Hello guys, 

About a month ago I bought a laptop and I installed Windows 8 in it. The computer has a 8 GB RAM memory,but now I can only use 2 GB of the RAM memory, also when using  some programs (photoshop) there are some difficulties when running program.

I anyone could help, I'd appreciate that!

P.S 
The windows installed on my computer is a 32bit operating system, x64 based procesor, could this be my problem?

Thanks

BS

32bit systems can "see" ~3.25 the rest is wasted.  Your best bet if your hardware supports it is to re-install 64 bit

Can you give us your laptop model? OEM?

Check also in BIOS how many RAM installed to make sure. And check your MB spec.

If based on OS, yes 32 bit OS only can detect max 4 GB.

8 bits = 256
16 bits = 256 X 256 = 65536
32 bits = 65536 X 65536 addresses = 4,294,967,296 addresses 
64 bits = 4,294,967,296 X 4,294,967,296 = 18,446,744,073,709,551,616

• Edited by britishdhez 4 hours 13 minutes ago

The 32bit OS is definitely the problem.

If you bought the laptop a month ago I find it very strange that they would sell a 32bit OS with a latop with 8Gb RAM. 32bit OSs can only see 3.2Gb RAM so basically the rest is just sitting there doing nothing and the salesman was supposed to know this and explain it to you.

If I were you, I would take the laptop back to the vendor and ask them to upgrade you to a 64bit OS.

If you bought the OS separately, well, this is going to be an expensive lesson to learn.

• Edited by RuanP 3 hours 22 minutes ago

BleronSalihi,

Windows 8 32-bit does limit the amount of addressable memory to 4GB, although you may not have access to that whole 4GB depending on your hardware as shown this TechNet thread so this would certainly be a reason you cannot see your full amount of memory.

If you were to upgrade to Windows 8 or 8.1 64-bit, you would be able to take advantage of the full amount of installed memory. 

Mike

Windows Outreach Team IT Pro

• Marked as answer by BleronSalihi 17 hours 17 minutes ago
• Unmarked as answer by BleronSalihi 17 hours 17 minutes ago

Can you give us your laptop model? OEM?

Check also in BIOS how many RAM installed to make sure. And check your MB spec.

If based on OS, yes 32 bit OS only can detect max 4 GB.

8 bits = 256
16 bits = 256 X 256 = 65536
32 bits = 65536 X 65536 addresses = 4,294,967,296 addresses 
64 bits = 4,294,967,296 X 4,294,967,296 = 18,446,744,073,709,551,616

• Edited by britishdhez Wednesday, January 22, 2014 7:35 AM

The 32bit OS is definitely the problem.

If you bought the laptop a month ago I find it very strange that they would sell a 32bit OS with a latop with 8Gb RAM. 32bit OSs can only see 3.2Gb RAM so basically the rest is just sitting there doing nothing and the salesman was supposed to know this and explain it to you.

If I were you, I would take the laptop back to the vendor and ask them to upgrade you to a 64bit OS.

If you bought the OS separately, well, this is going to be an expensive lesson to learn.

• Edited by RuanP Wednesday, January 22, 2014 8:26 AM

When I bought my laptop, it had Linpus Linux as operating system, than I installed windows. Thanks anyway :)

Thanks alot, I will try to do that latter on. Thanks for your time !

I have an Acer Aspire V3 core i5 with 8GB ram, 750 hdd.
Thanks for your answer ;)