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I know that on 32 bit system max number of memory cells in RAM is 2^32. But RAM in my computer show not exactly this size. Can someone explain why on 32 bit system size of RAM not equal max size of cells but varies(3.2 - 3.6 Gb)?

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  • Where are you getting that max-ram information? Is this a Windows machine and you are viewing the Computer properties page? Oct 29, 2013 at 12:02
  • @user2135931 - What operating system are we talking about? Required reading before you reply to my question: superuser.com/questions/52275/…
    – Ramhound
    Oct 29, 2013 at 12:43
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    see superuser.com/questions/27086/… for your answer Oct 29, 2013 at 12:49
  • 32-bit systems can have more than 2^32 "memory cells". Memory is addressed in bytes, not "memory cells", so that gets you to 4 GB. Physical address extension allows more than 4 GB, though often only the OS will have all memory available to it, and individual applications will have a maximum of 4 GB assigned to them. Oct 29, 2013 at 13:28

1 Answer 1

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Two obvious possibilities come to mind:

  1. Your 32-bit system supports 4 GB, but you haven't actually installed that much memory.
  2. Windows reports less than 4 GB available, because some of the main memory has been reserved for use by the integrated graphics.

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