The actual memory of the computer is less than what was advertised

Problem

The user launches Task Manager via the search box on the taskbar, goes to Performance > Memory, and finds that the available memory is lesser than the advertised memory.

1. The memory is 8 GB, but only 7.8 GB or 6.9 GB is available.
2. The memory is 16 GB, but only 15.9 GB or 15.4 GB is available.

Cause

(1) This happens because of the conversion between different units. In general, the unit conversion method used during marketing is "1 GB = 1000 MB", while the unit conversion method used on the computer is "1 GB = 1024 MB", which results in the memory on the computer being less than the advertised memory.

(2) Some of the memory space is reserved. Enter Task Manager in the search box on the taskbar and open it, then go to Performance > Memory. The data after Hardware reserved indicates the reserved space.

Solution

The computer will reserve some memory to be used by the graphics card, resulting in there being a slight difference between the size displayed in the system and the advertised size. This will not affect the actual use. There is a difference between the reserved space for Intel and that for AMD, so is the available memory, as shown in the following figures.

The following figure shows the memory of an Intel-based computer.

For the 8 GB memory configuration, 154 MB is reserved for the hardware. Therefore, 7.8 GB is available out of 8 GB.

For the 16 GB memory configuration, 126 MB is reserved for the hardware. Therefore, 15.9 GB is available out of 16 GB.

The following figure shows the memory of an AMD-based computer.

For the 8 GB memory configuration, 1.1 GB is reserved for the hardware. Therefore, 6.9 GB is available out of 8 GB.

For the 16 GB memory configuration, 644 MB is reserved for the hardware. Therefore, 15.4 GB is available out of 16 GB.