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After much debate, I bought a computer strictly for gaming. It is a Windows 7 64-bit OS and has 8 GB of physical memory, and an AMD FX(tm)-4130 Quad-core processor, and the game itself recommends an Intel Core 2 Quad or AMD Phenom with 4 GB memory. My computer, presumably, should meet and exceed these requirements, yes?
Running the program, the initial startup configuration thinks the same and sets the settings up to high quality. Playing the game, however, results in slow, glitchy movement and response times, the FPS is somewhere between 5-15, and the graphic textures are mud. So, I'm running the game at the base settings. it runs, but the FPS is still dodgy, and the textures equally mudded, as expected. But it runs.
Then I got the wild idea to run the resource monitor while playing the game. Physical memory never exceeds more than 2gb. On a further wild hair, realizing I'd never seen the physical memory usage rise above 4gb, ever, I decided to run a second high-graphics game (that runs smoothly, as it should) at the same time as the first. Memory usage pretty much unaffected. Second game runs like a champ, even with the first game in background. Okay.... With resource monitor still open, I opened up two Mozilla browsers and went to Youtube, played two separate HD movies. Memory still plateaued at about 2.6 gb. Opened a word document, Adobe Photoshop CS2 and executed some high-memory image voodoo-- memory at about 2.8 gb. Opened up MSI Afterburner and Kombustor, ran two separate stress tests. All of these programs, running simultaneously, only eeked my physical memory usage up to a whopping 3.24 gb. Assassins' Creed (the second, high graphics game) still ran, if at .15 fps....
As a friend aptly put it, my computer is acting like a car running for all its worth in a single gear. My memory needs to upshift. How do I get that to happen, before my CPU and GPU explode from overwork while the memory just sits?
I've put a similar computer through the same tests, and it accesses its additional memory as I would expect to. So what is the problem with mine? I'm upset that I bought a computer for a specific reason that is doesn't seem capable of doing. Please help!
Edit:
After posting my question, I ran the memory diagnostic tool for Windows, and it indicates everything is functioning as it's supposed to. Ran the game's in-house Performance Tester, and it brings up the System and Video memory as 4095 MB and 4047 MB, respectively.
This lead me to wondering if my system, though claiming to be 64-bit, was running in 32-bit mode. So, on suggestion from a Super-user, downloaded and ran CPU-Z. As far as I can tell, the system is running in 64-bit mode.
Also, the game I'm trying to run is The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. After running Performance Tester (mentioned above), set settings to high, and game suddenly works, where before, on same settings, it didn't. The game is currently patched to version 3.4, the most recent release.
Graphics card is a NVIDIA GeForce GT 610. Driver is up to date, version 320.49.
Well, it’s your fault for buying an ultra-low-performance graphics card. Please make a screenshot of the “Memory” tab in Resource Monitor. The bar at the bottom is very important. – Daniel B – 2014-07-24T05:46:53.333
1If the BIOS is recognising 8GB, and the system information in control panel reports 8GB of RAM, then you have available 8GB of RAM.
If the game is not running as you'd expect my advice would be to check for a patch/software update that may be available. I'd also consider checking for any graphics card driver updates. The key hardware here is your GPU, not CPU or RAM. – archery1234 – 2013-08-01T01:50:09.543
1I am with achery1234 and would also suggest that maybe you run the memory diagnostic. One stick could be bad (this assuming that you have 2x4gb sticks) and you did not mention any trouble shooting other than trying to run a bazillon apps. – Carl B – 2013-08-01T01:54:49.250
3In the intel type motherboard bioses, there was always a switch for "extended memory" without it set correctly the motherboard itself limits to the 32bit type addressing. This switch could be called different things, I would check for that first. You have indicated that the USE of the memory never goes over some ammount, But I did not see where you indicated that the System itself does or does not SEE that there is 8G in the system. Using the most simple location | Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\System | To see what the "installed memory" is . 32bit programs are still limited – Psycogeek – 2013-08-01T02:17:52.477
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Try CPU-Z. Run the 64-bit portable version and check whether your system is correctly recognizing your RAM. The program will give you a lot of other detailed information too. And as Psycogeek says, your computer might be running in 32-bit mode, where 4GB is the limit. You may be able to confirm it with CPU-Z.
– ADTC – 2013-08-01T03:30:28.913Lets jut get it over with. Just mention the game your trying to fix the performance on. It might simply be a case where the suggested recommendations simply are actually not enough. You don't indicate what graphics card you have. – Ramhound – 2013-08-01T12:39:14.387
After posting my question, I ran the memory diagnostic tool for Windows, and it indicates everything is functioning as it's supposed to. Ran the game's in-house Performance Tester, and it brings up the System and Video memory as 4095 MB and 4047 MB, respectively. This lead me to wondering if my system, though claiming to be 64 bit, was running in 32 bit mode. Thanks ADTC, I'll try CPU-Z. @Ramhound: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. After Performance Tester ran, set settings to high, and it suddenly works, where before, on same settings, it didn't. NVIDIA GeForce GT 610. – Spiritus in machina – 2013-08-03T00:42:28.510
@Spiritusinmachina what does it say in the System control panel? Go to My Computer and click on System Properties. It should tell you how much memory the system thinks it has, and whether it's a 32-bit or 64-bit OS. – nhinkle – 2013-08-03T02:05:15.153
Again, does the BIOS report 8GB of RAM and does Control panel-System-System and Security report 8GB (and system type 32 bit/64 bit)? – archery1234 – 2013-08-03T15:51:25.240
2System reports 8 GB RAM, 64-bit OS. BIOS also recognizes the 8 GB RAM. All other programs (Witcher, Assassin's Creed, Photoshop) only see 4 GB (4095 MB, give or take depending on the program I check with). Since everything seems to be running without incident, I'm not going to rip my hair out further. Thanks for the help... pretty much figured it out prior. – Spiritus in machina – 2013-08-04T22:19:14.090