16Gb RAM but only 13.9 usable?

[paul1224]

Hi, just got my new PC and in Control Panel it states I have 16GB RAM but only 13.9 usable. Is this normal?

Spec is:

Case	PCS 6003B BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU)	AMD Ryzen 5 2400G Quad Core CPU with Vega Graphics (3.6GHz-3.9GHz/6MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard	ASUS® PRIME A320M-K: Micro-ATX, AM4, USB 3.0, 6GB/s
Memory (RAM)	16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card	INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st Storage Drive	250GB WD Blue™ 3D NAND 2.5" SSD, (upto 550MB/sR | 525MB/sW) Partitions: 250GB
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive	NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply	CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable	1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling	STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste	STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card	ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking	WIRELESS 802.11 AC1200 867Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options	MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System	NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language	United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media	NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software	FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus	NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser	Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Monitor	AOC I2490VXQ/BT 23.8" IPS Monitor - 1920 x 1080
Warranty	3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery	SATURDAY DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time	Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 11 working days

 

[Oussebon]

The other part is allocated to the integrated graphics I expect.

 

[ubuysa]

Can you open Task Manager, click on the Performance tab, then click on Memory (on the left) and post a screenshot of what you see there please?

 

[Scott]

As stated it'll be the integrated graphics. As much as the CPU has a built in GPU core, it doesn't have a separate allocation of RAM so utilises your main RAM source.

 

[paul1224]

Thanks for the replies.

Based on research does appear to be the integrated graphics.

 

[Muffinman76]

Can confirm that the Ryzen 2400G reserves 1GB of RAM for integrated graphics use.

Here are screen shot of the performance tab in task manager.

Notice the Dedicated GPU memory Usage

Also look at the Hardware Reserved RAM

 

[debiruman665]

Sometimes the conversion between GB and GiB can shave off some space

What is the Difference between GiB and GB?

Answer (1 of 5): GiB and GB both are two different digital data storage scales. But they are very closely related. GiB stands for Gibibyte and GB stands for Gigabyte. According to the scale developed by International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), 1GB = 1e+9 bytes and 1GiB = 1.074e+9 byt...

www.quora.com

this conversion is what turns a 2TB disk into a 1.8TB disk by the time it's on a windows machine.

 

[ubuysa]

When did the GiB happen? I'd never heard of it until now and had to visit that link to find out...

Personally I think all they've done here is add to the confusion, not reduce it. That's because a GiB (A Gibibyte of all things) is 1024 MB (Megabytes) so now an ordinary GB (a Gigabyte) is 1000 MB (even though a MB is still 1204 kB and a kB is still 1024 Bytes).

This to me is just dumbing-down, and it's crazy to have a mixture of decimal (the new GB) and binary (MB, kB) in the same system. Whilst it's true that historically naming 2^10 bytes a kilobyte (kB) wasn't entirely accurate since kilo implies 1000, everyone who has worked in computing has understood the numbering system. Computers are binary after all and IMO it behoves those working in the industry to learn the relevant numbering system.

We're also going to have the ridiculous situation when older techies are going to use GB to imply 1024 MB, which it really is, whilst newer people are going to think they mean 1000 MB. I'm glad I'm retired from this nonsense.

 

[SpyderTracks]

When did the GiB happen? I'd never heard of it until now and had to visit that link to find out...

Personally I think all they've done here is add to the confusion, not reduce it. That's because a GiB (A Gibibyte of all things) is 1024 MB (Megabytes) so now an ordinary GB (a Gigabyte) is 1000 MB (even though a MB is still 1204 kB and a kB is still 1024 Bytes).

This to me is just dumbing-down, and it's crazy to have a mixture of decimal (the new GB) and binary (MB, kB) in the same system. Whilst it's true that historically naming 2^10 bytes a kilobyte (kB) wasn't entirely accurate since kilo implies 1000, everyone who has worked in computing has understood the numbering system. Computers are binary after all and IMO it behoves those working in the industry to learn the relevant numbering system.

We're also going to have the ridiculous situation when older techies are going to use GB to imply 1024 MB, which it really is, whilst newer people are going to think they mean 1000 MB. I'm glad I'm retired from this nonsense.

Yeah, I’ve seen GiB used by a few people, just thought it was a variation on GB, but good to know there’s yet another rediculous way of confusing the consumer!

Everyone should be forced to work in GB imho!

 

[Rakk]

Yeah, I’ve seen GiB used by a few people, just thought it was a variation on GB, but good to know there’s yet another rediculous way of confusing the consumer!

I thought it was a typo where I've seen it before (I didn't realise there had been some hair-brained idea to change it)
But yeah , how to confuse things even more, leave the GB as it was, cos yeah now half the people will be using it the old way, half the new and everyone will get confused.

 

[Scott]

I've seen it used but I always thought it was in relation to storage rather than RAM.

 

[Oussebon]

GiB / GB is generally mentioned in this context, as far as I've seen it:

My laptop's disc space is 1tb, but I am able to use only 931gb. Why?

Answer (1 of 21): The difference between the motioned disk space and the usable disk space on your laptop is due to the way data storage is measured and the presence of the operating system and system files. Hard drive marketed in terms of decimal (base 10) capacity. In decimal notation, one meg...

www.quora.com

Though that's not what's happening to account for 1-2GB being shaved off users' RAM; that's is because of the APU's graphics needing some.

 

[Stephen M]

Agree with Oussebon that losing that much RAM is more than a conversion thing.

As for the other, I hope that the use of gibi, mebi, kibi etc become standard. It may be annoying to some but it is an unfortunate situation that needs addressing. Using a decimal prefix for a binary number was never linguistically sound but while the only people using it were in a particular area it hardly mattered, as with most meta-language those of us who use it do not notice how absurd it can sound.

The problem now is that we now have both usages, my guess is that someone spotted a markting trick to make a storage drive sound more attractive for the price and 2 TB sounds much better than 1.8, so the fully decimal TB was born. As we cannot go back the best possible compromise has to be found and in my book that is the one that protects the consumer, ie we should know exactly what and how much of something we are buying and to do that a finite terminology is needed.

 

[debiruman665]

Agree with Oussebon that losing that much RAM is more than a conversion thing.

As for the other, I hope that the use of gibi, mebi, kibi etc become standard. It may be annoying to some but it is an unfortunate situation that needs addressing. Using a decimal prefix for a binary number was never linguistically sound but while the only people using it were in a particular area it hardly mattered, as with most meta-language those of us who use it do not notice how absurd it can sound.

The problem now is that we now have both usages, my guess is that someone spotted a markting trick to make a storage drive sound more attractive for the price and 2 TB sounds much better than 1.8, so the fully decimal TB was born. As we cannot go back the best possible compromise has to be found and in my book that is the one that protects the consumer, ie we should know exactly what and how much of something we are buying and to do that a finite terminology is needed.

Agreed, lets go after ISP first and their small "b" megabit connections that make their internet sound much better than they are.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Agreed, lets go after ISP first and their small "b" megabit connections that make their internet sound much better than they are.

Exactly, they should all be done for false advertising on so many different levels.

 

[Oussebon]

This isn't one I've looked at particularly closely, but the issue hasn't generally been Mb vs MB, though I'm sure a lot of people don't get the difference, as much as the numbers they publish being 'upto' rather than what you might realistically get e.g. at peak times:

Broadband speeds: what you need to know

Get a guaranteed speed today when you shop around for a new broadband deal.

www.ofcom.org.uk

Though this should be continued in another thread as it will hijack the OP's topic.