using integrated graphics that will also take up system memory to use as its VRAM.

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1 minute ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

There are certain parts of your hardware that need memory in order to monitor themselves and the system. Also, if you're using integrated graphics that will also take up system memory to use as its VRAM.

So there really is no way in preventing it is there. I have re-installed Windows 3 times in the life time of the computer. 

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3 hours ago, g12601 said:

So there really is no way in preventing it is there. I have re-installed Windows 3 times in the life time of the computer. 

No there is not, your hardware needs it. The best thing to do is buy more RAM.

[Out-of-date] Want to learn how to make your own custom Windows 10 image?

 

Desktop: AMD R9 3900X | ASUS ROG Strix X570-F | Radeon RX 5700 XT | EVGA GTX 1080 SC | 32GB Trident Z Neo 3600MHz | 1TB 970 EVO | 256GB 840 EVO | 960GB Corsair Force LE | EVGA G2 850W | Phanteks P400S

Laptop: Intel M-5Y10c | Intel HD Graphics | 8GB RAM | 250GB Micron SSD | Asus UX305FA

Server 01: Intel Xeon D 1541 | ASRock Rack D1541D4I-2L2T | 32GB Hynix ECC DDR4 | 4x8TB Western Digital HDDs | 32TB Raw 16TB Usable

Server 02: Intel i7 7700K | Gigabye Z170N Gaming5 | 16GB Trident Z 3200MHz

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hardware reserved memory is also used to load and run windows. windows as an os is a pretty large memory hog (1-2gb hardware reserved), so you could always switch to linux, since most distros use .5gb or less

Altair - Firestrike: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/13945459

CPU:  i7-4790 @ 3.6 GHz Motherboard: Gigabyte B85M-DS3H-A RAM: 16GB @ 1600MHz CL11 GPU: XFX RX 470 RS Storage: ADATA SP550 240GB | WD Blue 1TB | Toshiba 2TB PSU: EVGA B2 750W Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro Fans: Phanteks PH-F200SP (Front) | Phanteks PH-F140SP (Rear) | Noctua NF-A15 (Top)

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3 hours ago, DrM said:

hardware reserved memory is also used to load and run windows. windows as an os is a pretty large memory hog (1-2gb hardware reserved), so you could always switch to linux, since most distros use .5gb or less

According to my Windows, I only have 50MB of RAM hardware reserved.

[Out-of-date] Want to learn how to make your own custom Windows 10 image?

 

Desktop: AMD R9 3900X | ASUS ROG Strix X570-F | Radeon RX 5700 XT | EVGA GTX 1080 SC | 32GB Trident Z Neo 3600MHz | 1TB 970 EVO | 256GB 840 EVO | 960GB Corsair Force LE | EVGA G2 850W | Phanteks P400S

Laptop: Intel M-5Y10c | Intel HD Graphics | 8GB RAM | 250GB Micron SSD | Asus UX305FA

Server 01: Intel Xeon D 1541 | ASRock Rack D1541D4I-2L2T | 32GB Hynix ECC DDR4 | 4x8TB Western Digital HDDs | 32TB Raw 16TB Usable

Server 02: Intel i7 7700K | Gigabye Z170N Gaming5 | 16GB Trident Z 3200MHz

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1 minute ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

According to my Windows, I only have 50MB of RAM hardware reserved.

oh that hardware reserved. i was thinking of memory reserved for the os. either way, that still reduces the amount of usable ram

Altair - Firestrike: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/13945459

CPU:  i7-4790 @ 3.6 GHz Motherboard: Gigabyte B85M-DS3H-A RAM: 16GB @ 1600MHz CL11 GPU: XFX RX 470 RS Storage: ADATA SP550 240GB | WD Blue 1TB | Toshiba 2TB PSU: EVGA B2 750W Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro Fans: Phanteks PH-F200SP (Front) | Phanteks PH-F140SP (Rear) | Noctua NF-A15 (Top)

Mouse: Logitech G502 | Keyboard: Corsair K70 MX Brown | Audio: Sennheiser HD 558

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