8GB RAM installed, but only 2.84 usable

[cipherdom]

I purchased add-on RAM from Lenovo for my SL510.  When I right-click My Computer and select Properties, it says:  

Installed memory (RAM): 8.00 GB (2.84 GB usable)

This would explain why I haven't seen the performance improvement I would have expected.  Does anyone have advice about how I can get the system to address the RAM properly?  It's Windows 7, 32-bit.  

Thanks,

Vernam

[Maliha Community Moderator]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

You need 64-bit version of Windows to make use of 8GB RAM, 32-bit only address 3GB. You can buy the upgrade from lenovo.

Hope this helps. 

[cipherdom]

Thank you, Maliha.

Vernam

[meveng]

32 bit Windows access 4GB of memory but other system resources and installed hardware lies within this 4GB limit. That's why you will never see anything beyond ~3 GB available in a 32 bit environment. My desktop has 3.2 GB of memory available. Of course I would like to know what's consuming 1.15GB in this Lenovo SL510 laptop.

[ColonelONeill]

Probably the integrated graphics.